little nemo in slumberland

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i like it better than krazy kat, but then i like it better than most things.

― jess, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(waits for thread to be hijacked by another modernism/pomo argt.)

― jess, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Little Nemo = rules. Picked up a complete collection via a Taschen-related imprint about a year and a half ago, and it's prime. A product of its time, thus the tribesmen and all, which is unfortunate and then some. But in terms of sheer strange dreaminess (of course!) at times, a delight. The whole quest to get to the princess in the first strips was fun, but the trick was how McCay could continue from there.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To bring the Po some Mo', I've not had the opportunity to read too much Little Nemo in Slumberland itself, but I love the dream sequences in Neil Gaiman's Sandman tale "The Doll's House" that emulate Winsor McCay's style ... that's the kind of mimesis (within context, without vulturism) that comics should always take advantage of ..

― Dare, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks ned, i was wondering how poor little nemo could generate typical ile controversy and then you brought up the tribesmen. ;)

they actually don't bother me as much as they should. i mean, they're really, reaaaaly chauvinistic. but it's soooooooo pretty. god, i suck.

― jess, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Isn't there a relevant um... Genesis song?

― Kim, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Alan Moore did a brilliant parody of it at the beginning of "Pictopia" about 15 years ago, with Little Sammy Sleepyhead having Oedipal nightmares and yelling aloud in his sleep: "Melted cheese! Melted cheese! Oh, mama, do take care, my sheets will tangle for sure!"

― Douglas, Thursday, 7 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

DREAMS OF THE RAREBIT FIEND!

― Tom, Thursday, 7 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i do effin love it (I have the handsome titan hardback reprints) but sometimes the story gets a little claustrophobic or frustrating or something - I mean, you KNOW he's going to wake up in the last panel, and he never ever quite gets to where he's going. quite fever-dreamy, at least it reminds me of the 'nearly there, nearly there oops I've woken up' dreams I had when I was really sick a nine year old.

AS I said on the Krazy thread, McKay's a peerless draughtsman, but I think my favourite thing about Nemo is the colour - absolutely brilliant. More subtle and vivid than anything I've ever seen in a periodical, even modern digital coulor stuff doesn't touch it. Absolutely beautiful.

I've seen a shonkin' awful looking vidjo 'toon of Nemo available on the web. Anyone seen it? Also there was a NES game in the late eighties I think.

― misterjones, Thursday, 7 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've gigged occasionally as Little Nemo - very spare, slightly weird, country tinged acoustica. It's been with a radically different line up on each occasion, though always at the Night and Day in buzzin' Manchesterfordshire. I'd like to find a proper band this year.

― misterjones, Thursday, 7 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

My Christmas wish list just got a little longer.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

Here's the actual book. And there's a calendar too! The sample pages look gorgeous.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

Excellent. Much as I enjoy the Taschen volume I mentioned above, this appears to take it to a worthier level all around.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

at a buck a page, it better!

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Hehehe. Cheaper than that, surely -- there were much more than 120 cartoons total.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

No, I think the book's only 120 pages -- selected strips, not comprehensive. (I'm assuming it would have been too expensive to do the whole run this way.) So it obviously loses the week-to-week narrative flow and is basically just an art book. Still...ooo ahhh.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

Aw, that's a pity -- I was loving the idea of a complete run at that size. But I'll take a selection and hold onto the Taschen. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

Is there a complete collection at a cheaper price? I love Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend but have never read Nemo. This stuff is public domain right?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

I don't think its public domain. Fantagraphics reprinted the whole run, but I don't think in a single volume (I have a couple volumes of that set - I had to pick my favorite years).

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

Is there a complete collection at a cheaper price?

Guys, I've mentioned the Taschen comp twice on this thread now! Why nobody listen to me OMG WTF! *cries*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

Sorry Ned! I had assumed the Taschen collection was an art book kinda thing too. The Rarebit book I have is published by Dover so I just assumed it was in he public domain.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

I definitely can't resist buying this huge version though!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, it looks a treat. Now, to rob a bank...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Both the Fantagraphics and Taschen collections look to be out of print. I have just one volume of the Fantagraphics run, it's very nice. There have been other editions over the years, my dad has some from the '60s or '70s. I think it's just so expensive to reproduce well, and the market is limited. This new one looks worth snapping up, because my guess is it'll sell out its run pretty quickly.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

so we're passed the 100th anniversary, right? when did the strip start...? you'd think there were some big centennial reprints or something...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

The strips, along with most of the rest of McCay's works, fell into the public domain worldwide on January 1, 2005.

I wish somebody would scan them all and put them online.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

I'm kind of disappointed to find out that the whole run isn't being collected. I mean, I have the Tachen collection and it's totally awesome, but I'd loooove to have the whole set in original size.

Oh, well. Less money spent, eh?!?

