top of page

Day #315: Flip -- He Presses the Button

"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated November 26, 2021:


Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (APRIL 24, 2021):


This strip is pretty fun. That said, there really is very little of note here beyond the narrative itself. - 1/18

Sure, there is some visual detail in the background architecture (though it *seems* a little more sparsely detailed than usual), but the main visual focus (the stairway) isn't all that impressive. -2/18

I do wonder why the decision was made to colour the sky baby blue? By necessity, this meant that the earth couldn't have it's usually colouring (lest they blend together). - 3/18

It isn't the *worst* decision… I mean, it is a surreal dreamworld, so an orange and yellow planet Earth is far from out of the question… - 4/18

Now, the fun of this strip is wholly founded upon it's narrative. - 5/18

Flip, who can't catch up his friends at any point during their twelve-thousand foot ascent up the stairs (though remains on their coattails, so close, in each and every panel), takes a slide after Doctor Pill presses the titular button. - 6/18

To get back at DP, Flip climbs from the bottom right back up the stairs. His plan to outsmart DP is great, even if it is pretty dangerous… - 7/18

The final tier of this strip is just wonderful! Flip getting his revenge by pressing the button and sending DP down the slide is one of the most memorable moments in recent strips! - 8/18

The slow evolution of DP over the course of the NY American strips from peripheral annoyance to full-on antagonist is really apparent in this strip. - 9/18

McCay makes it *very* clear that neither Nemo nor the Princess truly knew that Flip was following them, and that the decision to launch him back to Slumberland was entirely DP's. - 10/18

This has the added benefit of shifting the negative association to Nemo and the Princess' poor treatment of Flip to DP. - 11/18

It isn't the Princess or Nemo that are abandoning their old friend… it's Pill! - 12/18

The Magician also makes a very quick appearance in this strip, but it's brief. - 13/18

Regardless, I actually felt that his presence was more… ominous (?) this time around… like a demon ushering his victims onto a path that they would ultimately regret taking… - 14/18

I'm not sure this reading pays off in the strip (I think the only one who truly regrets it might be DP after he's bested by Flip), but I worried about it from the beginning… - 15/18

It created a tense feeling for me (at first), because I wondered if Flip might actually fall off the railing or something really sinister… thankfully, that doesn't happen. - 16/18

And, far from being straight up nightmarish, a big slide actually sounds kind of fun! - 17/18

This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #315. What's yours? - 18/18

コメント


bottom of page