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…

Hope all your dreams this weekend are pleasant and not too cheese-fueled…

This may not be the kind of fight that get the mad kudos over at Spacebooger’s place, but I think I’m absolutely going to get the prize for the Oldest Friday Night Fights ever.

This is from an old strip called “Dream of the Rarebit Fiend” by Winsor McCay. He’s best known today for his head-trippy and beautiful “Little Nemo in Slumberland” comic strip, and he also created some early animated movies — all created solo, with every single frame of film hand-drawn. “Dream of the Rarebit Fiend” had a simple premise — every strip featured someone having some kind of mad nightmare and waking up to curse themselves for eating something called rarebit, or Welsh rabbit — basically, it was fried cheese on toast. Everyone seemed to believe that eating it before bed would give you incredibly vivid dreams.

Anyway, this strip is from all the way back in October 26, 1904. Yeah, that’s right — this is a Friday Night Fights that was over 105 years in the making!

Okay, not the goriest or manliest brawl ever depicted for Friday Night Fights, but I hope I can kick that much butt when I’m over a century old…