Little Nemo

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Little Nemo purple blanket modified.png

Little Nemo ( German Little Nobody ) is the main character in the comic series Little Nemo in Slumberland (German Der kleine Nemo im Schlummerland ), which was invented and drawn by Winsor McCay (1871-1934).

The comic appeared weekly between October 15, 1905 and April 23, 1911 in the New York Herald newspaper and from April 30, 1911 to 1913 in the New York American under the new name In the Land of Wonderful Dreams (Deutsch Im Land der wonderful dreams ). There was a brief attempt at reviving the strip from August 3, 1924 to January 9, 1927 in the Herald Tribune .

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Little Nemo
Little Nemo

In each episode short fantastic adventures of little Nemo are shown, which the boy experiences in his sleep on the way to slumberland. In his dreams, Nemo tries to get to Slumberland, the kingdom of King Morpheus , to become the princess' playmate . But in doing so, he usually gets into hopeless or dangerous situations from which he can no longer escape. In this situation, the last picture of the comic always shows how Nemo wakes up and is comforted by his parents, who have been woken up by his nightly screams. His dreams are often caused by overeating high-calorie foods, including confectionery, immediately before going to bed.

In the comics that appear in 1906, Nemo actually reaches slumberland, but Flip always wakes him up. But his sight with his hat, bearing the inscription Wake up (German Wake up wearing), is sufficient for this. Later, however, the antagonist Flip develops into a companion of Nemos and accompanies him on a trip to Mars in an airship. Other roles that pop up occasionally include Dr. Pill, The Imp, Candy Kid and Santa Claus.

About the comic

Little Nemo is counted among the classics of early comics. The main feature of the series is the sprawling representation of surreal dream scenarios, the drama of which increases from picture to picture, right up to the inevitable climax of waking up in the last picture. Another feature is the sometimes very elaborate depiction of architecture, which moves between classicist palaces and elements of Art Nouveau . Little Nemo is therefore often referred to as an Art Nouveau comic .

In its time, the comic was not particularly popular, as the audience liked the slapstick comics among the comics, such as The Katzenjammer Kids or Buster Brown , while the surreal and fantastic world of the Little Nemo comic remained rather foreign to the readers . Only in retrospect did the comic gain importance.

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In 1911, James Stuart Blackton and Winsor McCay produced a short animated film based on the comic. This film was entered into the National Film Registry in 2009 .

1969 Aldo Garzanti Editeur, Milan- For the German comic edition (Little Nemo "1906 to 1910 in Black and White"), Abraham Melzer was responsible. Limited edition in German translation by Yvone Carroux and Rolf Steinberg. The foreword was translated by Olimpia Hruska.

1978 appeared on the album And Then There Were Three by Genesis the song Scenes From A Night's Dream , in which the stories of Nemo are told.

In 1989 Masami Hata , Masanori Hata and William T. Hutz produced a 94-minute animated film called Nemo ( ニ モ , Nimo ). In the USA, a version shortened to 85 minutes was released in 1992 as Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland , but it flopped commercially. In 1984 a first pilot appeared under the direction of Yoshifumi Kondō ( voice of the heart - Whisper of the heart ) and in 1987 a second pilot under the direction of Osamu Dezaki ( Lupine III , Air ). During the pre-production phase, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were also briefly involved.

The band Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers used elements from Little Nemo in their 1989 music video for Runnin 'Down A Dream .

In 1990, Capcom developed the comic-based video game Little Nemo: The Dream Master for Nintendo's NES .

In 2015, the writer Eric Shanower and the illustrator Gabriel Rodriguez published the comic series Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland , in which the inhabitants of the slumber country again bring a little boy to play with the princess. Jimmy, whose second name is Nemo after the original comic, actually doesn't want to play with girls, but soon finds pleasure in the fantastic adventures that he experiences in slumberland and from which, like McCay's original Nemo, he repeatedly goes through abrupt awakening is torn. The series was published in German by Splitter .

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in German language

literature

Web links

Commons : Little Nemo  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Braun: Winsor McCay (1869-1934): Comics, Films, Dreams. Bocola, Bonn 2012, p. 309 ff.
  2. ↑ Nemo on Anime News Network
  3. ↑ Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Runnin 'Down A Dream , Official Music Video on YouTube ( TomPettyVEVO ).
  4. ↑ Eric Shanower, Gabriel Rodriguez: Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland . IDW , San Diego 2015.
  5. ↑ Eric Shanower, Gabriel Rodriguez: Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland . Splitter, Bielefeld 2015.