5 out of 5

Maybe there’s something to pick apart here, but ‘Little Nemo’ is such an honest re-representation of a classic work – respectfully updated; traditional yet modern, in the same vein as Shanower’s Oz works – that it’s hard to simply like it: one is fascinated by it, or one is disinterested.  And if you’re in the latter camp, perhaps there’s no easy criticism except to say that it isn’t for you.  But if you love flourished illustrations – much like McCay’s original Art Nouveau Nemo – and if you love smart and fun YA comics, then I think by the first page you’ll be drawn in.

Nemo goes to sleep and wakes up in Slumberland, the princess of which takes Nemo along on adventures, foiled / added to by the antics of the clown-faced Flip, the whole thing ruled by imaginative dream logic, and segmented into weekly strips that conclude with Nemo waking from his dream, generally fallen from bed.  In this updated version, The Princess and Flip are still around but we’ve shifted to something resembling the modern age, and a new playmate is sought.  James’ middle name is Nemo, and that’s close enough for Slumberland, so after a few failed attempts at being escorted to the palace by candy kid Bon-Bon – and hesitating to accept a playdate with a girl – the adventure begins and our initial four issue mini sets us up for, hopefully, several more minis to come.

Shanower’s writing is mature without being too dancey or patronizing for kids of various ages.  Nemo may not speak in modern jive, but he’s not old fashioned, same with wise-cracking Flip, and the Slumberland residents have storybook cadence which should be acceptable to any eyes / ears used to a bit of fantasy in their tales.  ‘Return’ doesn’t dive too deeply into plot twists or heavy character development, of course, but everyone has a unique voice, and the words that are used all feel appropriate and in service of the story, or of drawing our eyes to one or more of the fantastic details.  Gabriel Rodriguez’s art is simply masterful.  A description here cannot do it justice.  He and Shanower have drawn in plenty of influence – some structurally, some direct – from McCay, but with framing and pacing that shows awareness of the medium.  The level of detail and complexity that somehow still allows for such clearly defined sequences (visible even in the rough pencil art included as backmatter in issue 1) is astounding, so the extra wait between issues to achieve this is by all means worth it.  Colorist Nelson Daniel is a key component to this, as over- or under-done colors could easily have rendered the pages boring or less readable, but every tone is chosen perfectly, with some interesting (and not distracting) blends used as background tones.  The assortment of colors matched with the dense linework reminds me of how amazingly Dave Stewart did with Geof Darrow’s recent Shaolin Cowboy book.  Lastly, wonderfully playful and yet precise lettering from Robbie Robbins completes the fully realized vibe of the book.

Not that I need to say any of this.  Because, seriously, just look at the front page.  You’ll make up your own mind.