The Best of Little Nemo in Slumberland

by Winsor McCay, Richard Marschall (Editor)

Winsor McCay's graphic masterpiece of dreams and fantasy, Little Nemo in Slumberland, comes alive in this new anthology. As astonishing today as when it was published almost a century ago, Little Nemo is considered by many critics and artists to be the greatest comic strip of all time. Though the strip only ran intermittenly from 1905 to 1927, Winsor McCay continues to be honored as the master of the art form for his brilliant concept, color, and design. Drawn in art nouveau style, the weekly strip detailed the dreams of a six-year-old boy whose fantasy world was filled with adventure, humor, joy, fear, monsters, princesses, and surprises at every turn. Each page is a self-enclosed episode where Little Nemo encounters memorable characters, unbelievable joys, and menacing dangers, all within a stunning landscape of beauty and majesty called Slumberland. In The Best of Little Nemo, editor Richard Marschall has selected close to 200 of the very best strips written and illustrated by McCay. All are reproduced in color, in an oversized format to fit the scale of their original newspaper layout, and printed exactly as they first appeared. Also included are homages to Winsor McCay written by such creative masters as Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Charles Schulz (Peanuts), Maurice Sendak, animator Chuck Jones, and several others.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Art, Fantasy, Fiction

216 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 1997

About the author

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 others in later decades. His comic strip work has influenced generations of artists, including creators such as William Joyce, André LeBlanc, Moebius, Maurice Sendak, Chris Ware and Bill Watterson.

Reviews

[Catherine]

The conversation balloons drove me crazy, but the artwork was fabulous & very creative

[Mag]

I've been interested in comic books/graphic novels for a long time (I even teach a class about them) and in every anthology/survey ever written about the subject they talk about Little Nemo, so I figured I should give it a shot. Once I found the book (it was not at my local library, I got it from the university library) I was a little scared at first, because the first few pages were really hard to read (he has a caption written really small under each box, plus dialogue in bubbles) but after a little bit (maybe a year worth of cartoons? He published once a month) it's only bubbles and it's amazing how inventive it is. Some of the strips were black and white, and those were harder to appreciate, but the colored ones are amazing. There are some issues you would expect to find in such an old comics: representing indigenous people as cannibals, Nemo threatening to shoot and kill Native Americans who are attacking him (but then, this representation lasted several more decades, the first Little Nemo comic was published in 1905), there is one instance of black facing. However most of the time it's about pure fantasy and the imagination is awesome. A lot of it feels very familiar, and I don't know if it's because he was copied or creators came up with the idea separately. For example at some point they're visiting the moon, and they enter this big hole with their zeppelin, to realize later that this was the mouth of a giant. It's very similar to Star Wars when they get swallowed by a giant snake with their spaceship. Another example: Nemo and his friend playing in the snow and becoming giant snow balls rolling down the hill, and taking off in the air after rolling up the incline of a roof, before crashing on the ground. This almost exact same scene can be found in Tintin (the temple of the sun I believe), except Tintin and his friends hit a rock and get stopped but the bad guys keep rolling down a cliff. So I really enjoyed this, it felt really modern once you get past the quality of printing and some of the stereotype. Interestingly, even my kids, who stole the book from me, really enjoyed it.

[Tra-Kay]

Extraordinary! Amazing! Fantastical!

It's Oz twirled up with Alice in Wonderland and given a good shake of many completely unique things, tossed out in colorful, skillful comic form!

I'm bewildered. How did I never know about this?! Oh sure, we all know about the film. What about the comics that inspired it? I feel like a little child, I'm all atwiddle. Just enjoy the sensations.

After further reading: This is the best. The best of books, the best of films, even though it is a comic. It muscled everything else aside with long-legged beds and icy ponds that are really bald men's heads, and cigar-smoking clowns and giants and elaborate dresses.

"I wouldn't give anything to see him get hurt, except half of my life, and then, no worse an injury than breaking every bone in his body!"
"Knocked your lid off, eh? I wish it had knocked your block off, old butt in!"
"I do not want to hear the crash!" "I do not want to see the crash!"
"I want to see an' hear everything! The realization of a fond hope!"

[Wren]

Winsor McCay doesn't need praise from me, but I'll give him some anyway. He is a national treasure, and Little Nemo is the greatest comic strip of all time. This art is over a century old, and it's still difficult to find comparable work. The first comic master and a founding father of animation, McCay is one of my all time favorite artists, and I recommend his work to everybody.
This edition is quite nice. It's non-linear, but it collects the work into it's different strengths, with each chapter introduced by experts such as Art Spiegelman, Charles Schulz, Chuck Jones and Bill Watterson. My only complaint with Little Nemo is how difficult it is to own. This is a Best Of collection from the library, but someday I'd like to have a complete collection.

[Tyler]

So I didn't really read that much of this book, but it was beautiful to flip through. It was written in the early 1900's for newspapers, but the art is simply gorgeous. The stories are not amazing, but they are interesting and a little strange. They are all dreams of a young boy and therefore pretty fantastic. It's also interesting to look at early comics and the way they are similar or different from modern comics. A great thing to look at for sure.

[stillme]

After reading Ten-Cent Plague, I wanted to know more about Little Nemo. McCay was brilliant. I also liked seeing how he was the influence behind a lot of my favorite artists (Bill Waterman and Art Speigel, especially).

[Sebastien]

Incredibly imaginative, wonderfully drawn. Love McCay's color schemes and use of patterns as well...

[Philippe Mckay]

amazing...its like what is in my head...lol

[Konrad Crnkovic]

Little Nemo is one of the most beautifully drawn, magical and charming things I have read. This book is well printed, large and features a good selection that spans 22 years. Incredible stuff.

[Erik]

Beautifully imaginative. McCay's art is incredible. A fun journey through a child's dream world.