"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated February 20, 1910:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 23, 2021):
There is a lot happening in this strip that is really quite fascinating… - 1/22
For starters, this strip provides another entry in the "Super Nemo" series; He stops a burglar, gives money to a poor homeless boy, tows a broken down auto to the garage, and, most importantly, finds and rescues Flip, Impie, and the Professor! - 2/22
Nemo's montage of good deeds in this strip are quite fun. Tier 2 is particularly well done with the burglar/snoozing cop gag. - 3/22
This strip actually succeeds in incorporating not one, but two, two-panel jokes. Panels 2-3 and 4-5 both do it very well! - 4/22
The first creates humour in response to Nemo's comment that "there's nothing to see" in the park by having Nemo and the Princess find two love-birds frenching in the dark. - 5/22
The second creates humous by having Nemo help the snoozing cop bag a perp in the form of the previous panels burglar (which Nemo had thwarted). - 6/22
As with some of our past strips, the fellas in panel 7 recognize Nemo and his airship. This continues the trend of characters not just recognizing Nemo, but recognizing his reputation for goodness. They seem to know that he will help them. - 7/22
Now, before we talk about the end of the strip, I want to talk about the beginning. - 8/22
In panel 1, Nemo tells the Princess that his house is coming up and he wants to show her. In panel 2, the searchlight is positioned directly at Nemo's house as he points it out to the Princess. - 9/22
Now, clearly, this isn't his real house; it's his house in the dreamscape. It makes me wonder though… is Nemo sleeping in that house as he flies by in the airship? - 10/22
The (dream) logical answer would be "no" because that house is a fiction of the dream in the same way that his body is a fiction of the dream so because he's in the airship, he can’t be in the bed. - 11/22
But… it's a dream, which means that it doesn't have to work that way… for all we know he is both in his fictional dream bed in his dream home and in the airship with the Princess. - 12/22
I, personally, like the thought of the Princess and him flying by his house and seeing him sleeping in his bed, dreaming the dream they were living… sadly, McCay chose not to play with that particular element and moves right on by… - 13/22
But, it's entirely possible that dream Nemo saw sleeping Nemo in those windows because he is fully aware that his exploits in Slumberland are a dream. - 14/22
We're reminded of that in this weeks final panel when Nemo wishes that Flip was a real person. - 15/22
His immediate recognition that everything we've been reading about is a mind fiction cements the possibility that he realizes he's dreaming during the strip and the possibility that he's (meta)cognitively aware of himself sleeping as they pass his house. - 16/22
I don't know why this interests me so much… sorry for dragging you along on that little fascination of mine! - 17/22
When the pair finally do find our missing friends (YAY!), Nemo immediately declares they're not who they're looking for… no wonder Flip is a bit bummed out! - 18/22
Honestly, in this moment, I was sort of upset with myself too… I should've been ringing the bell for Nemo to use that airship to not just bring back Dr. Pill, but his missing friends too! - 19/22
I suppose I was simply relying on McCay to bring them back to us in due time, but that seems negligent. I sort of felt a pang of shame for not thinking about them more consciously when Flip said, "You are not looking for us, eh?". - 20/22
That said, I'm really, *really* glad that we have them back in the fold! I sort of wondered if we wouldn't see The Professor ever again, but his journey with the group continues, as well! So… Onward! - 21/22
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #228. What's yours - 22/22
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