Above, from the August 14th, 1867 issue of British comic weekly magazine, Judy, we have the debut sequential comics appearance of writer/artist Charles H. Ross’ continuing comics character, Ally Sloper. Being the scheming swindler type (albeit, never any good at it), it’s appropriate that Ally’s first misadventure would involve an investment/banking swindle, of the type fairly common at the time — the phrase “Capital One Million” instantly recognizable as a parody of the claims of financial backing that various schemes would claim to have, to draw in the suckers.

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Doug Wheeler

BritJudy AllySloper CHRoss C.H. Ross