Alexander "Ally" Sloper is the eponymous

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

of the British

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

''Ally Sloper''. First appearing in 1867, he is considered one of the earliest comic strip characters and he is regarded as the first recurring character in

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

. 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 Isabelle Émilie de Tessier (1847 – 1890) who worked under the pseudonym Marie Duval, was a French cartoonist, known as co-creator of the seminal cartoon character ''Ally Sloper''. Biography As co-creator of ''Ally Sloper'' with her husband Ch ...

under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

"Marie Duval" (or "Marie Du Val"; 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.

Artists

The first illustrations were by Ross, then Tessier took over. When publisher Gilbert Dalziel re-launched the cartoon as ''Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'', in 1884, Sloper was illustrated by William Baxter until his death in 1888. He was succeeded by W. Fletcher Thomas, who continued the illustrations until approximately 1899, when the publisher invited C. H. Chapman to illustrate the series until it ended in 1916.Ally Sloper Web Exhibit: "Ally Sloper’s Rise in Early Comic Culture"

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

Films

The highly popular character was spun off into his own

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

, '' Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'' in 1884. Sloper appeared in three

feature films A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

and a wide array of

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more ...

from

pocket watch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwa ...

es to door stops. His popularity and influence led to his being used on occasion as a

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

tool for the British government's policies. Sloper has also been cited as an influence on

W. C. Fields William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathet ...

and

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

's "little tramp" characterSabin, Roger (2003)
"Ally Sloper: The First Comics Superstar?"
''Image & Narrative'', Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative – ISSN 1780-678X. Retrieved 5 July 2014 and its imitators. The arrival of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1914 saw severe paper

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

, and in 1916 the ''Half Holiday'' comic ceased production. Attempts after the war to revive Sloper proved short-lived, as Sloper was a somewhat stereotypical Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

type, and did not fit into the new post-war world.

References

External links

Ally Sloper
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012.
Image from Ally Sloper's Half Holiday

{{Authority control Sloper, Ally Sloper, Ally Sloper, Ally 1860s comics 1916 comics endings 1867 books Sloper, Ally Sloper, Ally Comics set in the 19th century Comics set in the United Kingdom British comics adapted into films English mascots Magazine mascots Humor comics Text comics Public domain comics

Artists

Films

See also

References

External links