Our original-art guru, George Hagenauer, showed me a keen book at the Chicago convention. It was a complete collection of Winsor McCay's Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1904-1913). Quoting from the inimitable Ron Goulart in his The Encyclopedia of American Comics: "Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend dealt with dreams in a particularly frightening way, including such oneiric elements as deformity, cannibalism, dismemberment, and death. It was nonetheless popular enough to prompt Frederick A. Stokes to publish a collection in 1905 ... and Edwin S. Porter produced a live film of it in 1906."

The Stokes book was far from complete, and the new 464-page hardcover George showed me was massive, with beautiful full-page reprints of the strip -- and a disc of the material as a bonus. It's about $115 and won't be available from most bookstores; I was only able to glance at it when George showed it to me, but I'll provide more information as soon as possible. In any case, that glance convinced me that the collection is incredible.