Editorial Works

by Winsor McCay

Checker collects a new portion of McCay's career in these oversized Flash Gordon format collections of his editorial artwork. This edition focuses on editorials that appeared from 1913-1917 as the United States saw an escalation of violence in Europe as a build up to World War I.

Genres: Comics

114 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2006

About the author

Was an American cartoonist and animator, best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (begun 1905) and the animated cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For legal reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades. His comic strip work has influenced generations of artists, including creators such as William Joyce, André LeBlanc, Moebius, Maurice Sendak, Chris Ware and Bill Watterson.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous art, and it's funny to read political cartoons from 1914 and feel that so many things have changed so little.... except the child slavery crap - which I suppose is still relevant when you consider the Wal-Mart factories making our socks. What a depressing thought.

Anyway, McCay has some interesting and sharp cartoons, and his illustrations are gorgeous. The captions explaining the time and the references are a little skimpy and (you'll rarely catch me saying this) some of the cartoons were obviously originally printed at a much larger size and lose something in the reduction, but the work itself it terrific.

[Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reproductions of the original political cartoons of Winsor McCay, author of Little Nemo and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. The text provides additional context for understanding the comics, which is very helpful as many of them reference political figures in New York from the early 1900s. That said, a lot of the underlying issues are still relevant today.

One drawback is that the text could have been proofed more thoroughly. There are a number of errors that could easily be cleared up. Otherwise an excellent book.