Reading for History
The Little Nemo in the Slumberland is one of the influential comics across the globe. The work by Winsor McCay has a significant contribution to almost all aspects of life, including social, economic, historical, and political fields. As a result, most nearly American Newspapers in the early days provided space for political and social comics to gain more audience. The Little Nemo is known for its spectacular imagery visuals that can be mistaken for the real world. As noted by Peterson (n.d), the comic uses a bold visual style to illustrate its epic story of a young boy named “Nemo”. The author articulately uses intricate details, imaginative architectural forms, and skilful draftsmanship to present his work more uniquely and appealingly to its audience. The comic uses distinct panel shapes and sizes with other common elements such as the use of anti-authoritarian, urban setting, and crowed frames with the leading figure being a boy (McCay, 2007). Therefore, this paper will explore the contribution of McCay into the comic industry by analyzing the political, economic, and historical context of the Little Nemo comic
From the historical perspective, the Little Nemo comic dates back in 1905 to 1914 when the comic used to appear in the New Yolk Heralds on Sunday (Professor Warner, n.d). The narrative focused bedtime adventure of Nemo to the kingdom of Slumberland after the Kind was requested by his daughter to bring the “little Nemo” to the KingdomKingdom (McCay, 2007). However, his journey to the KingdomKingdom was often adjourned by his frequent awakening from the sleep as depicted at the end of each last panel. Throughout history, this comic has become one of the urban and culturally specific narratives because it emerged at a time while the newspaper has nationwide coverage. In essence, the culture developed from the comic is that one of fantasy and imagination that depicted the McCay’s time. The author draws a unique landscape that produces an illustration of popular culture despite Slumberland being a retreat from urbanization. Also, McCay’s work is highly self-reflective to articular the 20th-century mass culture.
The comic also has a significant impact on modern politics. In his work, McCay presents Slumberland ruled by a king name Morpheus despite the Nemo living in the real United States by then headed by President Roosevelt. The author draws the King Morpheus with ancient beards which commanded respect among his followers. Like any other 19th century kingdom, Slumberland has slaved, which is an indication of an egalitarian society. The slaves were severely poorly treated, indicating a hostile political climate within with KingdomKingdom. However, the story of the Slumberland changes when the Nemo arrives in the city. The narrative of Nemo’s journey starts in the inaugural episode stripe, which creates King Morpheus image. The next panel takes the reader or view to the bedroom of Nemo, where the protagonist starts his trip to Slumberland. The king sends a flying Pony to take Nemo to his court (McCay, 2007). However, in the next size panels, the Nemo’s journey becomes full of trouble as the pony stumbles, leaving him in a black void (Professor Warner, n.d). Finally, the boy comes to a devastated city, and he is permitted to bring resolutions to an oppressed Slumberland. Being an excellent political leader transforms the once poor suburbs to a magnificent city with well-constructed streets. Generally, it is the goal of any political leader to bring change to the lifestyle of the people they lead.
The little Nemo cannot be overlooked in terms of its significant influence in the field of commerce. The transformation of once a poor Slumberland to a luxurious city by the arrival of Nemo indicates the economic growth of the city. In essence, the economics of those times is presented by the typographical enhancement, existence of the large building, and the use of primary color on the title panel. The urban setting offered by the visual language in the Little Nemo’s stripes points out to economic developing taking place at Slumberland (McCay, 2007). The second episode presents high valued and magnificent architecture which encourages the readers to wander through the narrative. The introduction of urban life in the story indicates how Slumberland was transformed after the arrival of Nemo during that time of industrialization. Notably, this comic was written in the time when the US was experiencing industrialization, which makes the comic more relevant in the modern days (Peterson, n.d). Despite illustrating the childhood dreams, the little Nemo also demonstrates the expectations of the early economics on having an incredibly rich world in more intricate details.
Generally, the political, historical, and economic aspects discussed opened my understanding of the selected comic more excellently. The Little Nemo’s dreams painted a picture of the expectation of the people who lived in the early 20th century, and these imaginations became excellent materials for fictional stories in modern times. The Little Nemo is one of the influential comics of all times because it paints a picture of the political arena as presented by King Morpheus, the historical context as depicted by the issue of culture, and the economy as illustrated by the emergence of magnificent cities in Slumberland (McCay, 2007)
References
McCay, W. (2007). Little Nemo: Little Nemo in Slumberland: Little Nemo in the Land of Wonderful Dreams: 1905-1914. Evergreen.
Peterson (n.d). Comics, Manga and Graphic Narrative
Professor Warner (n.d): Module 5: Early Comics Pioneers Lecture 2: Winsor McCay