McCay's Rarebit Fiends

In anticipation of the release of the new art book, Daydreams and Nightmares, the Boston Globe takes a look at Winsor McCay's more adult works.

With strips like the Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, McCay explored a more nightmarish world than what was found in his Little Nemo.

Besides the fact that both strips were about nocturnal adventures, it's difficult to reconcile ''Little Nemo" and ''Rarebit Fiend." Whereas ''Little Nemo" is predominately a visual strip, marred by stilted dialogue and a vapid lead character, ''Rarebit Fiend"-perhaps the most bizarre newspaper feature in American history, a daily dip into the netherworld of the human psyche-gets its bite from its sharply etched portrait of duplicity and self-deception. Perhaps too sharply etched: Apparently we'd prefer to remember McCay as a harmless fantasist, not as a penetrating critic of social life.