"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated November 22, 1908:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (NOVEMBER 11, 2020):
Can we all just admit that this is the most absurd #LittleNemo strip that we've seen thus far? Everyone knows that turkey makes you sleepy, so I don't know WHAT Nemo's father is talking about in that final panel… - 1/13
Joking aside, this is a strange one… but, also, quite fitting for a Thanksgiving strip. This turkey (either the memory of one recently consumed or the thought of one soon to be consumed; November 26 was Thanksgiving in 1908). - 2/13
But… This. Turkey. Is. Pissed! - 3/13
Clearly, he isn't alone either… two other Turkeys have captured Nemo's pals, Flip and Impie, and are (presumably) threatening them, as well! - 4/13
The banter between Nemo and the Turkey is actually quite funny… I enjoyed it. But, that said, there really isn't any more to this holiday strip… - 5/13
The various background colours are nice and the Turkey chasing its… tail… is quite enjoyable in panel 11. - 6/13
I will say that the depiction of motion in this way is particularly interesting and it made me wonder about the origins of the "motion" or "action" line in comics. - 7/13
This is where a copy of Mort Walker's #LexiconOfComicana would come in handy… since I'm still on the hunt for this book, the internet had to serve. - 8/13
According to Worish (2015), "the origin of the motion line is hard to define… but it was around 1800 to 1850 when the motion line started to appear frequently" (p. 18). - 9/13
Worish's handbook, "Movement and Expression: Metamorphosis of Motion into Lines" credits Swiss caricaturist Rudolphe Topffer with their creation of motion lines. - 10/13 [INSERT IMAGE]
I have a sneaking suspicion that motion lines are much older than that (I vaguely remember seeing them in some Medeival works), but I might be mistaken and could just be making that up… - 11/13
I wouldn't mind hearing all of your thoughts on that, if anyone is more knowledgeable than I am in the origins of these visual grammars. - 12/13
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #163. What's yours? - 13/13