Ally Sloper

For the Grand National winning racehorse, see Ally Sloper (horse).
Ally Sloper
Multi-panel Victorian comic
Panels from the illustrated story Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount, featuring Ally Sloper and (not pictured) Iky Mo; from UK magazine Judy (1867).
Publication information
FormatText comics
GenreHumor
Publication date1867
Creative team
Written byCharles H. Ross
Artist(s)Émilie de Tessier

Alexander "Ally" Sloper is the eponymous fictional character of the British comic strip Ally Sloper. First appearing in 1867, he is one of the earliest characters in comic strips.[1]

Red-nosed and blustery, an archetypal lazy schemer often found "sloping" through alleys to avoid his landlord and other creditors, he was created for the British magazine Judy by writer and fledgling artist Charles H. Ross, and inked and later fully illustrated by his French wife Émilie de Tessier under the pseudonym "Marie Duval" (or "Marie Du Val";[2] sources differ).

The strips, which used text narrative beneath unbordered panels, premiered in the 14 August 1867 issue of Judy, a humour-magazine rival of the famous Punch. The highly popular character was spun off into his own comic, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, in 1884.

  1. ^ Birch, Dinah (24 September 2009). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 240.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference alberta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).