Alley Oop

Alley Oop is a long-running Newspaper Comic featuring the adventures of the eponymous caveman and a supporting cast that includes his girlfriend Ooola, his pet dinosaur^[1] Dinny, and his best friend Foozy (who speaks entirely in rhyming couplets).

The series was created by V.T. Hamlin, and debuted in 1932. A major development came in 1937, with a storyline in which Alley Oop and Ooola were accidentally zapped into the 20th century by an experimental time machine. Subsequent storylines have involved Alley Oop visting many intervening periods of history.

Tropes used in Alley Oop include:

• An Axe to Grind
• Art Evolution: Alley once receives a visit from his "no-good" lookalike cousin Early Oop, who looks like Alley from the early days of the comic. Alley can't understand why his friends keep saying they look alike.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Alley Oop
• The Bus Came Back: Original creator V.T. Hamlin had Brother Chucked Foozy years earlier, but the current creative team chose to bring him back as Alley's best friend.
• Contemporary Caveman
• Does Not Like Shoes
• Elephant in the Living Room
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Oscar Boom
• Long Runners
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The kingdoms of Moo and Lem are named for Mu and Lemuria.
• Not the Nessie: Dinny tagged along on Alley's adventure in medeival Scotland. Suffice it that the Scots still remember his visit.
• One Million BC
• Punny Name: Doc Wonmug = "One Mug," that is, "Ein Stein"
  • "Alley Oop" is itself a play on the French acrobatic term "Allez, hop!"
• Shout-Out: Dallas Frazier's song "Alley Oop", which became a chart-topping hit for the Hollywood Argyles in 1960.
• The Smart Guy: Foozy
  • And th' Grand Wizer and Doc Wonmug
• Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying
• Theme Park Version: Over the decades, Alley has visited just about every place and time period you can think of, but they are usually the theme park version. Especially the prehistoric world he comes from.
• Time Travel

1. ↑ Yes, we know.