Little Nemo in Slumberland Sunday August 14, 1910 by Winsor McCay

I am starting 2024 off with a bang. It will still be a few weeks before I get to see it in person.

Here is something that I never thought I'd own, a Little Nemo by McCay. It is like a Moby Dick in this hobby for me, that big whale that haunts you but you don't believe you will ever land. Well, here is my whale. This one comes from the estate of a family member of McCay by auction.


Over the years I have seen a number of original Little Nemo's and they are all beautiful but one of things I noticed is that because they were to be printed in color, McCay used a very fine line for the art and because of this, many don't look very exciting on a wall and are rather muted until you get in close. His work on Sammy Sneeze and Rarebit Fiend was quite different in this regard as they were meant to be printed black and white so he used that to his advantage. That is part of what made me decide that this was going to be my Battle of Thermopylae and I was all in as the blacks are stronger and the layout will look great on a wall. The storyline here is from a several month adventure arc to Mars starting in April of 1910 and running until this one when they leave Mars which makes this one of the more famous Little Nemo sequences. Impy, Flip, Nemo, Captain Drizel, the flying ship and the Martian all feature prominently on this example and it is in good condition. I like the weightless flying effect that McCay achieves in the lower portion as the adventurers are shot out of a canon and fly up to the ship. Impy and some of the other stereotypical content in McCay's work can be difficult to look at through today's lens but this Sunday had less of that than many and I decided it was something I could swallow. The last panel is a really nice stand alone end panel for both the strip and the Mars adventure. Perfect, I couldn't ask for a better example!

One of the other things is that this was going up for sale at a New York auction house and this was the sole piece of original art in the entire 60+ pop culture items they had. There were things like Elvis Presley's sixth grade report card and some Bob Dylan master tapes but nothing else comic related and so I sensed perhaps an opportunity for it to slip under the radar a bit. This one ticked off many of the boxes I wanted in a Little Nemo, this was going to be it or I'd officially write off getting one which I had long ago accepted. My last stand. I was watching something at Swann Auctions on the same day and at the same time as this auction was going on. It was a bit crazy. I had both live auctions open on my computer screen and I had asked Swann to call me so I could phone bid on the piece I wanted. As the lots approached it started to look more and more like they would be on simultaneously. I got the call from Swann about 3 lots before mine was up and was sitting on the phone with the helper as I watched the New York auction. They opened at the same time. I was watching Swann on the left of my computer screen live and talking with the agent bidding on an Erte. At the same time the Nemo opened on the right of my screen and there was a bit of a lag in bidding plus I was distracted on the phone. I had been watching patterns in the bidding at the NY auction because every auction house has some nuances and this one would reduce the opening price if no one bid so I had hopes that this might happen...it didn't. I had a maximum bid in mind. While I was bidding at Swann and was in the final battle there the Nemo auction when up to my max and someone had beat me to that bid. I decided to go one more bid (the increments at this time are $5k and there is a 25% premium on this auction) and then I could rest knowing I went above and beyond what I could do. I was delighted no one else bid and I won. Just in time and I was still on the phone bidding on the Erte which I stopped as the underbidder on as I'd just spent more than I'd ever spent before on a single piece of art. Like with most purchases, I will never regret going that little bit further and I think not having taken that last stab at it would have haunted me to my grave. All is well that ends well, there is a Little Nemo in my collection now. My only regret of the day is not having bid further on the Erte! Art fiend for life!

Won Best Comic Strip in 2024 in annual Best of CAF competition.