Little Nemo Review

Today’s class had us reading classic Sunday comics of old and write what we thought about one of them. For me, I decided to give my take on Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland.

As a pioneer in animation and major influence for the upcoming Walt Disney himself, Winsor McCay’s marvelous illustrations of Little Nemo already demonstrates what’s next for the future of animation and storytelling. Example; Despite some characters’ movements and talk, a background will almost always stay the same. This often reminds me of classic cell animation, whereas someone paints a large landscape, someone animates a character/object’s movement separately, places it on top, then a camera follows our subject around the scene. Basically a continuation shot. Very much so like cartoons then and even now.

Another example is a sense of whimsy and imagination. Every little thing, from color to characters to story; many comics come together to give the aura of childlike wonder and joy to any reader. Vibrant colors, lovable characters, a feeling of dreams becoming reality; all of it’s really here. All in every stroke of ink. I mean without that sort of wonder or imagination in his animation/comics, it’s possible there’d been no Walt Disney stories to this day.

What do I think?Well, sure the structure and detailed wording may be hard to follow for someone like me, but I’ll certainly give credit where it’s due. I’d say be glad and thankful for Little Nemo. Without him or his ‘father’, Winsor McCay, it’s highly possible animation and storytelling as we know them wouldn’t be here today.

Understanding Comics(Sorry if this is late)

Frankly, I was a bit surprised at the depth the author went into when writing this comic.  And I was struck by a number of things while reading through it.  I was struck by how the things that I’ve always taken for granted when reading through comics can have such deep meaning when evaluated for their purpose, like icons and gutters and wording and time passage.  As a manga fan, I’ve always appreciated the attention to detail in their comics and I always chalked it up to a difference in cultures as well.  And I have to say the end of the comic reminded me of my instructor’s tales of growing up in the business and how being critiqued along the way was both heart breaking and essential to him succeeding in the business.  In fact, I’d go as far as saying it’s always pretty intimidating when I hear it.
All these points aside, I was most struck by the topics covered in the beginning of the comic.  As a person on the Autism Spectrum, dealing with Asperger’s on a daily basis, it’s always been hard for me to read people.  Quite often it leads to me misunderstanding the intent behind a person’s words and, just as often, it can lead to me coming across the wrong way when all I had were the best of intentions.  In a way, I think that is what drew me to manga, anime, animation and art in general, as I was growing up.  It was a world where I could indulge in feelings and emotions on a much simpler level.  And when I read about comics and icons and how a simple face allows us to see ourselves within the strip, it really rang home with me.  I have to say I agree completely.  More so than that, comics have always been a way for me to see human behavior and expression and emotion in a way that was easy for me to understand.  So, it’s no wonder this part of the comic jumped out at me.