Origins European beginnings, 1837–1959
Ally Sloper
Charles H. Ross, Marie Duval · Judy magazine, London, 1867; Ally Sloper's Half Holiday from 1884
Alexander Sloper is a work-shy schemer with a bulbous nose and a gift for slipping up the alley whenever the rent collector calls, which is where the name comes from. He first appeared in the comic magazine Judy in 1867, and by 1884 he had a weekly paper of his own, Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, making him Britain's first comics celebrity. There was merchandise. There is always merchandise.
Sloper's co-creator and chief early artist was Marie Duval, one of the first women to draw comics professionally anywhere, and long written out of the story. He is the ancestor of every lovable British layabout in print, and some less lovable ones.
