It’s Always Worth The Time To Remember Marie Duval



A short piece at The Guardian tied into a university research project reminds us of the cartooning skill and great humor to be found in the work of Isabelle Emilie De Tessier, who worked in a variety of Victorian publications as Marie Duval. It's not the biggest article, but you can find more in David Kunzle's article here or just through random google searches like this one. The article points to a nice two-page spread with very modern-looking panel structure here.

One reason why Duval is for her contributions to the recurring Ally Sloper character and feature -- one of comics' first. Sloper -- who looks a deflated WC Fields -- was a huge hit and may be the original source for all the slacker roustabouts of the 20th Century, a character archetype I love whether it's Jughead, Andy Capp, Chaplin's Tramp or Buddy Bradley. It's important to think of Duval specifically in terms of her work with Sloper and more generally within the rich tradition of Victorian pen-and-ink comedy because newer historical appraisal has begun to favor her being a victim of that uniquely vomitous and frequently occuring storyline of having much of what she did attributed to her husband, Charles Ross. That's never right, and feels like an outright tragedy here, doubly so because Ross' contribution seems a clear and important one as well.
 
posted 12:15 am PST | Permalink
 

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