Comments on: Little Sammy Sneeze: Winsor McCay's anarchic precurson to Little Nemo in Slumberland, now a beautiful, giant book

By: pauldrye

pauldrye — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The odd thing is that most comic historians — at least all of the ones I read up through the end of the 80s — considered Little Sammy Sneeze inferior to McCay’s genius because it was so one-note. It was an exercise in “How many different ways can I tell one joke?”

Now, not quite a century later, one of the more widely hailed web comics is Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics…for those not in the know, every strip of which uses exactly the same art, and has for hundreds of strips.

Sometimes you’re so far ahead of the time that no-one can see where you’re headed.

By: gabu

gabu — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

McCay’s concepts were so frighteningly advanced, and advancedly frightening…

By: buddy66

buddy66 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The one-gag comic page classics … Little Nemo falls out of bed, Krazy Kat gets bopped with a brick, Sammy Sneezes.. Any others?

By: Vanwall

Vanwall — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I saw this at the Comic-Con, and it’s presented like the top strip from a newspaper that it was – a bonus is “Hungry Henrietta”, the other great McCay topper, was the back-side strip back then, and that, too, is presented on the reverse pages. Both had a very surreal take on the one-joke comic, and were almost savage in their black humor. Awesome presentation!

By: HolmesBANG

HolmesBANG — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is a truly lovely volume. I hasten to note that Woozlebeasts and the Upside-Downs were not created by McCay, but by J.P. Benson and Gustave Verbeek, respectively. They’re included in this book because they appeared on the reverse of the pages that Sammy Sneeze and Hungry Henrietta were on, a delightful bit of verisimilitude!

We have examples of the Upside-Downs, Hungry Henrietta, and Sammy Sneeze on Barnacle Press, and I dearly hope that they whet appetites for the full-size, colored versions, because Mr. Maresca’s work deserves a place in every serious comic lover’s library.

By: The Unusual Suspect

The Unusual Suspect — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Precursor”, I think, rather than “precurson”.

But thank you for another magical McCay moment nonetheless!

By: mgfarrelly

mgfarrelly — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I adore McCay’s work. A century on it’s still as vibrant and emotive as anything being produced today.

I love his somewhat more, I guess you’d say “serious” work, like his editorial pieces.

Such as “The Wheel of life”

http://www.allstarauc.com/asonline/images/auction17SD/mccay%20editorial1%20(2).jpg

Just gorgeous. Thanks for posting this!

By: Pipenta

Pipenta — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I love McCay’s stuff. Man oh man, but he could draw.

By: Morpheus

Morpheus — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yep – This IS a fantastic book! Seeing them bound all together, I found the one-trick gimmick to be compelling rather than off-putting. It’s simple anticipation. You know how it’s going to end… the fun is watching how you get there.

By: Jesse Raub

Jesse Raub — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Holy crap. Did anyone else play the Little Nemo game for NES and never realize what it was based off of.

I know I sure did.

By: Moon

Moon — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This guys’ art haunts me to this day. All these creepy looking people in odd poses.