Winsor McCay (1867–1934)

Little Nemo's Big New Dreams is one of a number of books published in recent decades in homage to Windsor McKay's seminal newspaper comic Little Nemo. McKay's work, now well over a century old, is notable for its inspirational effect on recent comics creators from Vittorio Giardino and Brian Bolland to Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, and Neil Gaiman. Over thirty other artists and writers are represented here, each contributing a single full-page work on the pattern of the original McKay show more compositions.

Contrary to both promises of the title ("Big" and "New"), this book is actually a reduced-scale abridgment of the earlier oversized art book Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream. The present format has taken the 16" x 21" broadsheet-sized pages of the original, and turned them ninety degrees to spread across two modern comic-book sized pages as a 10" x 13.5" image. This level of reduction keeps the pages quite legible; the most significant loss is the horizontal interruption from the binding between the pages, which does not always coincide with a gutter between the comics panels. The object of this version was to create a book that ordinary consumers could own, with a list price below $20.

There is a wonderful amount of variety represented here, along a full spectrum from conservative pastiches carrying forward the themes of McKay's story to radical reinventions evidently founded in the actual sleeping dreams of the creators. Perhaps my favorite pieces representing each extreme are Cole Closser's "Little Flip in Slumberland" (34-5) for the former and the contribution of Bishakh Kumar Som (48-9) for the latter. Splitting the difference are pieces like the deliciously gothic "Last Night I Dreamed I Went to Slumberland Again" by Jamie Tanner (40-1).

I had unusual and vivid dreams after reading this book! show less

Adventures in pyjamas: The complete Little Nemo compilation

Meet Little Nemo, a diminutive hero of comic narrative, but one of the greatest dream voyagers of the 20th century. The master creation of Winsor McCay (1869–1934), restless sleeper Nemo inspired generations of artists with his weekly adventures from bed to Slumberland, a realm of colorful companions, psychedelic scenery, and thrilling escapades.

Nemo’s creator Winsor McCay was a founding figure in the modern American show more entertainment industry, above all with his revolutionary comics, which set standards for panel layout and storytelling technique, timing and pacing, and architectural and other detail that left an inestimable influence on subsequent artists, including Robert Crumb and Federico Fellini.

TASCHEN’s sumptuous Winsor McCay: The Complete Little Nemo 1905–1927 collects, for the very first time, and in full, glorious color, all 549 episodes of Little Nemo. In the illustrated accompanying volume, art historian and comics expert Alexander Braun places Winsor McCay’s life and work within the cultural history of the U.S. media and entertainment industry, and explores the immense art historical value of McCay's dream narrative. At once an adventure story, visual delight, and piece of cultural history, this publication is a tremendous monument to one of the most innovative pioneers—and one of the most intrepid explorers—of comic history.

The second volume, in style of newspaper pages, is a softcover edition examining McCay’s life and work, illustrated by historical photographs and documents. Art historian and comics expert Alexander Braun places Winsor McCay’s life and work within the cultural history of the U.S. media and entertainment industry. show less

McCay’s inventive comic strip from issues of the 1907 New York Herald is a whimsical depiction of a young boy’s dreams, the colorful panels will go from small to huge to produce a delightfully dramatic effect. The ones depicting action at sea make marvelous use of perspective to induce further drama.

Alas, the use of racist stereotypes, while typical for his era, so put me off that they spoiled the art for me.

Being an interesting, Little Nemo-free collection of celebrated cartoonist McCay, though the front matter claims that he was under-appreciated at the time this came out. Although there is a brief look at his political cartoons herein, as well as some desultory comic strips (some only one-shots, at least here), the two most successful parts of the book are his "other" major strip, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend and the spectacular illustrations, futuristic and abstract, for the "Sermons on show more Paper" newspaper series, which do a marvelous job of personifying human follies and emotions, as well as at times depicting a rather fearful, mechanistic future. Although the whimsy of McCay's humorous strips has worn fairly well a century on, these illustrations still speak very directly to the human condition. show less