ALLY SLOPER
The presence of Ally Sloper ( a sort of Victorian Robert Macaire figure
for those of you familiar with Daumier's comic creations), was a
clue as to the readership of a magazine or comic. He was named after
the tendency to slip off when the rent man came to stay. His adventures
(usually criminal and slimy) began in JUDY in 1867 by Charles Ross
and continued by his wife Marie Duval (monogram MD). He was drawn
by later artists and appeared in his own periodical Ally
Sloper's Half Holiday in 1884.
I once owned a bound copy of early Sloper comics. lent it to a student
called Dave Scott to begin his degree essay from the beginning and
never saw it again. Are you out there Dave? The characterisation
of Ally Sloper was continued by W.G.Baxter (see beneath)
See the
exhibition catalogue Penny Dreadfuls and Comics , Bethnal
Green Museum of Childhood, London, 1983.
Above, each
page measures 21 x 27cms.
from left
to right
JUDY
Aug 3rd 1870
JUDY
Aug 24th 1870
JUDY
Sept.28th 1870. 1870
MORE
- MARIE DUVAL
JOSEPH
PENNELL ON BAXTER
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