Little Nemo

In my first Blog I wrote about the future of the daily comic strip and the important role web-comics have in fostering creativity and giving an independent voice back to the medium (see - Comic Strip Version 2.0). Though I stand by this assessment, it is important to look at this issue in perspective. Newspaper comics were once anything but stagnate and repetitive. In fact, the newspaper form of comic storytelling is in large part responsible for broadening the percpective that comics could be a poignant and valuable form of art. There is no better example for this than the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McKay. However, with this strip being over 100 years old, its existence has been lost to most everyone, except for the few memories of it that lie dormant in our grandparents’ dreams. But Little Nemo is not lost to us anymore!

Star Clipper has just started carrying two different collections of Little Nemo in Slumberland, giving you the opportunity to experience Little Nemo first hand, just as our oldest relatives did. First, Little Nemo in Slumberland 1905-1911 collects the entire Nemo series, perfect for those readers concerned about continuity. However, I recommend our other collection So Many Splendid Sundays, a best-of Nemo that reprints each strip in its actually newspaper size. There is only one copy in the store so I urge everyone to definitely check it out before it is gone.

As the story goes, each strip of Little Nemo consist of an individual dream Nemo has about his adventures in Slumberland, with the final panel always showing Nemo abruptly waking up. Though the basic premise for each strip is relatively the same, the inventiveness of creator McKay always proves intriguing. For example, the entire first year of Little Nemo publication depicts Nemo’s futile attempts to simply reach Slumberland. During this year, the majority of Nemo’s dreams turned into nightmares, with Nemo being nearly crushed my giant mushrooms, transformed into a monkey, and ageing to a near death 90-year old man. When Nemo finally reaches Slumberland a year later the real adventures are just about to begin.

Little Nemo can be appreciated on many more levels than just for its story. McKay’s artwork is masterful and glorious, with a keen eye for background detail, and his supporting cast of characters, such as the mischievous outcast Flip and the powerful King Morpheus, creates further depth to the strip. McKay himself is an interesting reason to pick up Little Nemo as he would later become the world’s first renowned animator. Here is a clip of his most famous animation Gertie the Dinosaur.

Like Lewis Carols’ Alice in Wonderland, McKay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland was truly ahead of it’s time, something you would think would have been created in the 1960’s not 1905. So check out what newspaper readers used to have the privilege of reading before Little Nemo falls back into obscurity.

-Jon