How the Imp Became.
little nemo
Little Nemo to DREAM ANOTHER DREAM
Winsor McCay was perhaps the greatest cartoonist of all time, and the Sunday newspaper strip Little Nemo in Slumberland is his most enduring creation. Detailing the adventures of its titular character in The Land of Wonderful Dreams, the early twentieth century opus is one of the most inventive and visually stunning works of American art. A century later, the comic medium is still racing to keep up with the richness, draftsmanship, imagination, and wonder of McCay’s fantastic storytelling and wild Slumberland universe.
In Locust Moon Press’ upcoming anthology LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, many of the world’s finest cartoonists will pay tribute to the master and his masterpiece by creating new Little Nemo strips, following their own voices down paths lit by McCay. Contributors include Paul Pope, JH Williams III, Bill Sienkiewicz, David Mack, Carla Speed McNeil, Charles Vess, Peter Bagge, Dean Haspiel, Farel Dalrymple, Marc Hempel, Nate Powell, P. Craig Russell, Jeremy Bastian, Jim Rugg, Ron Wimberly, Scott Morse, David Petersen, J.G. Jones, Mike Allred, Dean Motter, Yuko Shimizu, Roger Langridge, and Mark Buckingham, among many others.
To be published in the fall of 2014 as both a newspaper and a hardcover book at the full size of the original Little Nemo broadsheet pages (16″ x 21″), this book will celebrate McCay’s endless legacy, chart his influence on generations of modern cartoonists, and most of all shine a light back on an artist who has given his art form so much, and whose work should be more widely known.
This is a love song for Winsor McCay, Little Nemo, and the limitless possibilities of comics.
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Locust Moon is a retail store, art gallery, and small press based in West Philadelphia. Their first book, ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE (published through Dark Horse in the fall of 2012) was nominated in the Harveys and Stumptown Comic Arts Awards for Best Anthology. Aside from LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, Locust Moon’s other current and ongoing projects include the periodical comics & illustration magazine QUARTER MOON, and 36 LESSONS IN SELF-DESTRUCTION, a collection of the mini comics of infamous underground Philadelphia cartoonist Rob Woods. Locust Moon also hosts an annual comics festival, next held on October 25, 2014.
Below are a few pages for the book by Jeremy Bastian, Roger Langridge, Peter & Maria Hoey, Peter Bagge, David Petersen, and Toby Cypress.
To see a longer (though still nowhere near complete!) list of contributors, click here.
The Locust Moon Top 40: July 2013
40. SATELLITE SAM
Raymond Chandler meets Paddy Chayefsky, in Howard Chaykin’s sketchy, viciously sharp ink lines.
39. Moebius Nemo
Come back, Jean Girard. How are we supposed to make a proper Nemo tribute without you?
38. Tokidoki Donutella
Adorablicious.
37. Our Anniversary Party
The Paper Anniversary has to be a lucky one for a comic book store.
36. NeverWet
One question: if you get this on your hands, how do you wash it off?
35. BEST OF EC ARTIST’S EDITION
IDW just won’t stop with these incredible collections of photographed artwork. Pre-code EC comics like you’ve never seen ’em before.
Winsor Wednesdays
In which we embrace the passing of years, however sudden and uncomfortable. 
Happy birthday, Chris.
heroes con 2013
we were in north carolina last week for heroes con. the con has been running for over 30 years and has a reputation for being maybe the best east coast convention, with a family atmosphere and emphasis on comics and comic creators–none of the pop culture nonsense that so many other cons have made the focus of their shows. it’s fair to say we were looking forward to this one.
josh and i left early thursday morning, hopping on a train, where we met up with our roomie for the weekend, ulises farinas. ulises is a fantastic artist and an easy guy to spend 13 hours on a train with. here’s the cover to his book coming out in july…
there’s not much to say about a 13 hour train ride. we traded comics biz stories (shame on some people out there, ha) and ate lousy train food and discussed the eternal subject, women. we got into charlotte around 9 pm and headed for the hotel. andrew had flown in earlier and scouted out the bbq options, which, by the time we unwound and ulises had donned his RATTICUS costume, were limited. who’s RATTICUS, you ask?
we wound up eating at QUEEN CITY Q, a middle of the road BBQ restaurant that had good ribs, terrible brisket, and weak drinks.
friday was set-up time, and we were in INDIE ISLAND, along with the pittsburgh boys (jim rugg, jasen lex, ed piskor, and tom scioli), chris pitzer of ADHOUSE BOOKS, rafer roberts, and some other folks i’m spacing on right now. we were tabled next to chad bowers, who was from the area and a real nice guy to be stuck next to for 3 days. chad did a bunch of ‘terrible sketches for $1’ over the course of the 3 days, and they were all worth a chuckle. the show got off to a slow start, sales-wise (more on that to come), so i decided to hit the floor, say hi to some folks, and try to get creators signed on to our LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM project.
