Day #188: Little Nemo and the Growing Staircase

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated May 16, 1909:

Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (DECEMBER 07, 2020):

This strip continues pretty much right where the last strip left off. Nemo and the Professor are stone and Flip has fended the Lion's advances off with a cigar to the nose. - 1/13

Somewhat surprisingly, the Wizard (who is credited as being the Dancing Missionary on CSL… did he have powers?) turns Flip into stone in panel 2… and he doesn't bother us again… Wiz continues to be successful in his attempts to get Nemo to Slumberland. - 2/13

It doesn't last all that long though… Nemo starts to second guess him when the stairs that he and the Professor begin to become larger and larger. - 3/13

This makes it much harder for them to progress towards their goal of reaching Slumberland. Wiz claims that he's got it under control, but when his colleague (The Boob) shows up, it's revealed that they've actually shrunk (either that or the palace has grown). - 4/13

The spatio-visual trick isn't a new one; McCay did the same thing in the enormous hat gag (Strip #183). But, like it was there, it's effective. - 5/13

I do wonder how it occurred though; did the palace grow or did the boys shrink? It doesn't *really* matter… just curious. - 6/13

Now, the Professor's dialogue is really revealing in this strip. In panel 5 he mentions how much he wants to see Slumberland and in panel 6 he proclaims that he'd do about anything to reach it! - 7/13

This might explain why he is so eager to abandon Flip (who has seemed to be much closer to him than Nemo)… he seemed to join Nemo with zero resistance last week and doesn't blink an eye here when they go off again without him. - 8/13

This likely puts my "the Professor is a Slumberlandian" theory to bed. He's far too excited to be going; it seems as though he's never been there before. - 9/13

Finally, Nemo declares in the final panel that he can't seem to reach Slumberland because he wakes up right before he gets there… This was very reminiscent of the first dozen strips… - 10/13

Could this mean that the longer someone is away from Slumberland (or the Palace) the harder it is for them to it? Maybe it was easier for a while because he had reached the goal? - 11/13

He also specifically says "Slumberland" is where he's trying to go, possibly signalling that the palace and Slumberland are NOT synonymous. - 12/13

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #188. What's yours? - 13/13