"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated November 17, 1907:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (SEPTEMBER 14, 2020):
There really is a lot to like about this strip. There are some neat moments reminiscent of where we've been and also some indications about where we're going! - 1/17
The top tier brings back memories of the early #LittleNemo strips that always began with someone being sent on a mission to find Nemo or the Princess weeping because it was taking so long for her to be with him. - 2/17
Again, we have the Princess forlorn that her playmate has been lost and her father, King Morpheus, doing everything he can to make it right! He even sends the army in search of him! - 3/17
I'm intrigued by the two random Slumberlandians in the right of the panel… they're insinuating (I think) that the army is ineffectual and corrupt? - 4/17
The comment about "red tape" seems to insinuate the idiom regarding bureaucratic rigidity and unnecessary rules and regulations. Could it be that the Slumberland army gets nothing done as a result of this? - 5/17
The second Slumberlandian corrects him saying that he surely means too much "gold lace" or "gold fringe tassels". Is the Slumberland army corrupt? Rich, but lazy? Do they prefer to prop themselves up on their station than actually do anything? - 6/17
I found this a really interesting aside that seemed to move beyond the primary narrative so as to speak to the actual going-ons within Slumberland… we've wanted a peak behind the curtain for a while. I think this is one. - 7/17
Now, when we get down to tiers two and three, we see our trio standing in a massive new area of the palace (no longer the Diamond room). The architecture, as always, is stunning and I can't help but comment on the affect of it's grandiosity. - 8/17
This is particularly effective as we see the boys *literally* waste away panel by panel. They are so hungry that they are getting thinner and thinner each passing moment. Small, thin characters in a massive, empty corridor… - 9/17
By the time we reach panel 6, Nemo is basically skin and bones! It's quite funny then that when he wakes up in panel 7, it is breakfast time. Another of those great reality/dreaming bleed throughs that I enjoy. - 10/17
I'm not sure how to read the conversation that is occurring across tier two… One reading would suggest that, though Impie is speaking, Flip and Nemo are paying no mind to him at all. - 11/17
Since they can't understand his language, and don't acknowledge at any point that he is speaking, having him in the middle could emphasize the way they are almost ignoring him; speaking passed him, minding him no concern. - 12/17
Alternatively, depending on how you view the temporal progression of language and conversation within comics, you might suggest that they are allowing him to speak to be polite, but otherwise (since they can't understand him), just talking to each other. - 13/17
Obviously, the latter is more polite, but I'm not sure that it's the way I read the moment… disappointingly, I think Nemo and Flip are being quite rude to Impie in this moment. So much so that, by panel 6, he has just given up saying anything because no one is listening. - 14/17
There's also wonderful irony in the boat. The note telling anyone who reads it that they've "gone to search for Nemo" is hilarious because, well… if they'd stayed put all would've been well! The gang would be fed, the Princess would be happy… - 15/17
That this also functions narratively to explain the absolutely empty palace they find themselves in is quite worthwhile, as well. - 16/17
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #110. What's yours? - 17/17
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