i saw neal adams with only 1 or 2 people around him and figured what the hell, i’d give it a shot. after listening to some hilarious off-color stories about roy thomas and stan lee from neal, i pitched him nemo. i was excited and a little abuzz when, without too much work, he said yes. this kicked off a pretty spectacular weekend of recruiting creators for the project. when i got back to the table to hear sales were slow but josh had talked to–and gotten a yes from–peter bagge, the tone and type of weekend it was going to be was set. before the end of the day, tom scioli, ed piskor, nick pitarra, shawn crystal, and ben marra had all joined in. we also got to meet drew moss, who illustrated one of the stories in ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE and is doing stuff at IDW now. drew is a swell guy, great finally meeting in person. Continue reading
The Locust Moon Top 40: May 2013
40. Copra Compendium
It’s finally here, courtesy of Bergen St. Comics. With a voice all his own Fiffe swipes liberally from Miller & Kirby, then high-tails it for the border.
39. Electric Light Orchestra
If there’s a better album to make comics to than ELO’s NEW WORLD RECORD, please tell me about it.
38. This Commencement Speech by Joss Whedon
Because YOU HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO DIE.
37. Poutine
When this stuff finally breaks in the states, dozens of organic locally-sourced poutineries will start popping up all over Williamsburg & Silverlake.
36. Inky
We got a new cat. He’s a little monster, but also a kitten so we are legally and morally obligated to love him.
The Locust Moon Top 40
40. Unwritten vol. 7
Just when you expect Gross & Carey’s literary-metaphysical magnum opus to start buckling down and wrapping up, it gets headier and wilder.
39. Waking Sleeping Beauty
An absolute love song to the guys who resurrected Disney’s majesty after a muddled, disappointing ’80s. The Howard Ashman stuff is inspiring and tragic.
38. Foxing Quarterly
Art directed by Jim Rugg, this might be the best-looking zine we have ever seen.
37. James Ensor
The powerful works of this turn-of-the-century Belgian expressionist can be seen at the MoMA. The combination of tiny, obsessive detail with big, broad gestures reminded us of our own David Proch.
36. TCAF
We’re headed north again as the Time Machine travels across the border. Now if we could just find our passports…
35. Print Show
Instead of featuring one particular artist, in May we’re filling the gallery with beautiful low-priced prints from our books and our friends. Our buddies sure do make some pretty pictures here…
34. IDW’s Spirit Artist’s Edition
Now that’s the spirit! Continue reading
More News From Nowhere
As Brood II, the first wave of cicadas in seventeen years, begins preparing for the big show this summer, warming up their legs with the gentle, restless buzz of an orchestra tuning, we believe that we are entering The Summer of the Locust. As the cold lifts and the swarm threatens to swarm, we thought this as good a time as any to update you on the goings-on around the Moon. Here’s what we’ve been up to.
Locust Moon Academy. Tonight, we matriculate in hell. The illustrious Mark A. Robinson (creator of Image’s I LOVE TROUBLE) and his hydroelectric fountain of creativity will inspire children ages 8-15, starting Saturday April 27th at 3pm, and proceeding weekly after that. James Comey, that ink-guzzling breaker of bones and artist of AMERICAN MONSTER BUFFET, will begin brainwashing any and all comers 16-and-older at 6pm on Tuesday May 14th.
The revolution begins here.
36 Lessons in Self-Destruction. Rob Wood’s magnum opus is complete. Now all that’s left to do is print this sucker, and plan the most self-destructive book release party the publishing world has ever seen. To be released on October 5th. Which just happens to be the date of…
The 2nd Annual Locust Moon Comics Festival. Our first shot at this was just a dry run. This time we move into the sanctuary space at the Rotunda, where we can fit five times as many tables. The back space at the Rotunda (where the convention was held last year) will be reserved for panels, screenings, interviews, talks, maybe even a musical performance or two. This is not a comic book convention. It’s a celebration of the infinite possibilities of the medium we all hold dear.
Stumptown Awards. ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE is nominated for Best Anthology! We are honored. Vote for us HERE.
Free Comic Book Day. Saturday, May 4th. There will be cookies. There will be balloons. There will be an exclusive new flavor from Little Baby’s Ice Cream. There will be live musical performances. There will be our own little artist’s alley, composed of J.G. Jones, Mark Robinson, Rob Woods & Dave Proch. And oh yeah: a veritable smorgasbord of free comics, from our shelves to your hot little hands. Don’t miss it.
