 McCay used metafictional techniques such as self @-@ referentiality in his work . This was most frequent in Dream of the Rarebit Fiend , where McCay sometimes put himself in the strip , or had characters address the reader . Sometimes characters become aware of the strip itself — a jealous lover tears the very strip apart in which he appears ; another character fastens panel borders to his strip when he realizes the artist has forgotten them ; and in a Sammy Sneeze episode Sammy 's sneeze destroys the panel borders . 
