You might be wondering what fantastical new films are arriving in 2022, and we are pleased to say that the Netflix film Slumberland is one of them. Although the release date is unclear, we know that fan-favorite Jason Momoa depicts a rebellious faun creature, Flip, who acts as a guide to an extensive world of dreams and nightmares. The film, like many other Netflix projects in 2022, is based upon a previous work, Winsor McCay’s comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland.

The 1905 comic follows a young boy, Nemo, falling into various elaborate and fantastical dreams only to be woken by the last panel. McCay’s Slumberland is particularly experimental art-wise by blending color, perspective, panel size, and pacing in unique ways. Put simply, in the comics, Nemo is kidnapped by a minion of the King of Slumberland, King Morpheus (ironically bearing the same name as the protagonist of another recent Netflix adaptation related to sleep, The Sandman). Nemo is to be the playmate of the princess, but his journey to the palace takes much longer than expected and is interrupted by various obstacles.

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McCay’s comic ran from the fall of 1905 to the summer of 1911. The story has actually been adapted a couple of times, twice in the 1980s with Dream One and the Japanese-American film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. However, the story has been altered for the 2022 adaptation, perhaps because of the originally long-winded narrative and some problematic details in McCay’s comic. Nevertheless, Slumberland is a movie to be excited about. It’s good to be informed about the movie’s origins, though, to have an idea of how far the story has come and appreciate why it’s being adapted again. Here’s a look at the comic that inspired the 2022 Netflix film Slumberland.

The Inspiration of Slumberland, Explained

     New York Herald

Winsor McCay, the artist behind Little Nemo’s Adventures in Slumberland, was inspired by another one of his comics about fantastical dreams called Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. In this particular story, there were no recurring characters, but the event was always the same: the protagonist eats a dish of Welsh rarebit and then has a bizarre nightmare. McCay was motivated by the idea of dreams, but according to author John Canmaker, was eventually interested in entertaining the “little people.” So, McCay developed a children’s comic. McCay’s son, Robert Winsor McCay, who also went on to be a cartoonist, was the model for Little Nemo. The realm of childish dreams and adventures was apparently the best outlet for McCay because Little Nemo’s Adventures in Slumberland became his masterpiece.

According to the Norman Rockwell Museum, Winsor McCay “remembered childhood as a mixture of nightmares and dreams.” The Norman Rockwell Museum also reports that the great American illustrator Maurice Sendak said that he and McCay served the “same master, [their] child selves.” McCay’s excitement about childhood stories led him to be ambitious not only about the progression of art but also the future of animation.

McCay’s Brilliant and Experimental Illustrations

McCay was called a “blessing” to the field of comics and animation. He was not afraid to break boundaries visually and develop pieces that no one had seen before. In Nemo’s Adventures in Slumberland, McCay deliberately experimented with time, pacing, perspective, and the size and shape of panels. As Nemo’s emotional and visual perspective changes, so does the reader’s. McCay’s use of color also appears psychedelic to illustrate the vivid and unpredictable nature of dreams. The Norman Rockwell Museum states that McCay believed “a time was coming when people would not be content to view a stationary picture,” and so he devoted much of his energy to developing animation.

Although McCay was not the founder of animation, he offered essential technical fixes and creative developments to the field. He had a similar talent to Walt Disney but without massive fame. McCay was not motivated by money or fame but rather by the will to “always do better.”

What Changes to Expect in the 2022 Slumberland

     Netflix

One aspect that will be maintained in the film, directed by Francis Lawrence of The Hunger Games, is McCay’s love for experimental visuals. In an interview with Ben Mortimer of Den of Geek, Lawrence expresses that he works hard to make his projects timeless and visually fantastical, which is the perfect match for McCay’s forward-thinking story. Nemo’s dream guide, Flip, will also be maintained, played by Jason Momoa; that promises to be an extremely fun performance.

Other than these details, there will be some major edits to the narrative. The first is that Nemo will be a girl named Nema, played by Marlow Barkley, and she will not be kidnapped as Nemo is in the comic. Nema will explore Slumberland in search of her late father, again with the help of the faun-creature, Flip.

The alterations are a more modern take on McCay’s comic and also consider the timing of Nemo’s original adventures, which originally spanned several installments but needed to be condensed for a film. Nevertheless, Slumberland will still be an exciting universe to explore, for Nema and audiences alike. Netflix has yet to announce Slumberland’s specific release date, but the film will likely arrive at the platform in the fall or winter of 2022.