Little Nemo. The Slumberland Express rolls on. This past month we have been joined by Mark Buckingham, Chrissie Zullo, and an aspiring young gentleman by the name of Paul Pope. We’ve seen gorgeous watercolor sketches from J.G. Jones, brilliantly composed roughs from Maria & Peter Hoey, and finished inks from our own David Proch. Sometimes it feels as though we’re building a temple, and every stone is made of love.
More to come, Moonies. Stay tuned…
Little Nemo in Sleeplessland
the little guy is kind of worried what we have in store for him apparently…
the first in a series from mistress-of-puppets and all around making-cool-stuff-ninja caitlin mccormack.
LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM
Our upcoming Little Nemo book is truly a dream-come-true project that has us extremely excited. Here’s a look at some the creators involved as of now:
MIKE ALLRED
PETER BAGGE
FIL BARLOW
JEREMY BASTIAN
JEREMY BAUM
STEPHEN R. BISSETTE
BOX BROWN
MARK BUCKINGHAM
DAVE BULLOCK
KEVIN CANNON
ZANDER CANNON
JOHN CASSADAY
SENK CHHOUR
DAVE CHISHOLM
COLE CLOSSER
JORGE COELHO
JAMES COMEY
AARON CONLEY
TOBY CYPRESS
FAREL DALRYMPLE
CAMILLA D’ERRICO
DAVE DORMAN
ALEX ECKMAN-LAWN
DANIEL ELISII
LISK FENG
CHARLES FETHEROLF
FRANK GIBSON & BECKY DREISTADT
RAWN GANDY
RAUL GONZALEZ
RAFAEL GRAMPÁ
JAMES HARVEY
DEAN HASPIEL
MARIA & PETER HOEY
MATT HUYNH
J.G. JONES
JEFFRO KILPATRICK
DENIS KITCHEN
TODD KLEIN
ROGER LANGRIDGE
BRENDAN LEACH
MIKE LEE
JASEN LEX
DAVID MACK
ANDREW MACLEAN
MARK MARIANO
BENJAMIN MARRA
PAUL MAYBURY
CARLA SPEED MCNEIL
FÁBIO MOON & GABRIEL BÁ
MORITAT
SCOTT MORSE
DEAN MOTTER
DAVID PETERSEN
ROGER PETERSEN
NICK PITARRA
PAUL POPE
NATE POWELL
GEORGE PRATT
DAVE PROCH
HANS RICKHEIT
PAOLO RIVERA
PAUL RIVOCHE
RAFER ROBERTS
JIM RUGG
P. CRAIG RUSSELL
TOM SCIOLI
MIKE SGIER
YUKO SHIMIZU
GALEN SHOWMAN
BILL SIENKIEWICZ
R. SIKORYAK
BISHAKH SOM
DAVE STEWART
JAMIE TANNER
CRAIG THOMPSON
JILL THOMPSON
JEN TONG
JENNA TROST
ANDREA TSURUMI
CHARLES VESS
S.M. VIDAURRI
MARK WHEATLEY
MARIS WICKS & JOE QUINONES
GRIM WILKINS
J.H. WILLIAMS III
ROB WOODS
CHRISSIE ZULLO
And that’s not nearly the whole gang. This list will be kept updated with our publicly announced names, but see more about DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, including pages from the book, here:
– Press release & first revealed pages (by Jeremy Bastian, Roger Langridge, Peter & Maria Hoey and Peter Bagge)
– New contributor announcement & a new sneak peek (Mike Allred, Rafael Grampá, P. Craig Russell, Yuko Shimizu, Craig Thompson and Raul Gonzalez)
– New contributor announcement (Carla Speed McNeil, Fábio Moon, and Gabriel Bá)
– New contributor announcement (Nate Powell, Toby Cypress, Tom Neely and Denis Kitchen)
– New contributor announcement (JH Williams III, David Mack and George Pratt)
– New contributor announcement (Dean Motter, Hans Rickheit, Jeremy Baum)
– New contributor announcement (Paolo Rivera, Lisk Feng, Brendan Leach)
– David Petersen page reveal!
– New contributor announcement (Jerome Opeña, Dan Goldman, Jen Tong)
– New contributor announcement (Sam Kieth, Zander Cannon, Matt Huynh)
– Unexpected Roger Petersen sneak peek
– New contributor announcement (Moritat, Andrew MacLean, Frank Gibson & Becky Dreistadt)
– New contributor announcement (Jill Thompson, Ulises Farinas, Rob Woods)
– New contributor announcement & spotlight (Aaron Conley, Dave Dorman, Farel Dalrymple)
– Cole Closser announcement & sneak peek
– Toby Cypress page reveal!
– New contributor announcement (Stephen R. Bissette, Troy Nixey, Dave Chisholm)
– Dave Chisholm sneak peek
– Maris Wicks & Joe Quinones announcement & sneak peek
Locust Moon Comics 
