Customer Reviews

Winsor McCay: Early Works, Vol. 1 (Early Works)

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Winsor McCay has had "Little Nemo in Slumberland" reprinted in full colour in multiple volumes over the past several years, but his earlier and less well known work hasn't been served quite as well. Checker Book Publishing Group has tried to remedy that, and this book is valuable for the sheer *amount* of material that it covers. Over 200 pages cover four of McCay's early series - Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, Tales of the Jungle Imps, Sammy Sneeze, and A Pilgrim's Progress. Most of the Rarebit Fiend strips printed here were already seen in the Dover edition of the strips. The Tales of the Jungle Imps strips are still gorgeous in spite of the fact that McCay's colours have been printed as grey tones and the drawings are reprinted at an almost microscopic size. The Sammy Sneeze pages fare a little better. Some of the better reproduction is saved for the Pilgrim's Progress strip, which is a treat because it's not one of McCay's better known works. The book measures about 7x10 and is printed on a good, coated stock. If I were to suggest some things that would have improved the book, I would begin by asking for better and more literate introductions to the strips. For instance, in the book's introduction, it's claimed that Winsor McCay invented animation, and that in the history of animation, before there was Winsor McCay "there was nobody." That point is arguable, since Emil Reynaud (1892), James Stuart Blackton (1900), and Emile Cohl (1908) all got there before him. Was McCay THE BEST? Without a doubt. A true pioneer and trail blazer? Absolutely. The man was a genius. But his achievements, which were so great, need no exaggeration. Also, in the introduction to "A Pilgrim's Progress," it's mentioned that it was named after "John Bunyon's" 17th century book about the "human lifespan" of the same title. Actually, the spelling is "John Bunyan," and Bunyan's book was not an allegory about the "human lifespan," but an allegory about a Christian's spiritual journey. Not to be sarcastic, because this really is a good book, but some proofreading and a few minutes' worth of research might have prevented just that error. McCay's Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory about man's journey, but it is a secular allegory. It deals with the mundane cares that we deal with in life - and in the strip involving the drug addict who has tossed his "dull care" to the wind, the Pilgrim wisely chooses to endure his burden rather than give in to a greater evil. But to return to the book overall . . . The introductions are kept brief, which is a mixed blessing. It's good to let the work speak for itself, but at the same time, we are so far removed from the world of 1903-1910 that some historical or social commentary on individual strips would have been nice. Publish dates at the bottom of each page would have been a good addition too. I also hoped to see a selection of the incidental illustrations that McCay often did for the Cincinnati Enquirer included. This last request may be answered in later volumes in this series of books - I'd be thrilled if that were so. Congratulations to Mark Thompson and his staff for helping make some of the dreams of this rarebit fiend come true. Now, how about a tab size, full colour album of JUST the "Jungle Imps" pages . . . ?

The content is interesting as far as it goes (see below) but the reproduction quality on these volumes is rather spotty - some pages are quite nicely done, others not so great (the later volumes have some pretty atrocious prints in them - nothing here is too terribly bad, though some of the pieces - Jungle Imps in particular - have been reduced in size to the point where it's hard to fully appreciate them). No attempt at scholarship is made - all dates are approximate and no attempt is made to supply context for any of the works. One suspects that the dates that ARE given are untrustworthy.

My main interest in acquiring these volumes was to get the Rarebit Fiend episodes not already collected elsewhere. As such, this volume is rather disappointing as it contains a straight reprint of the Dover volume - no more, no less. Well, a little less, actually, because they don't reprint the title page or the whimsical introduction (and the Dover is significantly larger and easier to read). It's clearly taken from the Dover edition because Checker also leaves out the final mysterious 'politically incorrect' episode mentioned in the Dover intro. Some of these episodes are duplicated in later volumes as well.

The contents are approximately as follows: 60 pages of Rarebit Fiend (from the Dover), 40 pages of Tales of the Jungle Imps, 60 pages of Sammy Sneeze and 30 pages of Pilgrim's Progress.

The Jungle Imps are interesting, but not so much my cup of tea. Sammy Sneeze holds very little interest for me (and the better ones have all been reproduced elsewhere in higher quality). Pilgrim is moderately amusing, but not nearly so intetresting as Rarebit Fiend in my view. As such, this volume was rather a letdown.

It's some of the best art you'll ever see, but you havn't seen it yet because many of the characters are a reflection of those times 1904-1914; openly racist, but not in a KKK sort of way. It's more like Amos & Andy type of racism. The art is amazing, often surreal, and compared to what get's put in today's papers it just seems all the more fantastic. Some of the works must have been full two page newsprint size panels, because the copy in the book here has very small lettering. In full size, it must have been flabbergasting.