Bukatman - The poetics of Slumberland : animated spirits and the animating spirit

THE POETICS OF SLUMBERLAND

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Eric Papenfuse and Catherine Lawrence Endowment Fund in Film and Media Studies of the University of California Press Foundation.

The publisher also gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided by Stanford University.

THE POETICS
OF SLUMBERLAND

Animated Spirits and the Animating Spirit

___

Scott Bukatman

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Berkeley Los Angeles London

A slightly different version of the first half of appeared in an essay originally published in The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero, edited by Angela Ndalianis (Routledge, 2009).

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University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

2012 by Scott Bukatman

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bukatman, Scott, 1957.

The poetics of Slumberland : animated spirits and the animating spirit / Scott Bukatman.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-26571-4 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-520-26572-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Fantastic, The, in art. 2. Fantasy in motion pictures. 3. Comic books, strips, etc.History and criticism. 4. Animated filmsHistory and criticism. I. Title.

NX650.F36B85 2011

700'.415dc23

2011033308

Manufactured in the United States of America

20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

For Beth

Someone to crowd you with love,
Someone to force you to care,
Someone to make you come through,
Wholl always be there,
As frightened as you
Of being alive

STEPHEN SONDHEIM

THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelld in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

The struggle for subjectivity presents itself, therefore, as the right to difference, variation and metamorphosis.

GILLES DELEUZE

CONTENTS

Plates follow page 142

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

1. Winsor McCay, Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914

2. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, April 12, 1905

3. Winsor McCay, The Curse of Civilization, June 30, 1914

4. Punch, April 1, 1882; and George du Maurier, Punch, 1868

5. A. B. Frost, Our Cats Eat Rat Poison, Harpers Magazine, July 1881

6. Wilhelm Busch, Hans Huckebein, 1867

7. Thophile Alexandre Steinlen, Chat noir, 1884

8. Winsor McCay, Little Sammy Sneeze, Sept. 24, 1905

9. Winsor McCay, The Story of Hungry Henrietta, Jan. 15, 1905

10. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, Oct. 26, 1904

11. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, April 19, 1905

12. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, April 26, 1905

13. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, Feb. 4, 1905

14. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, March 29, 1905

15. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, May 24, 1906

16. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, Nov. 22, 1906

17. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, March 14, 1908

18. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, March 30, 1907

19. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, Nov. 9, 1907

20. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, May 28, 1908

21. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, July 31, 1909

22. Rodolphe Tpffer, Histoire de M. Vieux Bois, 1837

23. N. C. Wyeth, The Wreck of the Covenant, 1913

24. Winsor McCay (center), Little Nemo, 1911

25. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo, 1911

26. Little Nemo, 1911; Le mystre Picasso, 1955

27. Le mystre Picasso, 1955

28. Metropolis, 1926

29. Pinocchio, 1940

30. Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins, My Fair Lady, 1964

31. My Fair Lady, 1964; The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935; Metropolis, 1926

32. Jerry Lewis in Artists and Models, 1955

33. Lust for Life, 1956

34. Curt Swan, Action Comics, no. 296 (Jan. 1963)

35. Brian Bolland, Animal Man, no. 5 (winter 1988)

36. Grant Morrison (writer), Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood (artists), Animal Man, no. 12 (June 1989)

37. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, All-Star Superman, no. 10 (May 2008)

38. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, All-Star Superman, no. 10 (May 2008)

COLOR PLATES (following page 142)

1. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, April 18, 1909

2. R. F. Outcault, The Horse Show as Reproduced at Shantytown Nov. 17, 1895

3. R. F. Outcault, The Residents of Hogans Alley Visit Coney Island, May 24, 1896

4. R. F. Outcault, An Old-Fashioned Fourth of July in Hogans Alley, July 5, 1896

5. Jack Cole, Police Comics, no. 22 (Sept. 1943)

6. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Oct. 15, 1905

7. Little Sammy Sneeze, Oct. 9, 1904

8. Cliff Sterrett, Polly and Her Pals, Jan. 30, 1927

9. Winsor McCay, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, Feb. 9, 1913

10. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, July 19, 1908

11. Raphaelle Peale, Blackberries, ca. 1813

12. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Oct. 22, 1905

13. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Sept. 22, 1907

14. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Nov. 15, 1908

15. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Dec. 1, 1907

16. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, May 2, 1909

17. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Sept. 27, 1908

18. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Jan. 19, 1908

19. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, July 26, 1908

20. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Feb. 2, 1907

21. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Jan. 26, 1907

22. Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Dec. 27, 1908

23. Little Nemo, 1911. Hand-colored film frames

24. Lust for Life, 1956

25. Lust for Life, 1956

26. Greg Rucka (writer) and J. H. Williams (artist), Batwoman: Elegy (2010)

27. Jim Steranko, pages from Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, ca. 196869

28. Brian Bolland, Animal Man covers

29. Grant Morrison (writer), Chris Weston (artist), The Filth (2004)

30. Jack Kirby, Fantastic Four, no. 77 (August 1968)

31. Frank Quitely, All-Star Superman, no. 1 (Jan. 2006)

APPRECIATIONS

This book was a long time coming, and many people have helped it along, either by reading various versions and iterations, or just by keeping me semi-sane and quasi-content.

I begin by thanking my research budget at Stanford University for buying me every comic book I could ever want, which made this book possible. Alex Nemerovs work has been an inspiration to meI aspire to be a more cheerful version of the author of