Friday Night Fights: Boxing and Blood!

Let’s just jump straight into it — it’s time again for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

I’m probably the only modern comics fan who really enjoys some of the really old comics, and this one has always been on my list, just for the sheer imaginative lunacy on display. It’s “Dream of the Rarebit Fiend,” from the early years of the previous century. It was created by Winsor McCay, who also did “Little Nemo in Slumberland.” Every strip involved someone having an absolutely bizarre dream or nightmare, with the final panel focusing on the dreamer waking up and swearing they’d never again eat “rarebit” or “Welsh rabbit” — a meal of melted cheese sauce over toast that was reputed to cause vivid dreams.

So here’s the strip from all the way back on October 10, 1904, featuring the dreamer battling his way through Charles McCoy, Tom Sharkey, Gentleman Jim Corbett, Robert James Fitzsimmons, and James J. Jeffries — some of the best known boxers of the day…