Absolutely, he's beloved there, from what I've read. But you can also see his influences on everyone from Robert Crumb to Chris Ware in America too. Not to mention non-comics influences, him being the grandfather of American animation in many ways. Then there's the video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Runnin' Down a Dream ua-cam.com/video/Y1D3a5eDJIs/v-deo.html 😀
@@pashadyne I don't know why I haven't seen this comment earlier, but I am now going to start hunting for as many of these European pastiches as I can find! And I completely agree with you - take away the text/bubbles and they'd be mindblowing as contemporary creations!
@@ftlocI was just wondering after properly discovering McCay how I would go about learning more about the origins and school of cartoon artists. Was it just so self explanatory that once people saw it they automatically had their own take or did it branch out from certain people/places in particular? Do you have any info on that?
I have procured the Taschen "Complete" WInsor McCay large pages version from 1905 - 1927... all in chronological order and easy to read. Even has the history of Winsor and all of his "Other works" When I went to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to work with the Disney Animation team, I had access to the best art library in the world. We all studied Winsor and Ub Iwerks, ....my mentor Jack Hanna (Donald Duck, Chip and Dale) ... used give me assignments to look up illustrators - Sigh... best times! That was way back in 1977-1980!
What a wonderful experience that sounds like! Thank you so much for sharing. Luckily, soon after I made this video, I was able to pick up the Taschen Volume 2, so didn't need the full edition, which is exactly the same, just all in one volume. What a great archival work it is indeed.
Little Nemo is pure awesome. And I mean it in the liitteral way, that is, when you look at almost any page, you can't help being in awe. You describe the art as "psychadelic" a couple of times in the video, but I would say it has more "surrealist" qualities than psychadelic. I meant to get the Fantagraphic editions when they came out but, as I too often do, I procrastinated too long until they weren't available at decent prices anymore. Happy to learn that they are other (and better quality) editions now available. Thank you for this!
And the second Taschen volume, I’ve just been informed in the comments below, is scheduled! Yes, the comic definitely serves up the surreal, specially in its dream logic, but I’ve always been struck by how the colours and shapes can change at the drop of a hat, and how the the same thing can be rapidly presented in multiple forms. It’s always been quite psychedelic to me in that way, as if my brain is on a carousel. And yes, these pages, when stretched out in front of you, definitely inspire awe!
Thanks again for another great review. I have the taschen version which I bought for around 2K. Taschen will publish Vol 2 1910-27 sometimes this year . Its already in there site.
@@MasterZebulin haha that's a deep, exhaustive conversation, probably for more knowledgable people than me. But I sure picked an expensive hobby, no matter where in the world I live! 😁
I laughed outright when you revealed an even larger edition. But that laugh quickly turned harsh as I grimly accepted that it is now all I want. Great videos by the way!
I was happy to find a book with some of the comics and a ton of early 20th century newspaper comics at a thrift store. It's the hardcover book called 'The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics' which collects select newspaper comic strips from 1896 to 1950 with some at the end of the book going up to 1977, the time of the books publication. It's a very nice book and is a nice sampler of a lot of popular comics and a neat time capsule.
That sounds like a great book! I started appreciating classic comic strips a lot later than many other comics, simply because I hadn't been exposed to them, but I find the more I discover the more I love!
I just found this channel! After my own heart! Subscribed! I've been a comics fanatic for over 50 years,and I don't think anything came close in craftsmanship or imagination until arguably,"Calvin and Hobbes". They epitomize the Comics Art Form at it's best as a world you can happily dwell in,not just a multi-stage gag. Although,like vinyl albums, they'll never disappear, it's sad to see the passing away of newspapers with the digital age. Those books are glorious,and you don't have to fret over reading them! Love this channel,so happy to have some catching up to do.
Welcome aboard and long may your enjoyment of this little channel continue! 😁 Yes, I think the newspaper strip will find a new equilibrium, much like vinyl, as you say, and then again vinyl sales keep rising year on year from what I've heard! I think webcomics are the natural successor, although they of course have a separate vocabulary, with some overlaps. I do think that there's a more localized, independent possibility for the future of large, newspaper sized comics, even if they aren't in a newspaper per se, but it all depends on that critical balance of readership and costs. In some ways all of print faces this dilemma, but the medium and its possibilities will always evolve, I optimistically feel!
Thank you! Yes, it’s a gorgeous book for a gorgeous comic, isn’t it? The Taschen book is a used beat up copy I got cheap from Amazon India, so it’s always worth keeping a watch!
I completely forgot this was originally a very old, weird Newspaper Comic. :p Than you got the classic anime movie and the NES game, and now... you got that weird Live-Action remake. o.O I'd rather have the movie, and I'm wondering if this Comic is even better than that. :p
Great video, sir. Thank you. I only recently got into Little Nemo by reading the strips online and I keep searching for affordable copies of these books. I received an email from Taschen a couple days ago stating that there are plans to reprint the 2014 complete version in “Fall 2022”. I really hope this is true.
I'm so glad you enjoyed this video and even gladder that you've discovered the distinct joys of reading Nemo. That Taschen reprint sounds perfectly timed for you, so here's hoping you're able to get your hands on a copy immediately! 😁 cheers!
he was something! thanks for publishing update. didn't like the earlier fantographic because of size. a great resource for someone more devoted than i though.
The two Taschen volumes collect the entirety, and I've heard that the one volume complete edition will be reprinted soon by Taschen. So those are great options today!
Beautiful artwork. Amazing that a hundred years ago they could tackle such colour comics, when today's colour newspaper photography can be quite awful (the UK's Times and Sunday Times in particular).
I have definitely wondered what happened to our colour printing abilities when I saw what they did in 1905. It may be that the paper quality went down over the years, making subtle printing harder, but I’d be curious to know what the real reason is!
Always a possibility 😁 But if the trip itself was enough to create art like this, we would be drowning in amazing stuff. Irrespective of what's in my head, I'm still going to need to be some mad master to be able to make other, sober, folks see what I see. So the craft remains unimpeachable, it seems to me.
I wish so much the original art of this series was found and reprinted from that. Having to see this strip via reprints of old newspapers is criminal. :-( I do have the cheap Evergreen copy, and the reproduction does suck. Someday I'll get a better reproduction of the strips. And I like your channel! Thank you for covering comics that rarely get enough attention in english. Actually most old comics don't get enough love from UA-camrs.
Thank you, and I’m so glad you’re enjoying the channel! And of course having the original art would be amazing, but I think they’re lost in time. I really don’t mind the restoration/reproduction from newspapers - far better than lo-res scans or printouts for sure - and the Sunday Press editions in particular, taken from the publisher’s personal collection, look quite beautiful to my untrained eye. Once I get my hands on the second Taschen volume, I may do a close look at the same strips in different editions.
@@ftloc Great! Thanks for replying. Actually, there are some wonderful restorations from an artist who basically traced and recolored 5 pages from the newspaper scans. www.kickstarter.com/projects/2053745390/the-little-nemo-masters-series-prints I bought one of the prints he made, and it is beautiful. Imagine seeing all of McCay's art in that quality! Have you seen the book Dinomania? It reprints a few torn pieces from original art of a lost McCay strip he made near the end of his life. Honestly Dinomania as a whole was underwhelming to me because a great deal of the space is spent discussing the tenuous link between this lost strip and King Kong, but the few nuggets of goodness are extraordinary.
Oh wow, thanks for this link; those look incredible indeed! If there was a book with that type of 'restoration' available I would jump on it. And no, I haven't read Dinomania and excessive notes tend to dissuade me anyway, but maybe I can find some samples online? Thanks so much for the great info!
great review! the comparison of the different editions is interesting. size, paper, colours are different. have you read "Little Nemo" by Frank Pé (published in 2021)?
If you want to appreciate the original art you also have the gigantic book (reproductions at 90% of the original art) edited by Ed Toth. The art is commented by Schuiten and Peeters... www.altaplana.be/en/dictionary/biennale-du-9e-art-2017
I can't find this issue on this edition maybe because just was published in Europe. I don't know if any other has been supressed. i1.wp.com/gcomics.online/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Nemo-Slumberland-ES-Tapa.jpg?resize=1654%2C2205&ssl=1
Have you looked at Taschen's new complete edition. Not as tall and wide as the one you have here but still big and thick. I received my copy last week, it survived the trip to Australia in one piece thankfully, and it is the biggest comic book I now own. Ive decided to read 2 pages a day so as not to burn out on the repeated story telling mechanics. Fantastic artwork, every page blows my mind.
I thought the 'complete' volume was exactly the same size and format as the two separate volumes? Is that not the case? I managed to pick up Vol 2 a few months after I made this video, so that worked out well! 😁
Hi, I know this is an older video now, but I was wondering what is your opinion on the Checker Book edition (the complete run in 2 volumes published around 2008 I think). I wish I could get the complete single volume Taschen, but that seems impossible. I wish they would reprint it.
I haven't run across the Checker editions but Taschen now has their Volume 2 out (it shows up in a couple of my later videos), so I'd say grab those for a full, beautifully produced, collection! 😁
Wonderful stuff, but don't sleep on Rarebit Fiend, either - some great surrealist art and keen psychological insight there! Was Nemo spun off? I don't recall Nemo (or a similar character) in Rarebit.
Taschen also has a single- volume edition that contains all 500+ Nemo strips. It comes in a cardboard carrying case and contains a slim volume telling the history of McCay and his comic. I own this version, along with So Many Splendid Sundays. Although it’s great to see the comic in its original broadsheet size I find the size of the Splendid Sunday version incredibly unwieldy and for my money I prefer the single-volume Taschen edition.
The Taschen edition is definitely more wieldy (although still quite large) and I’m definitely interested in the second volume (the edition you have being too far out of reach now, alas). The Sunday Press books absolutely have to be laid flat on a large table, no other way to read them, but whenever I do, I end up losing track of time thanks to how hypnotic it is at that size.
Do you mean the Shanower/Rodriguez series or the tribute book from Locust Moon Press? I greatly enjoyed both and was thinking of doing a quick video on them!
It's always a very complex question, isn't it? Products of their time and put out there by people consuming and bred on certain depictions will always be reflective of the society (or segment of society) they live in, and how much meanness, poison, and outright hate is inherent in them tends can be hard to pinpoint. As with many things I feel it is important to recognize that even the most beautiful things had these kinds of ugliness in them, which shows us how insidious and deep-rooted certain approaches can be if not examined or questioned. What do you feel about the visual presentation in those parts of Nemo?
@@ftloc You are right, hard to answer in a comment. Appreciate your response. I think it's important to talk about racist depictions, biases, societal factors, and whatever other "ugliness" when we look at art of any kind, not just ignore it, or excuse it. It's ok to be critical of his racist caricatures, his privilege, while upholding his incredible skill at perspective, color, and imagination. For me personally, i'm pretty hesitant to drop a lot of my very little money on books like this.
I don't own any of the editions you mention here but have had the pleasure of "reading" bits of his work in Winsor McCay: His Life and Art. Even in reduced size, McCay's work is just jaw dropping. Genius and innovator are overused terms, but when speaking of McCay, are appropriate. Thanks for the vid and well done sir.
Thanks so much, I’m thrilled you liked it! I too first encountered Nemo in a book about comics that had some panels. They were close up panels so I was able to appreciate the art but I was blown away when I saw those panels as part of a larger page. I agree that even shrunk down, its impossible to miss the genius of McCay’s art!
Maybe you could do a video / videos on your edition of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind? I am particularly curious about the quality of the binding, having never been able to inspect the boxset in person. It seems, and I've heard, that they aren't really sewn, or at least, the folios are so stiffly glued to the spine that even if it is sewn, the book is rather inflexible. I'd appreciate an examination of the quality of the release. On a different note, I imagine you'll love this video of Paul Gravett with his rare+expensive oversized facsimile edition of little nemo ua-cam.com/video/DZ87mAL_z0s/v-deo.html Finally, I don't remember if you mention this in a previous video, but if you aren't already aware of the Verite collection, it is put out by an indian comics publisher and features english translations of japanese gekiga manga, as well as a couple comics by american and european authors, and many indian comics as well. The mix of indie international comics I think might be something you'd be very interested in.
Thanks for the great link! You'll find the first volume of Verite showcased a little bit in my 'Indie Comix Haul' video here: ua-cam.com/video/c190UI9C32I/v-deo.html and a brief chat with Bharath Murthy (the editor and publisher of Verite) in part of mymy Indie Comix Fest video here: ua-cam.com/video/1T2IRCRzkJM/v-deo.html in case you are interested! And thanks for suggesting Nausicaa; I'd love to do a closer look at it and the box set edition, so let me take a look and see what I can come up with! Thanks for watching and commenting!
So Many Splendid Sunday's....what a beautiful title to such a wondrous work. I actually grew up in the last era of newsprint ( late 1960s till the early 2000s) and really remember the anticipation of the Sunday Funnies. As I grew older, but still a child, I wondered what came before and happened upon Little Nemo in Slumberland. In these simple storied, yet phantasmagoric comic strips, my mind was blown! Here was surrealism before Dali and his ilk. The characters were both weird, yet lovable and each Sunday dream sequence was a rushed but enthralling adventure, drawn with baroque abandon....but.....punctuated by a waking resolution. This was a quick, but excellent overview of a comic lovers favorite and I'm glad you shared your true love and appreciation of this somewhat forgotten classic.... Cheers!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the video - and what a joy reading comics in the newspaper was in my childhood, even as strips. I can only imagine what these full page masterpieces would have been like back at the start of the Twentieth Century, and am glad for these large format editions that help us approach that wonder, just a little bit!
My grandparents had a book version that I loved as a kid. I am old and my grandparents were both born pre 1900. It connected me with the world in the 1900s. I love the aesthetic
Not a formal spotlight but, coincidentally, I just published this a few weeks ago - you may find it of interest? ua-cam.com/video/87aBlXR325Q/v-deo.html
You should do an update video on the Evergreen edition from 2000. While not at broadsheet size, it is rather large with gorgeous coloring and mostly legible text. It's the complete run from 1905-1914 in one volume too.
Russell is definitely influenced by McCay, as are a whole host of artists from Chris Ware to JH Williams. He was so ahead of his time that it took another fifty years after him for people to return to where he had left off!
That would be very interesting! But nothing today is published in this size I think, unless they are reprinting works like these! The Sunday Press editions shown here and the tribute album I show in my follow up video (Nemo by people other than Winsor McKay) are the closest I have found.
@CULTURIA Ah that would be lovely! Ive seen something like that with modern comics - Panorama out of San Francisco I think. Folded, unstapled newsprint sheets, with full page comics by different creators. Broadsheet sized reprints of classic strips would be magnificent. But hell to store, ship and sell over great distances, I am assuming?
@@ftloc Wednesday comics looks and works just like a regular single when folded. I don't know if there were distribution problems with it, but that should be the standard, if there were any.
I truly enjoy reading Little Nemo. Go Comics runs the comic and it can be enlarged to have most frames legible even in a cellphone. I finally realized a month or so ago that this is the inspiration of the antithesis Little Neuro. That is the comic book that Pete reads in Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson.
It's such a magical series isn't it? I would never have thought it would be bearable on a phone, the page layout and the impact of receiving the whole thing at once to start being such a crucial part of it, but this sounds very intriguing! I'll definitely check it out! Cheers!
Excellent! Thank you so much. I became a rabid Little Nemo fan through my father. I was quite prone to nightmares in my childhood, waking up screaming and scaring the daylights out of my parents, so my dad often said I was his Little Nemo. Your evaluation of the marvelous art and design is spot-on. And thank for the valuable info on publications.
Oh interesting question! I don't know what the size of those newspapers/ supplements were or how much space the Tintin page took up in them, but that would make for a fun research project. I only ever saw Tintin serialized in it's modern form, which was one strip/ line at a time... Let me ask some people who may know!
@@ftloc It's the all in one! But it's downsized about 2-3 inches. The reprint is 11.5 x 14.69. If you have the Prince Valiant books, it's slightly taller (14.3) but a fair bit wider (10.5). Pretty good size i'd say, not too large/heavy if it were to be like the XXL edition of 17 inches. Taschen often if not almost always downsizes on their book reprints.
@@ftloc I am for sure lol. I just ordered it yesterday, it'll be about a week before it gets here. Excited to have it and read/see it for the first time. And having it in 1 book vs 2 is pretty convenient. I am sure it got reprinted now because a new Slumberland movie is coming out in November. It's going to be a very popular book, so best get it while I can lol.
Thank you! In the past I’ve done separate videos on the comic and the editions; I thought this was a good chance to try a mashup! If you’ve had a chance to try one of the others , I’d love to know which you like better. 😀
Now, if only McCay could have been able to write dialogue to match the quality of the pictures...Oh *BOY* !!! (It's probably why he's not as well remembered as he otherwise deserves.) 😁
I agree! It was in such early days of comics that the ideal balance and presentations had yet to be worked out. It's less about his writing being 'bad' (I would say more that it was redundant, given the art) and more about reading habits getting more refined over the last century plus. Their small size when reproduced at less than broadsheet size doesn't help!
Really interesting. I have always loved the dream sequence in Tintin like the ones in Cigars of the Pharoah, Prisoners of the sun and Tintin in Tibet. Any chances of picking these up in India for an affordable price?
The two Taschen books are available here from online sellers, but the Sunday Press books may be hard to get. Of course a lot of stuff does get made available by importers, but the prices usually skyrocket after taxes and shipping. I did, however, but one of those giant ones in india, many many years ago. And the dream sequences in Tintin are simply superb! They really captured the jump cut nonsense of dreams very well!
Ideas are such flimsy things to separate into inspiration and plagiarism, aren't they? Would you say it was the idea for Nemo or the idea for the precursor Rarebit Fiend? Also, can you give me the name of the illustrator - I'd love to find out more!
@@ftloc Edit: It looks like my previous message was not saved, so I write it again: Check for 2 articles on topfferiana, one called "Le Petit Lucien au Pays des Rêves" (about a strip by Job from 1886) and the other one called "Le Petit Lucien, deuxième épisode" (about a strip by Rip, 1888). Pretty similar to Little Nemo.
That would be great to see. I checked out your video since I just backed Pie For Breakfast Studios's Little Nemo Kickstarter game and wanted to look more into the source material. :)
I am glad about this feature. I learned of "Little Nemo In Slumberland" after researching meaning of the Genesis song "Scenes From a Night's Dream." Someone at last evening's family game night mentioned "Finding Nemo," a movie I never got interested in to see; I mentioned "Little Nemo in Slumberland" comic strip and no one there had heard of it.
@@ftloc Yes, there were reasons it got people hooked and acclaim back then, and modern technological society could use more of LNIS' imaginative timeless aspects.
I own the Little Nemo books from Sunday Press. I had ran into their booth at our Comic-Con and was impressed with their size. It was a pain carrying them through the crowded exhibition hall and public trolley but I think it was well worth it.
@@ftloc Picked them up as I left the Con. What I thought was going to be a short pleasant journey home ended up more tiring and taxing than expected as the streets were crowded, the trolley was late and bursting so it was impossible to sit, and I was carrying heavy and fragile items my weak arms had no business carrying lol. It was probably less than an hour but it seemed a lot longer in my mind.
You know, I bought both my volumes online and one arrived impeccably packed, but the other one did get a corner dinged. Your trials served you better than my sitting-at-home ease in that regard! 😀
I think the Sunday Press and Taschen Editions are both available at their list prices, which is still high but at least not the gouging that happens when books go out of print. In fact, the second Taschen volume is recently out, making for a pretty comprehensive collection!
The art is amazing. In your opinion, can you follow the story without reading any of the word bubbles? I'm debating between the large Taschen you showed and the even larger Sunday Press edition version. Are the colors more vibrant in the larger Sunday Press Edition vs the Taschen? Or are they pretty similar in that respect? Thanks!
You can follow the story easily enough with minimum text reading. A lot of the text is quite redundant and repetitious anyway, and sometimes clunky, especially compared to the liquid art. The plot is easy enough to follow reading the occasional caption or speech balloon, but the large size of either the Taschen and especially the Sunday Press edition helps the text readability as well. I would say the colours of both the Sunday Press and the Taschen editions are quite similar, just the larger size of the Sunday Press books makes the gradients and brushwork more noticeable, but just slightly. Let me know which edition you choose to go with, i don't think you can go wrong really 😀
For the Love of Comics thanks for the excellent response and spreading the knowledge. Little nemo wasn’t on my radar at all til today. I’m leaning towards taschen since it’ll be easier to hold and more material especially with volume 2 coming this year. I’ll decide soon!
@@ftloc BTW, I bought both Taschen Volumes 1 & 2 instead of the Sunday Press editions. Figured this way I get the entire collection and the page size is probably not too far off from the Sunday Press editions.
@@ta5777 I think that's an excellent choice. Having the whole library, or the significant part of it, is a great way to see the evolution and references in the strip. I've got both volumes now too and as much as I love the Sunday Press books, it's fun to tickle that completionist bone as well! 😁
Love this video. I own the complete 1905-1914 Little Nemo by Evergreen, which is an imprint of Taschen. It’s as big as an Absolute Edition, and not too expensive on Amazon. Bigger would be better, but I’m satisfied with this all-in-one version. I think Winsor McCay’s art and fantastic elements are unsurpassed, even to this day.
That sounds like a lovely edition; Taschen, of course, are known for their handsome efforts. The Sunday Press books I got many years ago, they were in a small sale and I jumped at the chance and haven’t regretted it once. I’m still going to keep an eye out for the 1910-1914 Volume 2 from Taschen, though 😀
I can imagine Winsor McCay being a huge influence for European artists.
Absolutely, he's beloved there, from what I've read. But you can also see his influences on everyone from Robert Crumb to Chris Ware in America too. Not to mention non-comics influences, him being the grandfather of American animation in many ways.
Then there's the video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Runnin' Down a Dream ua-cam.com/video/Y1D3a5eDJIs/v-deo.html 😀
@@pashadyne I don't know why I haven't seen this comment earlier, but I am now going to start hunting for as many of these European pastiches as I can find!
And I completely agree with you - take away the text/bubbles and they'd be mindblowing as contemporary creations!
@@ftlocI was just wondering after properly discovering McCay how I would go about learning more about the origins and school of cartoon artists. Was it just so self explanatory that once people saw it they automatically had their own take or did it branch out from certain people/places in particular? Do you have any info on that?
I have procured the Taschen "Complete" WInsor McCay large pages version from 1905 - 1927... all in chronological order and easy to read. Even has the history of Winsor and all of his "Other works" When I went to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to work with the Disney Animation team, I had access to the best art library in the world. We all studied Winsor and Ub Iwerks, ....my mentor Jack Hanna (Donald Duck, Chip and Dale) ... used give me assignments to look up illustrators - Sigh... best times! That was way back in 1977-1980!
What a wonderful experience that sounds like! Thank you so much for sharing.
Luckily, soon after I made this video, I was able to pick up the Taschen Volume 2, so didn't need the full edition, which is exactly the same, just all in one volume. What a great archival work it is indeed.
Little Nemo is pure awesome. And I mean it in the liitteral way, that is, when you look at almost any page, you can't help being in awe. You describe the art as "psychadelic" a couple of times in the video, but I would say it has more "surrealist" qualities than psychadelic. I meant to get the Fantagraphic editions when they came out but, as I too often do, I procrastinated too long until they weren't available at decent prices anymore. Happy to learn that they are other (and better quality) editions now available. Thank you for this!
And the second Taschen volume, I’ve just been informed in the comments below, is scheduled!
Yes, the comic definitely serves up the surreal, specially in its dream logic, but I’ve always been struck by how the colours and shapes can change at the drop of a hat, and how the the same thing can be rapidly presented in multiple forms. It’s always been quite psychedelic to me in that way, as if my brain is on a carousel. And yes, these pages, when stretched out in front of you, definitely inspire awe!
So Many Splendid Sundays currently going for £1500 on Abe Books. Ouch.
Ouch indeed! Is it out of print, not available from Sunday Press directly?
Thanks again for another great review. I have the taschen version which I bought for around 2K.
Taschen will publish Vol 2 1910-27
sometimes this year . Its already in there site.
That’s excellent news! I look forward to that, then!
2K?!?
@@francisteardrop 2k Indian rupees, less than 30 US dollars 😁
@@ftloc Is.... your economy okay?
@@MasterZebulin haha that's a deep, exhaustive conversation, probably for more knowledgable people than me. But I sure picked an expensive hobby, no matter where in the world I live! 😁
I laughed outright when you revealed an even larger edition. But that laugh quickly turned harsh as I grimly accepted that it is now all I want. Great videos by the way!
Thank you so much! And the reaction you describe is almost exactly the one I had when I first encountered the Sunday Press volume 😋
I was happy to find a book with some of the comics and a ton of early 20th century newspaper comics at a thrift store. It's the hardcover book called 'The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics' which collects select newspaper comic strips from 1896 to 1950 with some at the end of the book going up to 1977, the time of the books publication. It's a very nice book and is a nice sampler of a lot of popular comics and a neat time capsule.
That sounds like a great book! I started appreciating classic comic strips a lot later than many other comics, simply because I hadn't been exposed to them, but I find the more I discover the more I love!
I just found this channel! After my own heart! Subscribed! I've been a comics fanatic for over 50 years,and I don't think anything came close in craftsmanship or imagination until arguably,"Calvin and Hobbes". They epitomize the Comics Art Form at it's best as a world you can happily dwell in,not just a multi-stage gag. Although,like vinyl albums, they'll never disappear, it's sad to see the passing away of newspapers with the digital age. Those books are glorious,and you don't have to fret over reading them! Love this channel,so happy to have some catching up to do.
Welcome aboard and long may your enjoyment of this little channel continue! 😁
Yes, I think the newspaper strip will find a new equilibrium, much like vinyl, as you say, and then again vinyl sales keep rising year on year from what I've heard! I think webcomics are the natural successor, although they of course have a separate vocabulary, with some overlaps. I do think that there's a more localized, independent possibility for the future of large, newspaper sized comics, even if they aren't in a newspaper per se, but it all depends on that critical balance of readership and costs. In some ways all of print faces this dilemma, but the medium and its possibilities will always evolve, I optimistically feel!
By far, one of my most favourite episode! Just so jealous right now that you have this book.
Thank you! Yes, it’s a gorgeous book for a gorgeous comic, isn’t it?
The Taschen book is a used beat up copy I got cheap from Amazon India, so it’s always worth keeping a watch!
@@ftloc thanks for this Angshuman. I'm going to keep an eye out for a copy online.
Nice video. Love the art so much. I can see why you would want a larger print size to view. Great work like always.
Thank you! Yes, I usually have a weakness for oversized art anyway, but large Nemo pages are just revelatory!
Here's how the original art looks: ua-cam.com/video/bg1JL7GNLp4/v-deo.html
I agree with everything they say! 😁
I completely forgot this was originally a very old, weird Newspaper Comic. :p Than you got the classic anime movie and the NES game, and now... you got that weird Live-Action remake. o.O
I'd rather have the movie, and I'm wondering if this Comic is even better than that. :p
If you can ignore the text, it's a magnificent comic! 😁
Great video, sir. Thank you. I only recently got into Little Nemo by reading the strips online and I keep searching for affordable copies of these books. I received an email from Taschen a couple days ago stating that there are plans to reprint the 2014 complete version in “Fall 2022”. I really hope this is true.
I'm so glad you enjoyed this video and even gladder that you've discovered the distinct joys of reading Nemo. That Taschen reprint sounds perfectly timed for you, so here's hoping you're able to get your hands on a copy immediately! 😁 cheers!
he was something! thanks for publishing update. didn't like the earlier fantographic because of size. a great resource for someone more devoted than i though.
The two Taschen volumes collect the entirety, and I've heard that the one volume complete edition will be reprinted soon by Taschen. So those are great options today!
Beautiful artwork. Amazing that a hundred years ago they could tackle such colour comics, when today's colour newspaper photography can be quite awful (the UK's Times and Sunday Times in particular).
I have definitely wondered what happened to our colour printing abilities when I saw what they did in 1905. It may be that the paper quality went down over the years, making subtle printing harder, but I’d be curious to know what the real reason is!
He must have been smoking some serious stuff that was probably legal back then.
Always a possibility 😁 But if the trip itself was enough to create art like this, we would be drowning in amazing stuff. Irrespective of what's in my head, I'm still going to need to be some mad master to be able to make other, sober, folks see what I see. So the craft remains unimpeachable, it seems to me.
I wish so much the original art of this series was found and reprinted from that. Having to see this strip via reprints of old newspapers is criminal. :-(
I do have the cheap Evergreen copy, and the reproduction does suck. Someday I'll get a better reproduction of the strips.
And I like your channel! Thank you for covering comics that rarely get enough attention in english. Actually most old comics don't get enough love from UA-camrs.
Thank you, and I’m so glad you’re enjoying the channel!
And of course having the original art would be amazing, but I think they’re lost in time. I really don’t mind the restoration/reproduction from newspapers - far better than lo-res scans or printouts for sure - and the Sunday Press editions in particular, taken from the publisher’s personal collection, look quite beautiful to my untrained eye. Once I get my hands on the second Taschen volume, I may do a close look at the same strips in different editions.
@@ftloc Great! Thanks for replying. Actually, there are some wonderful restorations from an artist who basically traced and recolored 5 pages from the newspaper scans. www.kickstarter.com/projects/2053745390/the-little-nemo-masters-series-prints I bought one of the prints he made, and it is beautiful. Imagine seeing all of McCay's art in that quality!
Have you seen the book Dinomania? It reprints a few torn pieces from original art of a lost McCay strip he made near the end of his life. Honestly Dinomania as a whole was underwhelming to me because a great deal of the space is spent discussing the tenuous link between this lost strip and King Kong, but the few nuggets of goodness are extraordinary.
Oh wow, thanks for this link; those look incredible indeed! If there was a book with that type of 'restoration' available I would jump on it. And no, I haven't read Dinomania and excessive notes tend to dissuade me anyway, but maybe I can find some samples online?
Thanks so much for the great info!
Thanks for thos!
Did u do reviews of Bone and What's Micheal?
Great video! Thanks a lot!
Thank YOU! So glad you enjoyed it!
great review! the comparison of the different editions is interesting. size, paper, colours are different.
have you read "Little Nemo" by Frank Pé (published in 2021)?
If you want to appreciate the original art you also have the gigantic book (reproductions at 90% of the original art) edited by Ed Toth. The art is commented by Schuiten and Peeters... www.altaplana.be/en/dictionary/biennale-du-9e-art-2017
btw happens to be the most expensive book I ever bought...
Wow! Now I will make it a life goal to try and find a copy of that! 😀
Volumen 2 of Taschen edition has been published.
I have both volumes. Now is complete!
I just received my Vol 2 as well! 😀
I can't find this issue on this edition maybe because just was published in Europe. I don't know if any other has been supressed.
i1.wp.com/gcomics.online/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Nemo-Slumberland-ES-Tapa.jpg?resize=1654%2C2205&ssl=1
@@HollmanOrtizBuitrago are little nemo comics available digitally?
@@ta5777 just 1905 to 1914
archive.org/details/LittleNemo1905-1914ByWinsorMccay/page/n17
Have you looked at Taschen's new complete edition. Not as tall and wide as the one you have here but still big and thick. I received my copy last week, it survived the trip to Australia in one piece thankfully, and it is the biggest comic book I now own. Ive decided to read 2 pages a day so as not to burn out on the repeated story telling mechanics. Fantastic artwork, every page blows my mind.
I thought the 'complete' volume was exactly the same size and format as the two separate volumes? Is that not the case? I managed to pick up Vol 2 a few months after I made this video, so that worked out well! 😁
Great you got Vol 2. The complete is 29cm x 37cm
Hi, I know this is an older video now, but I was wondering what is your opinion on the Checker Book edition (the complete run in 2 volumes published around 2008 I think). I wish I could get the complete single volume Taschen, but that seems impossible. I wish they would reprint it.
I haven't run across the Checker editions but Taschen now has their Volume 2 out (it shows up in a couple of my later videos), so I'd say grab those for a full, beautifully produced, collection! 😁
Wonderful stuff, but don't sleep on Rarebit Fiend, either - some great surrealist art and keen psychological insight there!
Was Nemo spun off? I don't recall Nemo (or a similar character) in Rarebit.
Ah, not technically a spin off, i suppose. I just meant he took that idea - of dreams catalyzed by food - as an early template in Nemo.
@@ftloc I guess I got a little nit-picky there
@TheloniousCube haha not at all, that's why a spin off is after all, at least in TV and movies! 😁
Taschen also has a single- volume edition that contains all 500+ Nemo strips. It comes in a cardboard carrying case and contains a slim volume telling the history of McCay and his comic. I own this version, along with So Many Splendid Sundays. Although it’s great to see the comic in its original broadsheet size I find the size of the Splendid Sunday version incredibly unwieldy and for my money I prefer the single-volume Taschen edition.
The Taschen edition is definitely more wieldy (although still quite large) and I’m definitely interested in the second volume (the edition you have being too far out of reach now, alas). The Sunday Press books absolutely have to be laid flat on a large table, no other way to read them, but whenever I do, I end up losing track of time thanks to how hypnotic it is at that size.
Are you aware of the recent Little Nemo series? Was really good. Will look for it for more info if you like. The big sized book is AMAZING!!!!!
Do you mean the Shanower/Rodriguez series or the tribute book from Locust Moon Press? I greatly enjoyed both and was thinking of doing a quick video on them!
@@ftloc It's the Shanower/Rodriguez 4-issue series. Glad you've read it!
Any comment on some of the racist depictions in Mccay’s stuff?
It's always a very complex question, isn't it? Products of their time and put out there by people consuming and bred on certain depictions will always be reflective of the society (or segment of society) they live in, and how much meanness, poison, and outright hate is inherent in them tends can be hard to pinpoint. As with many things I feel it is important to recognize that even the most beautiful things had these kinds of ugliness in them, which shows us how insidious and deep-rooted certain approaches can be if not examined or questioned.
What do you feel about the visual presentation in those parts of Nemo?
@@ftloc You are right, hard to answer in a comment. Appreciate your response. I think it's important to talk about racist depictions, biases, societal factors, and whatever other "ugliness" when we look at art of any kind, not just ignore it, or excuse it. It's ok to be critical of his racist caricatures, his privilege, while upholding his incredible skill at perspective, color, and imagination. For me personally, i'm pretty hesitant to drop a lot of my very little money on books like this.
I don't own any of the editions you mention here but have had the pleasure of "reading" bits of his work in Winsor McCay: His Life and Art. Even in reduced size, McCay's work is just jaw dropping. Genius and innovator are overused terms, but when speaking of McCay, are appropriate. Thanks for the vid and well done sir.
Thanks so much, I’m thrilled you liked it! I too first encountered Nemo in a book about comics that had some panels. They were close up panels so I was able to appreciate the art but I was blown away when I saw those panels as part of a larger page. I agree that even shrunk down, its impossible to miss the genius of McCay’s art!
Amazingh!!!
I agree, this is really an astonishing comic!
Maybe you could do a video / videos on your edition of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind? I am particularly curious about the quality of the binding, having never been able to inspect the boxset in person. It seems, and I've heard, that they aren't really sewn, or at least, the folios are so stiffly glued to the spine that even if it is sewn, the book is rather inflexible. I'd appreciate an examination of the quality of the release.
On a different note, I imagine you'll love this video of Paul Gravett with his rare+expensive oversized facsimile edition of little nemo ua-cam.com/video/DZ87mAL_z0s/v-deo.html
Finally, I don't remember if you mention this in a previous video, but if you aren't already aware of the Verite collection, it is put out by an indian comics publisher and features english translations of japanese gekiga manga, as well as a couple comics by american and european authors, and many indian comics as well. The mix of indie international comics I think might be something you'd be very interested in.
Thanks for the great link!
You'll find the first volume of Verite showcased a little bit in my 'Indie Comix Haul' video here:
ua-cam.com/video/c190UI9C32I/v-deo.html
and a brief chat with Bharath Murthy (the editor and publisher of Verite) in part of mymy Indie Comix Fest video here:
ua-cam.com/video/1T2IRCRzkJM/v-deo.html
in case you are interested!
And thanks for suggesting Nausicaa; I'd love to do a closer look at it and the box set edition, so let me take a look and see what I can come up with!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
So Many Splendid Sunday's....what a beautiful title to such a wondrous work. I actually grew up in the last era of newsprint ( late 1960s till the early 2000s) and really remember the anticipation of the Sunday Funnies. As I grew older, but still a child, I wondered what came before and happened upon Little Nemo in Slumberland. In these simple storied, yet phantasmagoric comic strips, my mind was blown! Here was surrealism before Dali and his ilk. The characters were both weird, yet lovable and each Sunday dream sequence was a rushed but enthralling adventure, drawn with baroque abandon....but.....punctuated by a waking resolution. This was a quick, but excellent overview of a comic lovers favorite and I'm glad you shared your true love and appreciation of this somewhat forgotten classic.... Cheers!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the video - and what a joy reading comics in the newspaper was in my childhood, even as strips. I can only imagine what these full page masterpieces would have been like back at the start of the Twentieth Century, and am glad for these large format editions that help us approach that wonder, just a little bit!
This is the video that made me subscribe to For the Love of Comics
My grandparents had a book version that I loved as a kid. I am old and my grandparents were both born pre 1900. It connected me with the world in the 1900s. I love the aesthetic
It does the same for me; truly a lovely time capsule!
You didn't say anything about "Little Nemo" 1972 by Nostalgia Press which covers 1905 to 1919 in a large format.
Good note! The simple reason is I'd not heard of that edition when I made this video, let alone own copies to show! Are they full broadsheet sized?
wonderful comic strip, i remember as a kid, i loved the VHS tape so much. that i watched it over and over again.
because i had loved the movie.
I need to see if I can find the movie somewhere!
Kindly one question: Have you published anything on Harold Foster?
Not a formal spotlight but, coincidentally, I just published this a few weeks ago - you may find it of interest?
ua-cam.com/video/87aBlXR325Q/v-deo.html
You should do an update video on the Evergreen edition from 2000. While not at broadsheet size, it is rather large with gorgeous coloring and mostly legible text. It's the complete run from 1905-1914 in one volume too.
I'd love to take a look at that and do a comparison, but it simply isn't available here! Maybe one day...
Perhaps he was the early version of P. Craig Russell.
Russell is definitely influenced by McCay, as are a whole host of artists from Chris Ware to JH Williams. He was so ahead of his time that it took another fifty years after him for people to return to where he had left off!
I really, REALLY wanna see this published as journals, in the original format.
That would be very interesting! But nothing today is published in this size I think, unless they are reprinting works like these! The Sunday Press editions shown here and the tribute album I show in my follow up video (Nemo by people other than Winsor McKay) are the closest I have found.
@@ftloc I mean, not as books. Not as hard covers. Original, classic formal, as journals. Just like the Wednesday Comics from DC.
@CULTURIA Ah that would be lovely! Ive seen something like that with modern comics - Panorama out of San Francisco I think. Folded, unstapled newsprint sheets, with full page comics by different creators. Broadsheet sized reprints of classic strips would be magnificent. But hell to store, ship and sell over great distances, I am assuming?
@@ftloc Wednesday comics looks and works just like a regular single when folded. I don't know if there were distribution problems with it, but that should be the standard, if there were any.
I am immediately going to look up those up, thanks!
I truly enjoy reading Little Nemo. Go Comics runs the comic and it can be enlarged to have most frames legible even in a cellphone. I finally realized a month or so ago that this is the inspiration of the antithesis Little Neuro. That is the comic book that Pete reads in Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson.
It's such a magical series isn't it? I would never have thought it would be bearable on a phone, the page layout and the impact of receiving the whole thing at once to start being such a crucial part of it, but this sounds very intriguing! I'll definitely check it out! Cheers!
Excellent! Thank you so much. I became a rabid Little Nemo fan through my father. I was quite prone to nightmares in my childhood, waking up screaming and scaring the daylights out of my parents, so my dad often said I was his Little Nemo. Your evaluation of the marvelous art and design is spot-on. And thank for the valuable info on publications.
So wonderful to hear you enjoyed it, and thank you for sharing that memory! I hope you find plenty more to enjoy here 😊
Thank you, that was very helpful and interesting!
So glad you enjoyed it! Cheers!
i wonder if when tintin was published in newspapers if it was in a larger format or the same size as current albums?
Oh interesting question! I don't know what the size of those newspapers/ supplements were or how much space the Tintin page took up in them, but that would make for a fun research project. I only ever saw Tintin serialized in it's modern form, which was one strip/ line at a time...
Let me ask some people who may know!
Little Nemo is being reprinted by taschen in 2 weeks!
Great news! Do you know if it is the two volumes or the big all-in-one?
@@ftloc I have no clue.Sorry!
@@ftloc It's the all in one! But it's downsized about 2-3 inches. The reprint is 11.5 x 14.69. If you have the Prince Valiant books, it's slightly taller (14.3) but a fair bit wider (10.5). Pretty good size i'd say, not too large/heavy if it were to be like the XXL edition of 17 inches.
Taschen often if not almost always downsizes on their book reprints.
@@Diraldir Thanks! A lot of people will be glad to have it back in print!
@@ftloc I am for sure lol. I just ordered it yesterday, it'll be about a week before it gets here. Excited to have it and read/see it for the first time. And having it in 1 book vs 2 is pretty convenient. I am sure it got reprinted now because a new Slumberland movie is coming out in November. It's going to be a very popular book, so best get it while I can lol.
Great video! I appreciate the combination of information about the comic strip and overviews of the various collections.
Thank you! In the past I’ve done separate videos on the comic and the editions; I thought this was a good chance to try a mashup! If you’ve had a chance to try one of the others , I’d love to know which you like better. 😀
Now, if only McCay could have been able to write dialogue to match the quality of the pictures...Oh *BOY* !!!
(It's probably why he's not as well remembered as he otherwise deserves.) 😁
I agree! It was in such early days of comics that the ideal balance and presentations had yet to be worked out. It's less about his writing being 'bad' (I would say more that it was redundant, given the art) and more about reading habits getting more refined over the last century plus. Their small size when reproduced at less than broadsheet size doesn't help!
@@ftloc
Actually, it might help a lot, given its blandness and squarety. (And if that last isn't a real word, it ought to be.) 🙄
Wow nice
Really interesting. I have always loved the dream sequence in Tintin like the ones in Cigars of the Pharoah, Prisoners of the sun and Tintin in Tibet. Any chances of picking these up in India for an affordable price?
The two Taschen books are available here from online sellers, but the Sunday Press books may be hard to get. Of course a lot of stuff does get made available by importers, but the prices usually skyrocket after taxes and shipping. I did, however, but one of those giant ones in india, many many years ago.
And the dream sequences in Tintin are simply superb! They really captured the jump cut nonsense of dreams very well!
Lot of books in my to read list, thanks to you. I just ordered bone single volume edition. Looking forward to read it.
He stole the original idea from a french illustrator, but anyway, he pushed it so far, McCay was a genius
Ideas are such flimsy things to separate into inspiration and plagiarism, aren't they? Would you say it was the idea for Nemo or the idea for the precursor Rarebit Fiend? Also, can you give me the name of the illustrator - I'd love to find out more!
@@ftloc Edit: It looks like my previous message was not saved, so I write it again: Check for 2 articles on topfferiana, one called "Le Petit Lucien au Pays des Rêves" (about a strip by Job from 1886) and the other one called "Le Petit Lucien, deuxième épisode" (about a strip by Rip, 1888). Pretty similar to Little Nemo.
A very informative and knowledgeable video. Love it. :)
So glad you enjoyed it, thank you! I finally got the second Taschen volume so perhaps I should make an update video on that...
That would be great to see. I checked out your video since I just backed Pie For Breakfast Studios's Little Nemo Kickstarter game and wanted to look more into the source material. :)
No mention of Dream Another Dream. shame. :P
I’m thinking of a short follow up, the way I did of the Spirit: Non McCay Nemo. What do you think?
I am all for it
For the Love of Comics Yeah! Anything Winsor McCay related is ocay!
As others mentioned, the second Taschen volume is coming out soon. I'd be sure to pre-order it somewhere for a discount.
I’m definitely preordering as soon as I find the live link! 😀
Price please?
They all fluctuate. I got some from Infibeam, some from Amazon US, and some from eBay
I am glad about this feature. I learned of "Little Nemo In Slumberland" after researching meaning of the Genesis song "Scenes From a Night's Dream." Someone at last evening's family game night mentioned "Finding Nemo," a movie I never got interested in to see; I mentioned "Little Nemo in Slumberland" comic strip and no one there had heard of it.
Thank you! I love this comic and it's a real shame many people are unaware of it. But those who know it, well, they know how great it is! 👍🏽
@@ftloc Yes, there were reasons it got people hooked and acclaim back then, and modern technological society could use more of LNIS' imaginative timeless aspects.
This is the video that made me subscribe to For the Love of Comics 😊
So glad to have you! 😁
I own the Little Nemo books from Sunday Press. I had ran into their booth at our Comic-Con and was impressed with their size. It was a pain carrying them through the crowded exhibition hall and public trolley but I think it was well worth it.
Hah, that’s a bit awkward, but completely worth it, as you say. How long were you lugging them around for, though?
@@ftloc Picked them up as I left the Con. What I thought was going to be a short pleasant journey home ended up more tiring and taxing than expected as the streets were crowded, the trolley was late and bursting so it was impossible to sit, and I was carrying heavy and fragile items my weak arms had no business carrying lol. It was probably less than an hour but it seemed a lot longer in my mind.
You know, I bought both my volumes online and one arrived impeccably packed, but the other one did get a corner dinged. Your trials served you better than my sitting-at-home ease in that regard! 😀
i always wanted a copy. i grew up with the movie
I think the Sunday Press and Taschen Editions are both available at their list prices, which is still high but at least not the gouging that happens when books go out of print. In fact, the second Taschen volume is recently out, making for a pretty comprehensive collection!
@@ftloc thanks, now i know which copy i want.
The art is amazing. In your opinion, can you follow the story without reading any of the word bubbles? I'm debating between the large Taschen you showed and the even larger Sunday Press edition version. Are the colors more vibrant in the larger Sunday Press Edition vs the Taschen? Or are they pretty similar in that respect? Thanks!
You can follow the story easily enough with minimum text reading. A lot of the text is quite redundant and repetitious anyway, and sometimes clunky, especially compared to the liquid art. The plot is easy enough to follow reading the occasional caption or speech balloon, but the large size of either the Taschen and especially the Sunday Press edition helps the text readability as well.
I would say the colours of both the Sunday Press and the Taschen editions are quite similar, just the larger size of the Sunday Press books makes the gradients and brushwork more noticeable, but just slightly.
Let me know which edition you choose to go with, i don't think you can go wrong really 😀
For the Love of Comics thanks for the excellent response and spreading the knowledge. Little nemo wasn’t on my radar at all til today. I’m leaning towards taschen since it’ll be easier to hold and more material especially with volume 2 coming this year. I’ll decide soon!
Glad you liked the video and decided to check out Little Nemo; I’m sure you’ll love it no matter which edition you choose!
@@ftloc BTW, I bought both Taschen Volumes 1 & 2 instead of the Sunday Press editions. Figured this way I get the entire collection and the page size is probably not too far off from the Sunday Press editions.
@@ta5777 I think that's an excellent choice. Having the whole library, or the significant part of it, is a great way to see the evolution and references in the strip. I've got both volumes now too and as much as I love the Sunday Press books, it's fun to tickle that completionist bone as well! 😁
Love this video. I own the complete 1905-1914 Little Nemo by Evergreen, which is an imprint of Taschen. It’s as big as an Absolute Edition, and not too expensive on Amazon. Bigger would be better, but I’m satisfied with this all-in-one version.
I think Winsor McCay’s art and fantastic elements are unsurpassed, even to this day.
That sounds like a lovely edition; Taschen, of course, are known for their handsome efforts. The Sunday Press books I got many years ago, they were in a small sale and I jumped at the chance and haven’t regretted it once. I’m still going to keep an eye out for the 1910-1914 Volume 2 from Taschen, though 😀