 McCay 's longest @-@ running strip , Dream of the Rarebit Fiend , first appeared in the Evening Telegram in September 1904 . The strip was aimed at an adult audience , and had no recurring characters . The characters that appeared in the strip would have fantastic , sometimes terrifying dreams , only to wake up in the last panel , cursing the Welsh rarebit they had eaten the night before , which they blamed for bringing on the dream . Rarebit Fiend was so popular that a book collection appeared in 1905 from publisher Frederick A. Stokes . It was adapted to film by Edwin S. Porter , and plans were made for a " comic opera or musical extravaganza " for stage that failed to materialize . McCay signed the Rarebit Fiend strips with the pen name " Silas " , as his contract required that he not use his real name for his Evening Telegram work . 
