"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated March 17, 1912:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (MAY 9, 2021):
Well, if one things is true about Winsor McCay's narrative chops its that once he finds a gag he likes, he uses it… A LOT! - 1/14
To be fair though, this particular one seems to be much more varied than they have in the past. Sure, Flip always gets the wand, but how he gets it hasn't been the same each time. - 2/14
That said, it's also shifted the Flip's primary aims, as well… He's moved from wanting to be with the Princess, to wanting to punish Doctor Pill, to now seemingly just being a trickster again! - 3/14
It is true that these three elements sort of blend together in his motivations though (I'm certainly not saying that the lines between them all aren't blurry), but it seems like he's enjoying just coming out on top and what that means more than getting to hang out with the group. - 4/14
I mean… the bravado that one must have to change the three characters you've been routinely tricking into LIONS! That is confidence! - 5/14
And, oh, how humiliating for Pill who is told to do tricks for him… why he doesn't just go all feral on Flip at the end of this strip, I'll never know… maybe he does? Who knows… Nemo wakes up. - 6/14
While the Magician seems to routinely fail, the hypnotist might actually be the most competent Slumberlandian that we've seen in some time! He really gets the job done! - 7/14
Maybe the group should be considering cement for the Magician's hand there… - 8/14
I don't have much more to say about this strip other than to comment about the second tier and Impie's ability to speak with the bird. - 9/14
The gift/curse of agency strikes again… here, McCay gives Impie a pretty important role in the narrative (without him, the two would have most certainly lost this one), but it is a role that reinforces common racist tropes. - 10/14
As both a Jungle Imp and a black character, there is a insinuation here (indeed an assumption on Flip's part) that Impie can simply speak "bird language". - 11/14
This perpetuates Impie's caricature (and the caricaturizing of black children, more broadly) through dehumanization by insinuating that he is "animalistic" or shares qualities with animals. - 12/14
McCay's time at the NY American seems to have reinvigorated an interest in having Impie be a major contributor to the action and, as such, I feel as though these issues will continue to be front and centre to my readings. - 13/14
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #329. What's yours? - 14/14
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