"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated July 26, 1908:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905; Guest Curated by @gipperfish (OCTOBER 22, 2020):
Issues of scale recur throughout Winsor McCay’s “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” with Nemo often wildly out of proportion with his surroundings for comical or dramatic effect. – 1/16
These matters of scale allow for a wide variety of visual and formal play, contributing to the interesting effects on display in the famous #WalkingBed sequence that features Nemo and Flip out for a stroll through the city on Nemo's bed, as well as a marvelous crash. – 2/16
The walking bed strip is a visual marvel, composed of three tiers that grow in height to encompass the increasing size of Nemo’s bed: the bed first begins to stretch its legs in panels 4 and 5, walks out the door and through Nemo’s suburban neighborhood in panels 6-10,… - 3/16
…and clambers through city as the panels expand in height—even bounding across the linked panels 13 and 14—before tripping over a church spire, tangling up the bed’s limbs, dumping Nemo and Flip out, leaving Nemo awake in his normal bed again in panel 16. – 4/16 [Gilmore_Fig_01]
The properties of the walking bed allow Nemo (who doesn’t change in size) access to a new vantage above the city and a freedom to leap above its buildings. However, the bed is “wild”, so Nemo is not fully in control and is surprised when it takes actions of its own. – 5/16 [Gilmore_Fig_02]
In this, the strip invokes some of Nemo’s earlier encounters, like the brightly-adorned circus elephant in strip #50 (September 23, 1906) or the more perilous time when Nemo was almost eaten for Thanksgiving dinner by a giant turkey in strip #7 (November 26, 1905). – 6/16 [Gilmore_Fig_03-04]
Moving within and above the city, the #WalkingBed episode also recalls a sequence of strips from the previous year, four that ran from 15 September to 6 October 1907 (beginning with https://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/397). – 7/16
In these, Nemo and Impie flee from forest giants into the city. They climb over increasing tall buildings, making their way between skyscrapers, before Flip crashes his way toward them, bringing a number of the buildings down, which causes a fire that consumes the city. – 8/16 [Gilmore_Fig_05-08]
In that sequence, Nemo and Impie scale up in size as they enter the forest of city buildings, becoming a dozen or so stories tall by the end of the sequence. – 9/16
Their new stature has physical effects on the seemingly immovable skyscrapers—as flip puts it “Did I do that? Um! I didn’t mean to. I believe I did run against and tip over a few of them!” – 10/16
Picking up on the dark implications of this thoughtless destruction, Art Spiegelman would include the 29 September 1907 strip in the “Comic Supplement” section at the end of #InTheShadowofNoTowers. – 11/16 [Gilmore_Figs_09-10]
Bringing together scale and potential power, the #WalkingBed strip also includes the wonder and whimsy of Nemo’s views of the palaces of Slumberland, which periodically remind the viewer of the beauty and size of the vistas… - 12/16
…and draw heavily on palatial architecture of, for example, the World’s Columbia Exposition of 1893. Some examples include strip #10 (December 17, 1905), strip #29 (April 29, 1906), and strip #72 (February 24, 1907). – 13/16 [Gilmore_Figs_11-13]
The #WalkingBed episode presents a similar, implacable city, ultimately a stumbling block to Nemo, Flip, and the bed’s fun. – 14/16
Though the bed can grow to match the height of skyscraper, its legs whimsically elongating and fluidly bringing Nemo to new heights, it can’t have the same impact as a thoughtless Flip. – 15/16
It’s an interesting combination of the various ways McCay explores scale and formal presentation, playing out a delightful romp with pieces of what he’d established in the now-mature series of strips. – 16/16
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