"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated May 13, 1906:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JUNE 27, 2020):
Let's get this over with right off the bat… even the great Winsor McCay is allowed to have an off-day… My guess is this strip happened on one of them. - 1/30
I'm not trying to be overly harsh because it has it's moments, but, overall, this strip really is a bit of a "womp womp". - 2/30
This is the moment that Nemo touches down and is greeted by the denizens of Slumberland! It has been so long in the making and so many people have been a part of getting him to where he is! - 3/30
It starts with all the pomp and circumstance that one would expect form such a moment, but each consecutive one is really underwhelming. - 4/30
The second and third tier act to demonstrate for us just how meaningful his arrival is. The crowds are wild and his name is everywhere! He is a celebrity in Slumberland! - 5/30
He is greeted by the Queens of the Confectionary, but beyond their physical presence in the strip they don't have much else to offer… which is really sad because they could have been such interesting characters to explore! - 6/30
Finally, the penultimate panel ends everything very abruptly because Nemo is fearful of, presumably, the clown? - 7/30
But… is it a random clown? Or is it Flip? … He has the same green facial marking as Flip, but he looks like an adult and Flip (at least at this point in the strip) is much younger than that. - 8/30
And is it the clown that Nemo is frightened of, or the strange bard who sings a very weird song about it being "hot" in Slumberland… Will the Queens of Confectionary melt or something? Is it hot in Nemo's bedroom thus an external influence for his wake up? - 9/30
It's just all so… unsatisfying. A moment that should be grandiose and fulfilling is a huge bummer… other than the introduction of more Queens (thus expanding the Slumberland world a bit), this strip doesn't offer much that we haven't seen before. - 10/30
Though, I also wonder if that's the point… I've been noticing that #LittleNemo likes to play and toy with reader expectations. Maybe this is another example of that? - 11/30
Knowing how excited the reader would be to finally land and arrive here, maybe the strip intentionally wants to disappoint us. I mean, the journey isn't over yet… Nemo has a long way to go still. - 12/30
If the strip gives all the satisfaction here, what is left for his meeting the Princess? Maybe the fact that we're left wanting is exactly the point. - 13/30
The contents of the scroll in tier 1 are interesting. The scan isn't very clear, so for those who can't read it off the image, it goes as follows: - 14/30
"His majesty King Morpheus, Little Nemo landed this evening at 8:30 amid great rejoicing. The populace went wild. He was greeted by the Confection Queens Vanilla Pineapple Chocolate and Strawberry just as you ordered and they in turn tendered him a reception." - 15/30
"I regret to say he was not able to remain asleep and all attempts to soothe him failed. I have ordered the cause of it all jailed. I hope next week to send you better news". - 16/30
This is another example of synoptic content, but enmeshed within the diegesis (which I still really enjoy). The additional information not presented in the strip here is that the "cause" of his awakening is jailed. - 17/30
If this is Flip (spoiler alert: it isn't; he's still stuck on the building with his geese) then we should have smooth sailing towards Slumberland from now on… but otherwise, I can think of a dozen better ways to wake him up. - 18/30
Probably more interesting is the end of the letter that references the potential for better news "next week". - 19/30
Does this mean Slumberland only exists Saturday night into Sunday? Is that the only night Nemo can dream? Does Slumberland and it's inhabitants cease to exist throughout the week? - 20/30
There's a strange temporal rupture here between the dreamscape and reality. Obviously, it isn't too much of a concern for the reader, but it very much matters to the dreamscape and the people within it. - 21/30
How exactly Slumberland works is becoming more of a mystery, week by week… the world that has been extraordinarily populated and expanded upon in previous weeks, now adds another layer. - 22/30
Obviously, this is part of the surreality and we simply have to accept that the weekly strip is self-referential and therefore the temporal existences of our characters cannot mirror our own daily experience… - 23/30
…but there is something meaningful in probing and interrogating the disturbance a little bit, I think. If nothing else, it leads to new ways to VIEW Slumberland and challenges it’s conception as a stable location in favour of a conceptualization more fluid and unstable. - 24/30
This is further characterized by the denizens of Slumberland and their identical physical designs… they are hundreds, but (from what I can make out) they are all identical. - 25/30
This forces us to question their independence; are they independent people? Do they have individual consciousness? Are they legion (many bodies, one mind)? - 26/30
That final thought has a sinister connotation… Legion (as demon) plays on a previous connection we made to the demonic many strips ago (I'll need to connect these dots down the road…) - 27/30
I think, in my reading, the denizens are here responding to Nemo and they are likely only here because he is here (similar to yesterday)… therefore, they would evaporate when not needed… - 28/30
…or, at the very least, merge back into the Slumberlandian architecture of the Servant's Quarters that they presumably came from (see last strip). - 29/30
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #31. What's yours? - 30/30
Comments