By Windsor McCay
Publisher:
Hyperion Pr (June 1, 1977)
Hardcover, 178
pages
Winsor McCay was
an American cartoonist and animator around the turn of the previous century.
This is when the circulation wars were at their height and every paper was
competing heavily with their neighbor. The daily comic’s page was just starting
to develop and grew in popularity exponentially. It was well known a paper
couldn’t survive without a good comics section. Winsor Mccay was one of those
who first developed the comic’s page into what it is today - or used to be before
everything went online.
While
there were many firsts in cartooning at that time, there is little that stands
out as still being exceptional. The one big exception is McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland - still
touted as one of the greatest American comics ever. This book does not contain
any of that material. Instead it is a collection of various strips the author
worked on prior to Little Nemo, from 1904 - 1914. These begin from a time when
comics didn’t have titles, to emerging short lived bits like It Was Only a Dream, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, Poor Jake, Midsummer Day Dreams, and Autumn
Day Dreams.
One
of things you’ll notice in these comics is the use of the dreaming theme (which
encompasses all of Little Nemo in Slumberland) begins quite early and seems to
have obsessed him throughout his entire career. Much of the material in the
early 1900s was pratfalls and word play, grounded in reality. The dream
scenarios allowed him play out whatever fantastic ideas popped into his head
without people being turned off. It worked for Alice in Wonderland. I’m also
including a clip of his cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur. It was one of the earliest
cartoons and all animation cells were hand drawn by McCay himself. Enjoy.
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