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Little Nemo: 1905-1914

by Winsor McCay, Bill Blackbeard (Introduction)

4.49 of 5 stars 4.49 · rating details · 662 ratings · 25 reviews

A reproduction of some of the "Little Nemo" comic strip from the early 20th century. This volume reflects the distinctive art-nouveau style of the original drawings and follows Little Nemo as he journeys nightly into the world of dreams.

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published April 1st 2000 by Taschen

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Feb 28, 2009 Chandra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-illustration, favorites, graphic-novels-comics, art-photography

I have been DYING to have my very own Little Nemo book. But the really nice oversize ones aren't cheap - the full size Little Nemo In Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays sells for around $100. So, I always do a little half hearted search every time I visit the used book store, but never expected much to come of it. Well, today quite by accident I stumbled upon this beautiful used, but pristine copy for only $15!! It's not the definitive edition I was hoping for, but it will do just fine! I'm t...more I have been DYING to have my very own Little Nemo book. But the really nice oversize ones aren't cheap - the full size Little Nemo In Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays sells for around $100. So, I always do a little half hearted search every time I visit the used book store, but never expected much to come of it. Well, today quite by accident I stumbled upon this beautiful used, but pristine copy for only $15!! It's not the definitive edition I was hoping for, but it will do just fine! I'm thrilled!

***I finally curled up in bed with this and while it will take me years to read every single strip contained with in this book I can say with out a doubt that this book is a true gem. I've always been enthralled by Winsor McCay and I am thankful to him for influencing some of my favorite artists and authors (to name a few: Maurice Sendak - In The Night Kitchen, Hayao Miyazaki - Spirited Away and Matt Groening - The Simpsons), but having this book and being able to peruse each strip at my leisure is thrilling.

If you don't already know, Little Nemo in Slumberland (later: In the Land of Wonderful Dreams), was a comic strip that ran in the early 1900s about a little boy whisked away by his dreams each night. The series starts out with the Princess of Slumberland begging her father, King Morpheus, to bring her Little Nemo as a playmate. Through out the series Nemo has many fantastical adventures in 'Slumberland' and each strip ends with Nemo waking (usually being scolded and/or comforted by a parent). As delightful as this may sound it was actually not very popular with children because of its rather dark surrealism.

My little gripes about the book are really almost too ridiculous to mention given the economy of this edition, but here goes. First, even in this large book, these strips are still printed at almost half their original size. As a result, some of the print is very teeny tiny and I can only imagine that some of the magnificent detail is lost. This really is quibbling because it's still very readable and enjoyable. My second and last gripe is that the introduction is ridiculously brief and gives very little background information on the artist himself. Again, not a huge issue considering that the real purpose of owning this book is to ogle the artwork. Highly recommended!
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May 03, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Little Nemo has been praised as one of the most original comic strips ever created, and it certainly is. It is surreal, imaginative, and very well-drawn and colored. It doesn't keep up all these qualities through to the end, but there is tremendous gold to be found in this treasure.

Little Nemo is a comic strip about the adventures of a young boy as he encounters a great many surreal situations in his dreams. Each comic starts off with Nemo either in the dreamworld at the start, or in bed, and a...more Little Nemo has been praised as one of the most original comic strips ever created, and it certainly is. It is surreal, imaginative, and very well-drawn and colored. It doesn't keep up all these qualities through to the end, but there is tremendous gold to be found in this treasure.

Little Nemo is a comic strip about the adventures of a young boy as he encounters a great many surreal situations in his dreams. Each comic starts off with Nemo either in the dreamworld at the start, or in bed, and about to enter it. Each comic contains one final panel of Nemo waking up, often startled by what happened in the dream.

Things start out on a fantastic note. In one early strip, Nemo is taking a walk through a forest made of giant mushrooms. He is told not to touch the mushrooms, because they are very delicate. At one point, he accidentally bumps into one, and it breaks neatly into several giant pieces, which then fall and hit another mushroom, which in turn breaks onto another, and so on, thus starting a chain reaction. Another early comic has Nemo accidentally causing disaster in a world made out of living glass people.

The early strips are more about individual surreal adventures rather than telling a continuing story, and they work quite well. At one point, however, McCay must have decided that he had to create a storyline to tell, and that is where each comic tends to be directly related to the story in question.

That's not a bad thing. The stories at first are generally used as vehicles to get him from one original dream sequence to another. Sometimes these sequences are directly related to the story at hand, but oftentimes they are detours. The comic continues in this style for a long while.

At one point, the character of Flip the clown is introduced, and quickly becomes one of the main characters. Flip is a troublemaker who is not allowed to join the Princess of Slumberland, but he eventually does so anyway after a great many failed tries. He soon joins Nemo as a constant companion, with plots that occasionally result in him being thrown out of or separated from the group, with him later either trying to rejoin, or just causing trouble on his own.

