Years ago, my father had this tall, thick book called the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics (check it out here [link]). I would crack open this behemoth of a book and read comic strips from the early days of the medium, and marvel and how well it translated to the current day (in many cases. I read Yellow Man, Thimble Theater starring Popeye, Terry and the Pirates, The Katzenjammer Kids, and most importantly... Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Winsor McCay in 1905 (wow!) created what I consider to be the greatest comic strip of all time with Nemo-- a small child falls asleep and enters Slumberland, where he meets fantastic creatures and has monumental adventures, each pushing the limits of imagination one step further.

A year or so later, my parents bought my little brother the Little Nemo video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Wow! It actually had several of the elements from the strip, and translated them incredibly well for the 8-bit device. We were huge fans. We quickly realized that the game was based more accurately on the Little Nemo animated movie, based on the comic strip (obviously).

I still dig the animated film and the attention to detail it had. Seeing Flip and the King and the Princess and all the rest in full animated glory was even cooler. I really should buy this movie on DVD. It's been 8 years since last I saw it, and although slow in a few parts, it's still worth watching.

I'm not even a FRACTION of the artist Winsor McCay was, but hopefully this piece is respectful to the memory of the strip that inspired Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes and so many since... myself included. I defy you to read this strip and not be impressed.

Kelly just got me this ([link]d_bbs_sr_1/002-7967727-8796825?ie=UTF8&s=books) and it is great to read all these strips again. Mr. McCay, thanks for embracing imagination and showing so many generations that the fantastic is worth the effort. I hope you found YOUR Slumberland.


- jeremy