Creation
Cheeks was created by Keith Giffen. He first appears in Ambush Bug #1.
History
Ambush Bug first finds Cheeks when the doll falls off a garbage truck, and crashes through his window. Believing the doll to be a true boy, he adopts it making it his ward and sidekick. The two then dress in Superhero costumes before heading out into the city to fight crime, finding a group of terrorists holding their grandmother hostage Ambush Bug and Cheeks then secretly enter the warehouse to stop them. Ambush Bug then uses Cheeks to distract the group, but he is quickly “injured” after which he furiously beats the leader before heading back to rescue the grandmother. He then leaves the warehouse with the woman, but leaves Cheeks to disarm the bomb however he fails resulting in his “death”. Following his death Ambush Bug holds a funeral for his sidekick, and decides to order pizza in order to celebrate his sidekicks death after being comforted from words from his guardian angel.
Cheeks later arises from the grave as a zombie,with other zombie puppets by his side. Although he overcomes his zombie nature, when the horde prepare to eat a little girl. Jonni DC then fixes the continuity problems as Cheeks returns as the Toy Wonder.However shortly after he is kidnapped into the past during World War II, becoming “Combat Cheeks”. During which as Ambush Bug searches for him, Cheeks is present for the bombing of Hiroshima. Shortly after this he is captured by Nazis although the leader dismisses him as simply a doll.Following the end of the mini as Ambush Bug is sentenced to Limbo, upon the train he is reunited with Cheeks who is now a war hero as they head for Limbo. The two however eventually return during which Cheeks is kidnapped by the National Bureau of Origins to force Ambush Bug into revealing his origin, which he continually lies about. At the end of the adventure it’s learned Cheeks himself is the head of the Bureau.
When Ambush Bug later shows up with the Doom Patrol, Cheeks is with him.