Read free
Comics from 100 years ago, free to read
These comics are more than 100 years old! They were printed in newspapers every Sunday, long before your grandparents were born. Now they belong to everyone, so you can read them free.
Pick a comic
Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay
1905 to 1911 Every Sunday, a boy called Nemo falls asleep and dreams he's on his way to Slumberland, a magic kingdom where a princess is waiting to play with him. Something always goes wrong on the way, and in the very last panel he wakes up in bed.
14 pages so far. We add more a few at a time, each one checked first.
What does “public domain” mean?
When someone makes a comic, a book or a song, it belongs to them for a long time. That's called copyright. After many years the copyright ends, and the work belongs to everyone. That's called the public domain. Anyone can read it, print it or share it, free.
In the United States, a comic printed in 1930 or before is in the public domain now. Every 1 January, one more year joins: on 1 January 2027, comics from 1931 will too.
Then and now
- Back then, comics came in the Sunday newspaper, one big page a week. Kids waited all week for the next one.
- The words were often in boxes under each panel, not only in bubbles. Read the box first, then look at the picture.
- Some words are old-fashioned, and some are spelled the way people talked back then. Read them out loud and they make more sense.
- The pictures were drawn by hand and coloured with ink. Look how much detail fits on one page!
For grown-ups
Made over 100 years ago, picked page by page. Old comics often drew people in cruel, mocking ways; any page with a drawing like that, or built around a fight, is left out, not explained. Each link opens the page's own file at Wikimedia Commons, a public site with millions of pictures, so read it together.
Public domain is checked by publication date only: every page here was published in the United States before 1 January 1931, and its Commons file is tagged public domain in the United States. Under US law a faithful copy of a public-domain page is public domain too; a newly drawn or recoloured version is not, and none is used here. Checked 31 October 2026.
Your public library can also lend collections of old comic strips, printed big and clear. The Little Nemo collections are worth asking for.