"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated May 20, 1906:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JUNE 28, 2020):
I love this strip. This is the Nemo that we've all been waiting to see; the one who doesn't think about himself, but instead puts others above himself and his own best interests. - 1/22
A bit more linguistically heavy than some of our recent past strips, this one really provides some character development for Nemo! - 2/22
For one, he's a lot braver than we've seen him be lately… In every one of the past three strips there has been something that scares him, but this time, Nemo bravely sets out rescue Flip from his fate stuck atop of the building. - 3/22
Even though Flip is his enemy, and vying for the Princess, Nemo can't stand the thought of leaving him there when there is some way within his power to help. Sure, this might mean that Nemo is a "soft heart", but is that really a bad thing? - 4/22
Most importantly this bravery causes him to, for at least the first time that I can recall, disobey a Slumberlandian. He has definitely disobeyed them out of fear before (Magoozla jumps to mind), but I don't think he's ever before consciously chosen to ignore their orders. - 5/22
This strip is clearly guided by moral principles and thus simulates a fable of sorts, complete with a lesson at it's conclusion: Help those less fortunate than you, even if it may come at a personal cost. - 6/22
Considering our own contemporary moment, I think this lesson is meaningful; Nemo has a privilege that, in this moment, he chooses to use not for personal gain, but to support Flip (the ethnic Other). - 7/22
All of Slumberland treats Flip poorly, but this choice demonstrates Nemo's refusal to accept the commonly spread discourse about him and the sacrifice of his progress in order to help. - 8/22
In this way, it acts as a very early foreshadowing of the relationship that they will have in the years to come and paves the way for their friendship to begin. - 9/22
There are also some formally interesting bits, as well here. Take the top tier and it's presented reading order, for instance: - 10/22 [INSERT IMAGE]
This is very interesting because it creates an intrapanel blockage by the balloon placement… we've talked about how spatial design can create blockages with panels and how they were uncommon at the time, but here is a neat example of it happening *within* the panel: - 11/22 [INSERT IMAGE]
At least in my case, my eye naturally wants to read the bottom-left balloon before the large top centre one, but based on the content of the top-right balloon, we know we need to "hear" what the bottom-left one has to say first… - 12/22
… It certainly takes you a minute to figure out which to read and in which order… I am totally comfortable admitting thathad to take a moment to re-read and re-adjust my reading. Did anyone else experience this? - 13/22
I think this is a really fascinating organization because we're entering into a dreamworld/dreamscape that is active in reminding the reader that we're seeing someone else's dreams and not our own. - 14/22
If McCay wanted this strip to replicate the dreamstate of Nemo for the reader then these moments would have to be much smoother so as not to take us out of the moment or wake us up from the strip. - 15/22
Remember, that a lot of the technical elements of comics reading was new to readers. This would be especially true for McCay's experimentation, exploration, playfulness, (whatever you want to call it), which readers were only just becoming acquainted with at the time. - 16/22
The balloon placement doesn't lend itself to a fluid reading; it's jumpy & deceiving. For this reason, I think the strip wants to ensure we (the readers) never forget that we're reading and not experiencing… a tactic to make sure we maintain our distance from the events. - 17/22
The composition of the rest of the page is very McCaydian. We have the smaller second tier that narratively prepares to make Nemo a giant. When the transformation to Nemo happens, the strip too is impacted. - 18/22
Just like the top tier, these spatial alterations act as a reminder that this is Nemo's dream and the page is spatially responding to him in a way that it simply refuses to do for us. - 19/22
I really love the perspective shifts in the following panels, and panel (labelled) 7 is fabulous because we now realize which boy Nemo is off to save. - 20/22
The punishment that Mysto provides to Nemo is a very unfair one because in this moment, Nemo should feel even taller for doing the right thing! Instead, he is made to feel small for his disobedience. - 21/22
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #32. What's yours? - 22/22