Dream of the Rarebit Fiend

DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND was a comic strip published in American newspapers from 1904 to 1913.
Each episode presented the dream of some poor soul who had the misfortune of partaking of Welsh Rarebit (a melted cheese toast) before retiring, a decision that resulted in unusual and fantastic dreams. In the last panel, the dreaming victim awakened, vowing never to partake of Rarebit before bedtime again.
The strip was written and drawn by Winsor McCay (1867-1934), famous for his “Little Nemo in Slumberland”.
Other than Little Nemo, which was addressed to children, and mainly lived from its spectacular layouts, DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND focused on the plots, seen from a decidedly adult point of view, and was devoted to adult nightmares and phobias, making it one of the weirdest, most amazing and shocking comic strips of all times, simply “the most bizarre newspaper feature in American history” (Jeet Heer).