"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated April 03, 1910:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 29, 2021):
Getting back to our regular scheduled airship travel in space, we see a fairly simplistic strip today. - 1/15
It seems as though, at least for me, this strip is hinged upon Nemo's (?) "Fair Luna" comment from panel 2. - 2/15
Mythologically speaking, the moon has always been representative of a feminine sensibility; Selene, Greek and Roman Goddess of the moon, likely serves as the most recognizable of it's personifications. - 3/15
This fits well with the idea of the "Fair Luna"… Angry rock monsters? Not so much. - 4/15
I know that there were some ancients myths surrounding the destructive power of the moon… The "myth encyclopaedia" (not the most academic of sources, granted) suggests that Aztec, Mayan, and even Maori believed in this terrifying moon. - 5/15
What I find most interesting about this strip is the mutability of the moon throughout the series. - 6/15
If you recall, our earliest strips (way back in 1905) frequently featured the moon as a character or, as was the case on December 03, 1905, a place to be visited: - 7/15
In many of the early episodes, the moon was more of a "man in the moon" sort of thing… that's changed more recently and quite substantially here. Where has the old face of the moon gone? - 8/15
I'll note that panel 5's content layout is quite awkward… Impie silently recoils from the angry rocks beginning to move while the Captain of the ship calls the boys "lunatics". - 9/15
Flip and Nemo, with their backs turned, respond to the Captains comments before the reader is likely to even see the Captain's balloon… it causes a bit of initial confusion (easily cleared up), but worth noting. - 10/15
Finally, I'll end by wondering… is there a connection between the Captain's word of choice here? - 11/15
In the Dec. 03, 1905 strip (shared above) Nemo meets a character names "Lunatix" on the moon… now, all these years later, in another strip about the moon, the word "lunatic" comes up again… coincidence? -Probably not. - 12/15
Not only does it incorporate the prefix "luna-", but it also draws into conversation the urban legend/phenomenon of "moon madness" (more accurately called "lunar lunacy"). - 13/15
If there is more to it, which there very well might be, I'm not aware of it! Share your thoughts everyone! - 14/15
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #234. What's yours? - 15/15
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