Once Flip gets involved in the comic, the comic begins to slowly revolve more and more around him, but for a long time, the stories continue to be largely Nemo-centric affairs about the strange and unusual experiences he has in Slumberland. One wonderfully creative plot had Nemo and the Princess visit the North Pole, and experience, among other things, a snowmaker, which ends up causing more trouble than it's worth when Nemo climbs up a tower to see it in action. During this plot, Flip constantly tries to catch up with the group, often getting thwarted, and serving as a mild sideshow rather than the main attraction.

Later in the strip, though, McCay begins to have an increasing reliance on story arcs. That becomes a problem, however, when some of these story arcs don't really fit in with the dream-like stories that make the comic so original. For instance, at one point there is a story arc that revolves exclusively around Nemo and a crew on an airship traveling to famous cities around the US and Canada, visiting them, and learning facts about them. There is nothing surreal or dream-like that happens in these stories, and they contribute nothing to the comic. As if realizing this, McCay later had Nemo and his crew land on Mars, where the story becomes wonderfully surreal and creative again.

After continuing that re-energized creative spark, McCay loses it again late in the book. During the last two years of Little Nemo, the comic degenerates into slapstick comedy involving Flip and his efforts to break into Slumberland. The title begins to reflect this. This is where "Little Nemo in Slumberland" is now known as "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams", and each story now has its own title. Each title tends to be about Flip; i.e. "Flip Breaks In", "Something's Up, Must Be Flip", etc., sadly showing that Flip has succeeded in hijacking the comic, derailing it from its original form, the story of Nemo's trips through surreal dreamscapes. Some surreal dreamlike elements continue to present themselves even after this transformation, but the story had gone downhill, and the collection ends on a sour note.

I loved this comic collection and I'm very glad I got a chance to read through 10 years worth of the most original newspaper comic I'd ever seen. Even so, I did notice the comic's bumpy quality, ranging from just plain fantastic to downright bland.

I still recommend you check out this collection. There's a lot going for it, and don't let the later drop in story quality get to you - all great things go through that kind of phase. McCay may not have kept up his creative spark forever, but when he had it going for him, he turned out wonderful, amazing, truly original work, work that was ahead of its time, work that's rare and original even in our time, work that is worth seeing for yourself. (less)

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Jun 15, 2012 D.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

After years of trying to convince myself to track down the individual volumes of Nemo released in the late 80s, I was pretty excited when this single-volume collection turned up. Regrettably, it includes only the original run of the strip, not the brief return it had in the 1920s or the '...Rarebit Fiend' strips (which I think had been included in the earlier books). Still, it's an affordable and solid collection of McCay's constantly inventive and whimsical strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' a...more After years of trying to convince myself to track down the individual volumes of Nemo released in the late 80s, I was pretty excited when this single-volume collection turned up. Regrettably, it includes only the original run of the strip, not the brief return it had in the 1920s or the '...Rarebit Fiend' strips (which I think had been included in the earlier books). Still, it's an affordable and solid collection of McCay's constantly inventive and whimsical strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' and 'In the Land of Wonderful Dreams.' And that's more than I might have expected.
Though anyone who's interested in these strips knows the art is eye-boggling, it is perhaps less well-known how painful the writing is. McCay seems to have never bothered to try realistic dialogue, and his characters speak in a strangely stilted way that would have been unnatural even at the time. In spite of that, his imagination seems to be boundless. Nemo, Flip and the others get into fairly repetitive situations, but with twists to them that are constantly surprising, made even more remarkable by McCay's illustrative talent. There are also innovations evident in his design and structure that would take years (if not decades) for the rest of sequential art to catch up to.
This edition's greatest failing is only one for those who want more than just to read the strips: there are many things left unexplained about the reality surrounding McCay's fanciful tales. Why the shift to Hearst? Why was the first paper turned to monochrome just before that switch? Could McCay really not have known the strip was being cancelled with Hearst to such an extent he didn't feel he should close down the story properly? Why the gaps in publication (as shown by the helpful notes at the back of the volume, detailing each page's publication date)? If (as is suggested in the very brief introduction) the strip was not popular at any point, why was there a stage show based on it, and why would McCay have suggested children in all the major US cities would be delighted by a visit from the characters of that show (as seen in the abruptly-ended city-tour series about halfway through the book)?
I may have my issues with this book and its contents, but when all is said and done, I'm just happy to have all these wonderful pages in one place. This volume is an absolute must for true fans of comic art.(less)

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Apr 24, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think its safe to say that if a book has Bill Blackbeards name on it, you should pick it up if you enjoy seeing the the best things comics have to offer. His insight into the history that surround the comics, the creators and editors and the time they all existed in is always thorough. The comics themselves are the baroque dreams of a child that we never get know in a size bigger than all but the Sunday Press books. The only downside to this book is that it doesn't reprint the sundays that mak...more

