Little Nemo in Sing Sing

This post celebrates a remarkable 1910 comic strip sequence featuring Winsor McKay's innovative work. The artist created a storyline where Little Nemo and companions accidentally land at Sing Sing Prison after returning from Mars in their dirigible.

The narrative unfolds as the characters fly up the Hudson River, admiring the Palisades before mistakenly touching down at the prison instead of their intended West Point destination. True to the comic strip's format, the protagonist awakens in his own bed, revealing the entire adventure as a dream.

McKay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland" debuted in October 1905 in The New York Herald. The strip became celebrated for its "delicate drawings, innovative layouts, fantastic architecture, and brilliant use of color." The work proved influential across the artistic community, notably inspiring Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen," which functioned as homage to the beloved strip.

The images discussed here represent original pen-and-ink drawings from McKay's hand, sourced from the Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon at the Library of Congress.