Little Nemo

Little Nemo is the main fictional character in a series of weekly comic strips by Winsor McCay. These comic strips appeared in the New York Herald and New York American newspapers from October 15, 1905 – July 23, 1911 and September 3, 1911 – July 26, 1914. The strip was first called Little Nemo in Slumberland and then In the Land of Wonderful Dreams. Little Nemo in Slumberland came back for a short time from 1924-1927.

The comic was about the dreams of a little boy named Nemo. His name means "nobody" in Latin. In the first strips he tried to go to Slumberland. That was the land of King Morpheus. The King wanted Nemo as a friend for his daughter, the Princess. The last picture in each strip always was Nemo waking up, in or near his bed. Then the grownups were angry with him, because he had woken them up. Or they comforted him because he was sad.

In the earliest strips, the dream would end because of a disaster that could hurt or kill Nemo. These events would be something like falling from a bridge, becoming a monkey, or becoming 90 years older. Later on Nemo reached Slumberland. Then Flip always woke him up. Flip wore a hat that had 'Wake Up' written on it. Other characters in the strip were Dr. Pill, The Imp, the Candy Kid, and Santa Claus.

The strip was not a very big success from 1905 to 1927. Most comics readers liked the slapstick actions of the Katzenjammer Kids, Happy Hooligan, and Buster Brown (other comic strips) more than the surreal (not real) fantasy of Nemo. From the 1970s until now, people like the strip more. Many of the original strips were found at a comic strip studio in 1966. They were shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Very special of Nemo was that the pictures were very difficult, had many details and beautiful colours. Also the story was special, because it was a fast story and had many strange characters and places.