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Jun 04, 2007 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those prone to whimsy, nightmares and dreams full of delight

I have not gotten that far into this work, but it is so enchanting and endearing that I might shell out the insane $125 to own the Sunday Press edition (which is the actual size of the original comic printed in the paper). Our Nemo has finally! found his way to the princess, who desires him as a playmate. There were many obstacles, which he encountered night after night. In particular, Nemo's nemesis, Flip, a sinister clown-like character proves problematic; this individual smokes a cigar and of...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Whatsupchuck rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, unheimlich-surreal

Not for everyone as it is very old and culturally removed. At the same time this is for everyone because Winsor's drawings a phenominal and his imagination is in its own league.

Each comic follows the dream and the awakening of the title character.

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Feb 19, 2009 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is huge. I love the illustrations. The text can get wearisome after a while (it's so damn small in this edition!).

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Oct 01, 2012 Eben Muse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cinema-and-film

Anyone who wants to understand how cinematic form began should read Winsor McCay's Little Nemo comic.

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Aug 24, 2012 Konstantinos rated it 5 of 5 stars

υπάρχουν classic comic strips, και υπάρχει και το greatest comic strip that ever flopped

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Feb 22, 2009 Rosanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

. . . but the images are so small . . . and my eyes are so old . . .

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Apr 21, 2013 Anirudh Rameshwaram added it

good book by Winsor McCay.

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Oct 17, 2012 Joao Pedro added it

read

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Aug 07, 2011 Gabriela rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you like to remember your inner child, if you like comics from the early 1900s, if you enjoy art, if you enjoy great story telling, this book is for you. I found this gem and bought it immediatly, no matter how much it cost me. I was introduced to Little Nemo by the movie Little Nemo's adventure in Slumberland, when I was a little girl. I watched that VHS so many times I started dreaming about Slumberland. It's just great to see the original drawings and stories. Where it all came from.

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Apr 11, 2012 Moureco rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

A obra fundacional da literatura em banda desenhada: Little Nemo in Slumberland, a recolha das pranchas publicadas no New York Herald pela primeira vez em 15.10.1905. Quando McCay mudou para o William Hearst Media Group, mudou-lhe o título para Little Nemo in the Land of Wonderful Dreams, mas a base manteve-se a mesma: cada prancha conta uma história, que é um sonho de Nemo, que acaba (quase) invariavelmente com Nemo a cair da cama.

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Jan 30, 2008 Wallace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sequential-art, juvenile

Little Nemo lacks punch. While his art is not formulaic, it does not do much to create ongoing interest. Modern cartoonists are forced to compete for limited space and maintain a certain level of suspense. I can see how these artists look back on McCay's body of work and covet the larger canvas and artistic freedom that he had in 1906, but it can be very bland for long stretches.

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Sep 04, 2008 jeremy bradner rated it 4 of 5 stars

i saw art speagelman speak at the super hero place in brooklyn...he was kinda an asshole but he said that this was his favorite comic ever...so i got it. the drawings are so amazing, so creative, so ahead of their times. i need to steal more from this but i can't seem to fit it in anywhere.

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Oct 08, 2012 Nate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dash and I really enjoyed this visual feast.

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Apr 25, 2008 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: you

Little Nemo's proto-surrealistic adventures (the original surreal pillow) are wonderfully drawn and exciting for children of any age.

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Mar 20, 2008 Carl rated it 5 of 5 stars

singlehandedly, the book that most influenced whatever the hell it is i do.

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Feb 29, 2008 Brent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: life-changers

Little Nemo is full of beautiful images and imaginative scenes.

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Jul 05, 2010 Elmistico rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-bd, emprunté

Un chef d'œuvre de la bande dessinée.

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Dec 24, 2007 Whit marked it as to-read

I am going to taste this in little bits.

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Aug 21, 2008 Melanie added it

Little Nemo is a badass

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Feb 12, 2009 Cait rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: these-are-my-favorite-books

I DIE FOR THIS BOOK. ungh.

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Dec 07, 2007 Meadow rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nostalgic!

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May 18, 2013 Corena Jara marked it as to-read

May 17, 2013 Daniel L. rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 16, 2013 George J Kalathil is currently reading it

May 16, 2013 Andrew marked it as to-read

May 15, 2013 Hródric Al-funs marked it as to-read

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About Winsor McCay

Was an American cartoonist and animator, best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (begun 1905) and the animated cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For legal reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and...more

More about Winsor McCay...

Books by Winsor McCay

Little Nemo in Slumberland - Too Many Splendid Sundays

The Complete Little Nemo in Slumberland, Vol. 1: 1905-1907

The Complete Little Nemo in Slumberland, Vol. 2: 1907-1908

Little Nemo in the Palace of Ice and Further Adventures

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