Little Nemo's Big New Dreams

Gr 6 Up—O'Neill, Carl, and Stevens, the owners of the Locust Moon comic shop, originally published this work as a broadsheet-size collection of 116 illustrations as an homage to Winsor McCay, creator of the 1905 "Little Nemo in Slumberland" comic strip. The illustrations presented in this volume are visual representations of each of the 30 selected illustrators' dream worlds. Each vignette is drawn in a Sunday comic format and the pictures are interesting and dynamic, matching each comic artist's style. Each spread is its own mini-story. However, because each spread is created by a different artist, the book feels disjointed. Character development does not exist, as readers are simply placed into a short-lived dream sequence. Fans of Sunday funnies may find value in the artwork, and this curated collection might pique the interest of those studying comics history and format. The foreword by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman and introduction by the editors will give much-needed context to the work as a whole.