"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated October 04, 1908:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (NOVEMBER 4, 2020):
This strip is a lot of fun and reminds me very much of a #DreamOfTheRarebitFiend for kids! - 1/15
It's so unconnected to Slumberland in nearly all ways… I mean… have we seen one so disconnected yet? - 2/15
The predominant framing device of the early #LittleNemo strips was about getting to Slumberland and once he was there, it became about the characters who inhabited it or their journeys away from and back to the palace. - 3/15
Even more recently, when the framing has become a little less focused on the palace and the kingdom proper and more about Nemo and the larger dreamscape, the connection was maintained through Flip and Impie. - 4/15
Now all connection is lost; this is literally a dream gone awry… dreaming for dreaming's sake here. It's… refreshing, almost? - 5/15
I mean, how frequently can you remember a dream that began innocuously enough and eventually transformed into something far more unexpected? - 6/15
Nemo's dream here, about bathing, is much the same! It begins in his bathtub and slowly but surely, other creatures and technologies that one might unconsciously connect with water begin to spring forth from no where. - 7/15
It happens quite quickly too; the water doesn't overflow or anything like that, the bathtub (and by extension Nemo's home) just seems to evaporate away… leaving him floating naked in the ocean. - 8/15
Freud would probably have a FIELD DAY with this dream! Anyone want to take a shot at a Freudian analysis? - 9/15
I know this is my personal thing, but I'm going to mention yet again how much I love McCay's water drawings… the ship breaking the water's surface, the waves and crests of the ocean, the simple ripples of movement… it's just great. - 10/15
The animals are also a treat, though I'm wondering what's up with that polar bear… in both his appearances (panels 16 & 17) he seems a bit off… could it have simply been a lack of reference? - 11/15
Then again… they are just white bears, so I'm not sure that "no reference" explains it… what say you, folks? - 12/15
I also really like Nemo's reaction… at first, he wants to be independent and take care of bathing himself because his mother "scrubs too rough". How quickly the tables turn when some stranger things begin to happen? - 13/15
It makes sense, of course. His comfort begins to disappear when he starts to realize that she is no longer just right outside his door in the event of an emergency. For this reason, though it reminds me of his earlier fearful days, I would call this "fear". Maybe discomfort? - 14/15
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #156. What's yours? - 15/15