"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated October 29, 1905:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (May 29, 2020):
Here, we have the first strip that does not prominently feature King Morpheus at the outset. While the first tier's triptych panelling from strip #2 remains, it is only Oomp and Chiceeko who sit in the halls of Slumberland. - 1/20
My first reaction is that this strip is strikingly similar to the last one. The page layout is similar, it's narrative conceit (based on heights and spatial manipulation) is similar, and the gag at the end is nearly identical (though parent swapped). - 2/20
The journey to Slumberland in this strip begins when Nemo leaves his bed and walks across the second tier. It's interesting that the shift from the internal to external is so abrupt, occurring in the gutter between panels 5 and 6. - 3/20
For me, this very sudden shift seems to imitate the feeling of a dream where sudden unrealistic shifts in location often go unnoticed. I have, on many occasions, felt this sensation while dreaming. - 4/20
The stilts act as the narrative element that allows McCay to embrace experiment with the spatial design/panel layout of the strip. - 5/20
Here, rather than focus on size as he's done in strips #1 and #2, McCay focuses instead on height. The affect of the elongated panels, coupled with Nemo position high up at the top of the panels, reinforce the danger that Nemo faces should he fall. - 6/20
By panel 11, Nemo has seemingly lost his way and by panel 12, the aptly named Love Birds, who swarm Nemo in an attempt to kiss him, have made it difficult to tell stilt from legs. - 7/20
This visual confusion sets up the dramatic moment where the two become tangled and Nemo begins his dramatic descent towards the cacti below. The fall is less dreams and more nightmare sequence, particularly in light of language like "I'm getting speared". - 8/20
I absolutely love the beautiful line created by the angle of Nemo's descending body from panel 13-17. For instance, it demonstrates beautiful gestural fluidity; Nemo's body falls in a motion exactly as one would expect. This heightens both the danger and the affect of the fall. - 9/20
The panel layout/spatial design also works very well with the gestural. Nemo remains positioned at the top of all the shrinking panels, giving us a sense of his falling towards the cacti that remain at the bottom throughout. - 10/20
In the final panel, we again see an allusion to "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend", this time with Nemo's mother insisting that it was the peanuts that he ate before bed that caused his "nightmare". - 11/20
More importantly though, we see the final panel do something odd and unfamiliar by extending the left frame through the left-side gutter into panel 16. - 12/20
While this could certainly signify that moment of liminal consciousness where the boundary between sleep and reality is momentarily blurred, it is just as plausible that it was necessary in order to maintain the smooth fluidity of the angled fall across panels. - 13/20
I find the Love Birds interesting. There is a dissonance between their name and their visual depiction, which feels wonderfully surreal. They in no way resemble the real birds that exist by that name, but rather look like elongated storks. - 14/20 [include pictures of the two birds]
I believe that this to be an intentional choice on the part of McCay to reflect the youth and naiveté of our protagonist! - 15/20
If Slumberland is simply a reflection of Nemo's dreamworld, then it follows that while he may be familiar with the term "Love Birds" as used colloquially, he may not know what the birds actually look like. - 16/20
The stork, however, is a bird commonly known to children. What youngster is unfamiliar with the myth of the stork delivering young cloth-wrapped babied to their parents? - Though purely personal interpretive of this visual-linguistic dissonance, I enjoy it's connotations. - 17/20
Finally, I must obligatorily mention yet again the frequent disruption of linguistic narrative caption content by the panel content. This strip even introduces the disruption of conversation in panel content between panels 7 and 8. - 18/20
I find these constant sentence disruptions frustrating, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend the narrative because of the various and frequent crossing of panel and caption material. - 19/20
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland #3". What's yours ? - 20/20
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