Today I'm posting several examples of the classic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay. This was possibly the most artistic of funnies in the first generation of their existence, as McCay really strove to include dynamic images of the dreamscapes of his protagonist. [Be sure to click on the pictures to get bigger versions that are readable and will let you appreciate the detail of his work.]
McCay, who was also a master editorial cartoonist, seemed to embrace the elements of modernism that were emerging in art at the turn of the last century, and incorporated a fair number of ideas into
Nemo that would fit right alongside a Kandinsky painting from that same era.
Awhile after creating this strip, McCay began to experiment with animation, and exhibited his efforts on the vaudeville stage-- bringing to seeming life not only Nemo, but also another creation called Gertie the Dinosaur.
Unfortunately, today's funnies don't have the space to allow this kind of visual experimentation. I wonder how much more creative the younger generation would be if they were regularly exposed to this kind of imaginitive work. Does it sound too curmudgeonly of me to say that TV and video games just don't work the same magic as something like
Little Nemo in Slumberland?
Today I'm posting several examples of the classic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay. This was possibly the most artistic of funnies in the first generation of their existence, as McCay really strove to include dynamic images of the dreamscapes of his protagonist. [Be sure to click on the pictures to get bigger versions that are readable and will let you appreciate the detail of his work.]
McCay, who was also a master editorial cartoonist, seemed to embrace the elements of modernism that were emerging in art at the turn of the last century, and incorporated a fair number of ideas into Nemo that would fit right alongside a Kandinsky painting from that same era. 
Awhile after creating this strip, McCay began to experiment with animation, and exhibited his efforts on the vaudeville stage-- bringing to seeming life not only Nemo, but also another creation called Gertie the Dinosaur.
Unfortunately, today's funnies don't have the space to allow this kind of visual experimentation. I wonder how much more creative the younger generation would be if they were regularly exposed to this kind of imaginitive work. Does it sound too curmudgeonly of me to say that TV and video games just don't work the same magic as something like Little Nemo in Slumberland?
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