The Complete Little Sammy Sneeze

The latest addition to the Windsor McCay archives is the Complete Little Sammy Sneeze from Sunday Press Books. Predating McCay's Milestone Little Nemo in Slumberland, The Complete Little Sammy Sneeze not only reprints in full color all of the Sammy Sneeze strips from 1904 and 05, but also features full runs of other forgotten McCay classics such as Hungry Henrietta, The Woozlebeasts, and The Upside Downs.

In reflection of the strips original formatting in the New York Herald, where Sammy Sneeze was printed in full color on one page with the reverse side being another black and white McCay strip, the book aims to recreate this experience for new readers. Thus, the page-by-page layout has one full color Sammy Sneeze strip opposite another black and white comic, illustrated below:



The conventions of Little Sammy Sneeze gives fans a glimpse into McCay progression as a storyteller and artist, and how he perfected his masterpiece Little Nemo. Like Nemo's inevitable trip to Slumberland and subsequent nightmare, Sammy Sneeze is always awaiting the next violent sneeze. Both strips explore the innocents of childhood, with poor Sammy always being punished for his outrageous sneezes, even with the disclaimers "He just simply couldn't stop it" and "He never knew when it was coming."

While supplies last The Complete Sammy Sneeze will also come with an official Sammy Sneeze tissue box to help avoid those unwanted sneezes:



Gesundheit

-Jon