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Day #250: Back to the Airship, Nemo!

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated July 24, 1910:


Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (FEBRUARY 14, 2021):


I'm just at a loss to understand this strip… it's strange. Formally simplistic, linguistically/textually heavy, and macabre all combine in a forgettable entry. - 1/12

Continuing from the missed play of last strip's ball game, the crowd has turned on the player and are tearing him to shreds as our friends escape the riot. - 2/12

That's dark enough for a children's Newspaper supplemental, but then in panel 6, we even see two Martians who are (apparently) carrying away a piece of the player away as a souvenir… - 3/12

It's one thing to mention this in the last strip… it's entirely another to depict it occurring on the page. - 4/12

The boys are just so… casual while discussing the game and the dismembering of the player. It really is unnerving. - 5/12

When they return to the airship, it seems as though the Captain has gone off for something… I can't quite make out the word on the board though, "gone to get a little sumthin' for me [can't read], be right back". - 6/12

When they find him, the Secretary suggests that he has been given too much air, hence the strange dance they find him engaged in. - 7/12

Nemo mentions that everything on Mars is air, from the food to the drink, and that he longs for something of real sustenance (which blurs into the waking world a panel later). - 8/12

This is an interesting revelation. We knew that air was important in some way, and that only the rich truly had the luxury of possessing it, but now it would seem that air is also the food source on Mars. - 9/12

This means that Mr. Gosh is keeping *food* from the poor, as well as everything else. His stranglehold on the planet only gets worse and worse… - 10/12

For this reason, and so many more, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Martians like to see Mr. Gosh get pelted by a ball sometimes… he deserves it. - 11/12

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #250. What's yours? - 12/12

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