''Judy'' was a British satirical humour magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The full name was ''Judy; or the London Serio-Comic Journal''. The magazine's first issue was

cover date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...

d 1 May 1867, and the last issue 23 October 1907. The name "Judy" was in reference to

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Mr Punch and one other ...

, and alluded directly to its more established rival, '' Punch'' magazine, which had been founded in 1841. In its 14 August 1867, issue, ''Judy'' introduced " Ally Sloper", who was one of the first – possibly ''the'' first – recurring

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of 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 terminology#Captio ...

characters (the seminal Yellow Kid, for instance, was not published until almost three decades later, in 1895). Sloper was later the first comic strip character to get his own regular weekly magazine, '' Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'', the first issue having a cover date of May 3, 1884. Sloper was heavily merchandised, and may have been the first comic strip character featured in a popular song ("Ally Sloper's Christmas Holidays", 1886) or adapted to film (1898).

In September 1895, Gilbert Dalziel sold the magazine to Gillian Debenham. She became its literary editor, with R. A. Brownlie acting as art editor.

Notable contributors

*William H. Boucher, illustrator (Boucher also illustrated

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's '' The Black Arrow'' and '' Kidnapped'' for their first appearances in '' Young Folks'') * Alfred Bryan, illustrator * Adelaide Claxton, illustrator * John Proctor, illustrator * Charles Henry Ross, editor and writer

References

1867 establishments in the United Kingdom 1907 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Satirical magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1867 Magazines disestablished in 1907 Magazines published in London {{UK-mag-stub