absolute masterpiece
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Little Nemo in Slumberland is a masterpiece and a cornerstone of comic art, so much that many books on History of Art include it among the remarkable works of graphic art of the modern times and of course of the XX century. In fact, that's how I came to know Little Nemo.
The story of each strip is simple enough: little Nemo is to visit the palace of King Morpheus: he is carried there, but is never able to reach the end because of the morning or Flip, a goblin who keeps on waking him up. Some other times, he reaches there, and becomes a friend of the King's daughter, then they have adventures together. Some other times, he makes a tour to Mars or about the US. There's even a chapter about Shanty Town, a poor quarter of town that Nemo heals with his magic wand.
The drawing is intrincate, detailed, very art nouveau: it is still in debt with older art tendencies and the brutality and simplicity of the XX century was still to come. The colour is fantastic, vivid, uniform. The creatures are always new and always magic. So much that it sometimes becomes baroque and difficult to read. And the variety of the script, the storyboard, etc. make it a surprising enciclopedia of what was still to come.
Morover, Windsor Mc Cay was a precursor of what comic art was to be: different size of the drawings, astonishing perspectives, the mix of dream and reality, the compression of a whole intrincate story in a single page... It's a wonder how he could achieve all that week after week!
This book comprises most part of the strips published, with an introduction about the author, samples of some of his other works etc. That makes it very good value all in all, if you like graphic art and above all you have an idea of knowing little Nemo. If you read only a part, you'll die to real all of it.
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