"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated February 06, 1910:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 21, 2021):
This is a delightful, and simple, little strip! The heroics that we've been witness to over the last few strips are gone and replaced by a nice little sightseeing adventure. - 1/24
It would seem as if, on the way to the North where Dr. Pill is, Nemo has decided to pilot the airship right through (Dre)America! - 2/24
As Nemo tries to fly the airship higher, so as to avoid any pesky building/architecture he might run into, we're treated to McCay's rendering of the Washington Monument, the US Capitol Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge. - 3/24
These sights, decidedly American, do certainly exist in the waking world version of the country, but there is one major piece of the puzzle that solidifies this as (Dre)America... - 4/24
…and that is the transition from panel 4 and 5. The statue of liberty is hours away from the Capitol building… According to Google, approx. 3.5 to be specific. - 5/24
But Nemo is frustrated by how slow the airship is moving… which means that (unless the airship is moving WAY faster than logical… which is, of course, possible) the geography of (Dre)America is much different than waking world America. - 6/24
Personally, this adds to the fun of the strip; the geography matters less from a reading perspective than does the fun of seeing these sights represented within the comic. - 7/24
The Princess also has some interesting moments in this strip; two things in particular stand out. - 8/24
First, she has begun to doubt Nemo and wonders whether he actually knows where he is going… Nemo, for his part, tries to calm the Princess' nerves by declaring that they're on the right track. - 9/24
Whether she believes him or not, she acquiesces and, at the very least, puts a pin in the discussion as the ship seems to begin malfunctioning. - 10/24
Second, and of the most interest to me, is the fact that the Princess declares to Nemo in panel 6: "I'd like to take a trip…and see some of the great sights of this country." - 11/24
Which indicates that the Princess has never been to (Dre)America before this trip… what are we to make of that? - 12/24
If this is part of her kingdom (as Princess of Morpheus, King of Dreams) then why hasn't she visited? Does it support our thought that Nemo is the special key that unlocks previously inaccessible parts of Slumberland for the palace? - 13/24
Could it just be that she is so young that she's yet to travel the entire dreamscape? These questions are the ones that most intrigue me… either way though, it indicates an interesting reversal. - 14/24
At the beginning of the series, the Princess was Nemo's guide to the dreamworld of Slumberland. Now, it seems, that Nemo would reverse the roles and be her guide through (Dre)America. - 15/24
This also raises the question of who "controls" (Dre)America. Is it shaped by Nemo's mind (the geographical distance might simply be a young boy ignoring the unimportant details)? Or is it pre-shaped and Nemo simply traverses it? - 16/24
My instinct would be to suggest that it's the former, but again, there simply isn't any evidence to support either reading… it's mostly conjecture and transactional exploration here (which I'm all for). - 17/24
As always, thoughts on this are more than welcome! - 18/24
I really enjoy the blurriness between the dreaming and the waking this week. Throughout the whole strip, we've seen the ship slowly get lower and lower, until they decide to land on a roof to investigate. - 19/24
When Nemo wakes, it seems as though he's been caught up in his sheets which have, rather then tossing him from the bed, slowly been lowering him to the ground. - 20/24
At least, that's how I read it… theoretically, he could just be the middle of a fall… - 21/24
This seems less likely to me though because of the temporal disparity it would create between his fall (which would be quick) and his speech (which would be slow). - 22/24
Overall, I rather enjoyed this strip and really liked how it contributed to expanding on some of the questions that we've been recently discussing. - 23/24
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #226. What's yours? - 24/24
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