"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated March 10, 1912:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (MAY 7, 2021):
Before we really get into discussing the strip, it's interesting to note that there was a Sunday missed between this and the last strip that we looked at. No #InTheLandofWonderfulDreams was published on March 3, 1912. - 1/20
I'm not exactly sure why (I couldn't find any mention), but I figured that I'd note it. - 2/20
Now, with respect to the strip at hand, we see a direct continuation from the last series in the sense that Flip never relinquishes control of the magical staff in between! - 3/20
Right off the top, Flip transforms the Princess, Nemo, and the Magician into matter that is stuck into the ground (flowers and a pole respectively) so that they cannot interfere with what he has planned… - 4/20
And, boy, is it clear that he has a plan! He's transformed Impie into an automobile and himself into a centaur so that he can keep up with the "fun" but also stay a bit away from it… - 5/20
He obviously wants to watch Impie run down the doctor, but avoid being run down himself… which, doesn't go all that well for him in the end. - 6/20
There are a lot of things happening all at once here in this strip, so I'm sure that I wont be able to touch on them all… but I'll mention a few major stand-outs for me. - 7/20
First, turning Impie into an automobile that features his enlarged head as the hood has the (unintended? Intended?) effect of also heightening his already absurdly caricatured features. - 8/20
The wild hair, giant eyes, and large lips become defining characteristics of the vehicle and take up a massive amount of panel space when he is featured. - 9/20
I mention this to continue our conversation about problematic presence/absence. - 10/20
Second, though the idea of sending Impie as auto after Doctor Pill might seen innocuous enough at first, it's clear that it isn't a painless experience for Impie. - 8/20
There is no indication at the beginning of the strip that he doesn't go right along with Flip's plan, but aside from a bump in the behind and an uncomfortable backseat ride, he is the only one who seems to get hurt. - 9/20
Impie suffers not one, not two, but THREE bumps to the nose (he worries about his "poor nose" so each one must hurt) and he loses control of himself halfway through the strip and can no longer steer himself. - 10/20
These are all *witnessed* incidents of pain caused to Impie… even if one wanted to argue that Flip, Doctor Pill, and the Magician also suffered some injuries through this strip… they are far less visible than those suffered by Impie. - 11/20
Maybe landing after being thrown from the Impie-mobile would hurt, but we don't see it. Maybe the Magician is seriously hurt from the Impie-mobile crashing into him, but we don't know. Impie's pain, on the other hand, is very visible on the page. - 12/20
Again, while this continues the trend of Impie's active involvement in the narrative of the strip, it also reveals new elements of his caricature (as discussed yesterday) that were muted when he was less involved. - 13/20
There is also an interesting moment in panel 10 where Impie drops the dialect all together and speaks in a very clear English… Panel 8 is a bit more traditional dialect, panel 9 a little less so, but panel 10 is very good English. - 14/20
I'm wondering about this, but I'm not sure what to say other than McCay forgot who he had speaking? What do others make of it? - 15/20
Panel 11 features two things of note for me. 1) Flip expresses concern for Impie's wellbeing (which is kind of nice) and 2) the Princess invokes Flip's feelings for her to her advantage. - 16/20
The second point is interesting because I don't think we've ever seen that before… she knows he wants to be with her and yet she's never used this to her advantage before. - 17/20
I think that it speaks to her character in the sense that she hasn't wanted to lead him on in the past to get her way. That said, choosing to use it in this moment also means that Flip having the wand is a serious danger… - 18/20
I think we can all imagine the trouble that Flip could wreak with this power long term. - 19/20
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #328. What's yours? - 20/20