Rarebit Vs. Mincemeat

Two of the most famous early comic strips are from Winsor McCay - Little Nemo In Slumberland and the Dreams Of The Rarebit Fiend.  Both were hugely influential successes, and it's not surprising to find imitators out there.

But some are a little stranger than others, if perhaps not so immediately obviously. Let's look at a knock-off the latter strip - this one entitled Dreams Of The Mince Pie Fiend from this guy calling himself Silas -

Good work capturing the feel, eh? There were only 11 of these done for Superworld Comics. The book folded after only 3 issues, and the series died with it. I've never seen issue #1, so those three episodes are missing. The above four are from issue #2, and here are the rest from the final issue -

So - what makes this imitation comic so much more odd than the others? Silas.

Silas was an alias for Winsor McCay, so he was doing a knock-off of his own work.

No... That's not right. See, i hadn't realized that Silas was the name McCay signed on the original Rarebit Fiend strips because his contract prevented him from using his real name on work for the Evening Telegram. And now there's another story i want to know...

And this was 1940, three decades after the original Rarebit Fiend comics. So, not so much a knock-off as a revival, eh?
 
Too bad the title only lasted 3 issues. It could have been ... (Shut Up, Kor!) ... interesting.

Okay, gonna let the brain go wander now.

page art by 'Silas' McCay for Superworld Comics #s 2 & 3 (1940)