"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated January 19, 1908:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905; Guest Curated by @Totter87 (SEPTEMBER 23, 2020):
Hello everyone – I’m Chris Totten (@Totter87) and I’m the guest contributor for a few of the comics in the upcoming “Befuddle Hall” story arc. You may have seen me in some of the responses to previous comic threads, but a little more about myself - 1/19
I’m an assistant professor at @KSUTusc in the Animation Game Design program, specializing in animation and world design for video games. I’ve made games for 14 years, taught for 11, have authored multiple game design books, and co-founded the Smithsonian @AmericanArt Arcade! - 2/19
I’m also creating a Little Nemo video game, Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends, which will be on Kickstarter in early 2021 (more info at the link below). I’ve loved the Little Nemo comics for a long time, so this is a “dream project” (bah dum chh) of mine. - 3/19 [include the NemoPressKit images from the attached folder]
So, this thread will be a little different in that I’m not speaking as a comics scholar, but rather as someone looking at the visual, architectural, and ludic (playful) structures of the Nemo comics, as well as how they hint at McCay’s eventual animation work. - 4/19
Today’s comic continues the longer story arc of Nemo, Flip, and Impy exploring Slumberland while Morpheus and the other Slumberlandians try to return Nemo to the Princess. - 5/19
This is one of the oddest and most iconic arcs of the Little Nemo series. It's also where McCay does much of his best experimentation. The oddness comes from the turn towards a fugitive story (the characters running and disguising themselves) and because Slumberland is eerily empty. - 6/19
I mention this because these elements come together really spectacularly when the characters arrive at Befuddle Hall. The strip begins as Nemo is reading the latest sign promising escalating rewards for Nemo’s return to the Princess and Flip urges the group onward. - 7/19
I’m going to take a moment to look at the architecture here, which is very un-McCay-like. His buildings are usually in the Neoclassical or Beaux Arts-styles popular in the US after the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, whose planning was overseen by Daniel Burnham. - 8/19
The colorful mosaic and the spiral columns leading into Befuddle Hall are much more like the work of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), particularly his designs from Park Güell in Barcelona, which was in construction from 1900-1914 (images from @WikiCommons). - 9/19
[Gaudi01 and 02 images in the attached folder]
While I don’t have proof that McCay saw this work, I would like to think that it would be possible for him to have encountered images of it. We’ve tried to explore that possibility in Nightmare Fiends, basing architectural details on several of Gaudi’s works. - 10/19
[GaudiNF01 and Gaudi NF02 images in attached folder]
Back to the story: as they explore, they find a blocked off area of the palace and a warning to keep out. This is where the abandoned element starts making sense, both because it is labeled as “dangerous” but also because the comic ceases to become about storytelling. - 11/19
We know that McCay felt that there was infinite possibility in drawing to represent fantastic sights. In a way, he was both responding to the work of Georges Méliès (Haunted Castle, A Trip to the Moon) and predicting other special effects work. Here, he dives in. - 12/19
McCay begins with two “impossible” perspectives – infinite staircases going both up and down. This predates by many years "impossible architecture" like the Penrose Stairs (1958) and endless stairs (enabled via programming tricks) in Super Mario 64 (1996) - 13/19 [Search “Mario 64 Stairs” in the Twitter gif function and find the image of Mario running up the endless red staircase]
McCay then shrinks and grows his characters in a way not-unlike Alice in Adventures in Wonderland (1865). First, they find a massive parlor with skyscraper-sized furniture – as it gets taller the structure of the furniture becomes thin, ethereal art nouveau constructions. - 14/19
As a video game professor, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Capcom’s 1990 #LittleNemoTheDreamMaster game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. There’s not a ton to talk about here: the game was made to promote the 1989 Little Nemo movie and has little to do with the comic. - 15/19
The game has a few of the comic's set pieces but its core mechanics, navigating through levels with various animal friends, don’t have much to do with either comic or movie. There IS, though, a level based on a giant house, which you can see here: - 16/19 https://youtu.be/GtTky3ZSNe4
In the penultimate panel, they are themselves skyscraper-sized in a tiny library. Here we get a rare look at the character’s features blown up. Nemo’s eyes are hidden by shadow, which gives him an oddly menacing look. - 17/19
Before waking up, Nemo hints at wonders to come by saying “Let’s go further!”, as if providing a preview for next week. McCay is clearly not finished with his experimenting. - 18/19
That’s my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #119. What are your thoughts? - 19/19
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