Winsor McCay was a Master Storyteller! This is no children's book of comics! When I showed it to my over twenty-one daughter she asked,"This used to published in a newspaper?" She loved it as much as I did. The "Far side," type humor is still funny today. Dover said they removed some of the ethic humor that would offend people today. It is sad to me that people can't laugh at themselves any more without getting offended. I would have loved to have seen all of the strips uncensored and formed my own opinion.
I am in glee when it is time for my act I'm delighted to see that this book is available. I bought my copy of this book in the mid-70's and it is still one of the favorite books in my library. Mr. McCay is just devastatingly funny and honest about the mayhem that is turned loose in our dreams. Decapitations, public nudity, personal disasters and humilitations of all sort are rendered in the sky's-the-limit fashion that dreams take...and definitely not PC! McCay is also a superb draftsman, although these cartoons are a pared down version of his work on the Little Nemo strips. Highly highly recommended.
Rarebit Fiend quite different from Little Nemo I discovered Winsor McCay pretty recently and have been enjoying the Little Nemo full page newspaper spreads and been astonished at McCay's talent. I've seen the full sized hardcover Maresca Little Nemo 2005 publication, and two hardcover reductions: the Evergreen (Taschen) and the "Best of Little Nemo..." edited by Richard Marschall, which closely resembles the former in most cases (evidently from the same source). I read the reviews here on this book, "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" and decided to order it. It too is amazing, but in a very different way. Whereas Little Nemo is wonderful and lavishly illustrated and colored, it doesn't make me laugh. However, just about everything in the 1905 black and white Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend (this book) makes me laugh out loud. I wasn't sure when I ordered (not having seen any of the material previously) but quickly realized it's well worth it. I can't think of a modern comics artist who makes me laugh so consistently.
This is a handsome little book and McCay's illustrations are beautifully presented. I own 4 different McCay books and have seen another and of all of them, this is the most flawless... and by far the cheapest!
Brlliant, funny, and even a bit disturbing "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" is McCay's overlooked masterpiece. "Little Nemo" gets all the press (and it deserves the highest possible praise) but The Fiend is often equally compelling. More adult in subject matter than Nemo, it is less visually resplendant, but still quite powerful in its invocation of the fears and hopes underlying our day-to-day thoughts.
This collection is the standard, but it collects only a fraction of what McCay produced (this is a reprint of a 1905 volume, but the strip ran until 1910 or 1911). You can pick up the Checker "Early Works" volumes for a more complete run (in questionable quality) and there are more strips in the Canemaker book on McCay as well as the Fantagraphics "Daydreams and Nightmares" (which I highly recommend).
Checker has since produced a fine collection: [[ASIN: 1933160659 The Saturdays]] which would make a great follow-up to this book.
When I first wrote this review in 2006, I pleaded for someone to do this strip justice with a comprehensive reprint. Little did I know that Ulrich Merkl was, in fact, working on one at the time. You can search the web for his "The Complete Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" (http://www.rarebit-fiend-book.com). I highly reccommend it, though it is a bit pricey. [[ASIN: 3000207511 The Complete Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend]]
Winsor Mccay in Rarebit land! Winsor Mccay is considered one of the pioneers of cartooning AND animation. His drawing style is so architecturally fine tuned that each panel of his work is a piece of art itself! The Rarebit Fiend has a habit of eating toasted cheese before going to bed and consistently wakes up from a nightmare at the end of each piece. The nightmares vary from the slightly off-kilter, to the maddeningly surreal. This large paperback book reproduces a good number of these, and is well worth the price. Essential for fans of early comic strips.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
