Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend
September 15 - December 1, 2005
Philip Sills Exhibit Hall
The Ohio State University
William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio
Oddball comic strips for adult readers were published long
before Gary Larson created The Far Side. One of the most
remarkable of these comics was Winsor McCay's Dream of the
Rarebit Fiend, which was published between 1904 and 1913.
This exhibit highlights examples of this extraordinary comic
strip from the collections of The Ohio State University's
Cartoon Research Library.
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend features a bizarre assortment
of nightmares caused by overeating Welsh rarebit, a popular
melted cheese dish. McCay's biographer, John Canemaker, describes
it as "one of the most sophisticated and witty comic strips
ever created."
At the time he was drawing Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, McCay
was also beginning to work on animation, and the artwork
of the comic strip demonstrates his experimentation with
changing shapes and motion. As a result, the nightmare world
McCay created far exceeds its predecessors visually. Exhibit
goers will be amused and entertained by the century-old horrors
he imagined.
