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Day #149: Little Nemo Breaks Some Eggs

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated August 16, 1908:


Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (OCTOBER 28, 2020):


This strip is starting to get as formally repetitive as the parade strip… standardized layouts with varying panel content. - 1/16

It's irksome, but, I suppose, forgivable given that at least the panel content and narratives are shifting in interesting ways. It isn't like this story is unlikable, it's just not overly interesting, either. - 2/16

There is a continued sense that scale/growth are an important motif in this series. Here, rather then a garden, or bed, or the boys themselves growing larger, it's the eggs that litter the strip. - 4/16

I wonder though: Are the eggs that we see in panel 8 simply growing? Or are more eggs appearing in panel 9? - 5/16

I think I interpret that moment as Nemo and Flip having continued their walk towards a more egg-infested stretch of land (and eventually up an egg mountain in panel 10 + 11)… - 6/16

But, I suppose it could also be read as us witnessing the beginning of the eggs evolution? … I think this matters to me. - 7/16

If Nemo and Flip are simply walking towards ever larger eggs, that takes away some of the whimsy versus if they are experiencing the growth as they did the legs of Nemo's bed or garden. - 8/16

I like Flip's comment in panel 1 and think it does well to inverse the relationship between night/sleep and day/dreaming. In the dream world, it is morning and Nemo is awoken (does he sleep in Slumberland during waking hours in the real world?)… - 9/16

…but in the waking world, it is night time and Nemo is sleeping. I don't think we've seen it positioned in this way before and it's curious to me that this is the moment for it to occur. - 10/16

I also think that the reversal of NEMO now wanting to be united with the Princess is interesting. For so long we would watch as the Princess wept and worried about not being with Nemo. - 11/16

Here, Nemo himself wonders if they will ever be reunited. He ultimately doesn't bother himself with it too heavily, however as he goes right back to the task at hand. - 12/16

That task is also a very mundane and ordinary one; however, the dreaming makes it much less so by the strange and curious locales where the eggs are found. - 13/16

Also, I think this strip is lacking in chickens. - 14/16

Though they feature prominently in panel 2, they aren't seen again… I feel as though there is more fun to be had here with the chickens… a missed opportunity like this is just plain "Cucco" - 15/16 [INSERT IMAGE]

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #149. What's yours? - 16/16

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