Ivy the Terrible

&nbsp Ivy the Terrible was a character who had her own strip in the UK childrens' comic The Beano. She is a four year old girl who loves to cause mischief and provides a constant source of annoyance for her parents. Ivy has two pigtails in her hair and is typically seen wearing red dungarees over a yellow jumper. Her appearance is based on the daughter of former Beano editor Alan Digby, who originated the strip and as a result considers it his favourite strip in the comic.

Ivy's strip made its debut in the Beano in issue 2233 of the comic, dated 4th May 1985. It was drawn by Robert Nixon and replaced the short-lived Pepper the Pony and Lucinda. The first story focussed on Ivy's attempts to become the toughest character in the Beano. In the story, she challenges Dennis the Menace to a fight, but Dennis waits until Ivy falls asleep. The strip quickly became very popular with Beano readers and rose to sixth in the readers' poll, almost toppling Minnie the Minx at one stage. As a result of her popularity, she was briefly given a spin-off called 'Ivy's Favourite Nightmares' in which the readers could see her favourite dreams, and in Beano issue 2931 (dated 19th September 1998), Ivy's popularity led to her story being extended to two pages.