"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated April 28, 1912:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (MAY 14, 2021):
I think that the most notable thing about this strip is that the anger towards Flip and his shenanigans seems to have almost completely abated. - 1/23
Throughout the strip, the group certainly speaks to Flip about behaving himself, but they're never mean about it. Similarly, when they realize that Flip must have gone and done something silly they defend him. - 2/23
In panel 10, Nemo suggests that it wasn't Flip's intention to begin a fight and Doctor Pill (!!) supports it saying he surely meant it "all in good fun". - 3/23
Even when Nemo wakes up in panel 12, he is laughing at what he perceives to be a funny dream. "Poor Flippie", he says! - 4/23
This is a pretty monumental shift… Sure, I guess it's been a bit of a gradual change over the last few strips (particularly since Impie--again missing here--took some of the blame recently), but it's a very big one. - 5/23
The group dynamic is shifted in such a way as these four members truly *feel* like a part of the group; they are a unit now as opposed to a trio hoping to evade Flip. - 6/23
And, by extension, we (the reader) are actually able to enjoy the sights of Slumberland a bit more. Rather than following Flip as he defeats the obstacles left by Pill, we journey with the group and see what Nemo and the Princess would otherwise see off panel. - 7/23
The congruence of being together works for me better than the friction created by their attempts to avoid or abandon Flip. - 8/23
Personally, Doctor Pill still sticks out to me and I'd rather have the old trio dynamic of Flip, Nemo, and the Princess that we had in the early years at the Herald. If we're to abandon *any* character right now, I'd not bemoan abandoning Pill… - 9/23
There really is something to be said about monitoring role of Pill's character… his presence with the group is clearly meant to fill the role of chaperone and I wonder why Morpheus feels that necessary? - 10/23
I can’t imagine that Pill is acting as social chaperone in it's original usage; they are children and even if the insinuation of a courtship/romance was meant (we've talked about the possibility before), Pill would be an odd choice. - 11/23
That said, he is "chaperoning" young people on their adventure, which is much more in line with the modern usage of the word. I'm not sure when the meaning of the word shifted though… - 12/23
All this said, the reason might be as simple as Morpheus doesn't want the children kidnapped by pirates again… though I don't know what Pill could do to stop that, myself… - 13/23
Now a few things to say about the Fairy palace! - 14/23
First, the bearded guards are quite interesting… Is this is a new race of Slumberlandians that we've never seen before? Are they male fairies? Why aren't we told?! - 15/23
They *almost* remind me of the Martians in their visual design: - 16/23
I wish we knew more about them. Why do they serve the Fairy princess? Are they enslaved? Free? - 17/23
Whatever the case may be, we know that they are fierce defenders. As panel 5 shows, they are ready and willing to whip someone for disrespecting them. - 18/23
This seems as good a time as any to mention that the embedded closure in panel 5 is not McCay's best work. I think it's representing Flip being shaken by the guards? But I'm not sure. I don't think it communicates all that clearly. - 19/23
Now, we've definitely seen Fairies before in Slumberland, so I don't think this is a new geographical area of the dreamscape. