Little Nemo, Iceland

I was first introduced to Winsor McCay via history of animation, for his work on Gertie the Dinosaur. At the time, one of the most riveting things around, though he tended to book end the animation- Something I find very annoying. And again, he book ends Little Nemo with Nemo waking up. Every single page ends with him waking up for some reason. Granted, these were newspaper strips, and not everyone who picked it up would understand that it was a dream. However to read it in a book format, this became tiresome.

As for plot: Not exactly riveting. As it takes place in "slumberland", it has very little plot, like dreams often do. It travels from foriegn land to foriegn land, with the characters commenting here and there on what's going on. The thing with Gertie the Dinosaur is that it was widely regarded as the first character with a distinct personality in animation, and not just random things happening to the same "character". Nemo has no character. Nemo is a little boy that sleeps a lot.

What I liked most about these strips was the art style. Though faded over time, I really appreciated the character designs, and the attention to the backgrounds. I can only assume that most of the point of the comics was the Slumberland aspect, and so each panel is a beautiful illustration. I am also a fan of the design of the Imp. And to me he showed the most personality out of anyone, expressely stating what his wants were, and feeling for other characters. He had the most play on proportion, (he appeared to be about ten feet tall at one point) and did fun things like drive strange cars with running goats for wheels. I truly enjoyed parts that did strange things like that.

As far as comics go, this was not the best thing I've ever read- But a part of history that needs to be looked at.