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

Gawd. If I had a scanner big enough and time to spare, I'd do it. But, alas...

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

It seems like the kind of project that someone with a grant (and access to originals) at a University should undertake.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

Or the Library of Congress. What's the point of having a Library of Congress if it can't give us full-scale reproductions of Little Nemo?

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

As a kid, I had an ALMOST this large collection of reprints that had been made in the (i wanna say) late seventies; anybody familiar with this one? It was basically the same strip selection as the new one too...

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

That might be the one my dad has, which I grew up reading. The difference in the new one is supposedly the color fidelity. As I recall, the colors in that one were OK but a little washed-out.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 21 October 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

The best comic strip ever. That one man could crank a page of this out each week --- goodness. Or "Oh me!" as Nemo would say. Krazy Kat comes in a close 2nd.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

I have the first four Fantagraphics volumes... I'm tempted to sell one of them to raise the funds for the Maresca volume.

...holy shit, I didn't realize the first Fantagraphics volume was going for that much money. Only one copy available according to AddALL, and the seller is asking $379.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 22 October 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

if anyone wants to check out little nemo to see if they like it before going for one of the expensive reprints, this book is a good bet:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486232344/103-2457551-7044608?v=glance

it's not the original size, but it's large enough to let you see how beautiful and detailed those pages were. i flip through it sometimes right before i go to sleep but i haven't managed to have a nemo-esque dream yet.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 22 October 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

oh shit I accidentally sold a copy of the taschen a month ago in a box of stuff and now I see it's going for $200. WTF did I do?

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 22 October 2005 02:17 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

Wow. I ordered the new big book because my sister and brother and I are giving it to my dad for Christmas (shh, don't tell). It came today and naturally I couldn't resist taking off the plastic wrap for a peek. Whoo-ee, it's some kinda nice. And it really is humungous, good lord. Also it looks like the guy did a good job of selecting lots of sequential strips so you do get nice long storylines even if it's not the whole run. I also got the calendar for myself as consolation for not being able to justify buying my own copy of the book. I guess I'll inherit it some day.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 15 November 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I REALLY WANT THE GIANT BOOK. WHY IS IT SO MUCH MONEY?

― no bones, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:12 (nineteen years ago)

why didn't i ever pick up one of the fantagraphic books WHY? (cause you read in-store way too much you loser)

― no bones, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:14 (nineteen years ago)

The giant book is so much money because it cost a lot of money to make!

All the Fanta books are collected in the Taschen book for a fraction of the price.

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:38 (nineteen years ago)

WHY IS IT SO MUCH MONEY?

Because it's huge, for one thing, but also because it needs to be. You can't really read Little Nemo at anything less that the full page size, which I think is 21x16 or something insane like that. Too much of the print is too small to shrink it and not lose it, and the artwork is too good to want it any smaller.

The Fantagraphics "Daydreams and Nightmares" compilation is really good, too. Nemo is great stuff, but it's still kid's stuff, comparitively.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:42 (nineteen years ago)

the taschen book is long out of print.

i know it is worth every penny, its more an issue of why am i suddenly obsessed with this when i can not afford to spend 130 on a book!

kid's stuff? i suppose.

― kephm (kephm), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 03:03 (nineteen years ago)

This is such a beautiful book. Sunday Press is doing a second printing, since the entire first run sold out. They are selling for $300 on Amazon right now, used. But the second printing will be available in March.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 03:14 (nineteen years ago)

kid's stuff? i suppose.

Well, comparatively. The social satire and sometimes outright dire warnings in "Daydreams and Nightmares" can be heavy stuff. There's this one image that sticks with me, called "The Last Day of Manhattan," and... well, you just have to see it.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 04:17 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently the Taschen book is getting reprinted this summer!

― robert in slc, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 05:28 (nineteen years ago)

when does the movie come out?

― |l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|l| (eman), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 06:06 (nineteen years ago)

No movie. Just a laser show down at the planetarium. I'll bring the shrooms.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 06:09 (nineteen years ago)

The Taschen book got remaindered, it was everywhere about two years ago for ridiculously cheap. Good for them on taking another chance and riding the Sunday Press book's coat-tails!

(the Taschen used the Fanta negs incidentally, so the images are exactly the same)

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 09:33 (nineteen years ago)

four months pass...

The Taschen book is either back in print or a distributor has found a box and distributed it again; I bought a new copy yesterday for $32 thinking I'd be able to score reselling it, but it's on amazon for $22.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

six years pass...

New Google doodle, now live in Australia:

http://www.google.com.au/

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 14 October 2012 21:39 (thirteen years ago)

so cool

― WmC, Sunday, 14 October 2012 22:17 (thirteen years ago)

best google doodle ever!

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Sunday, 14 October 2012 22:19 (thirteen years ago)

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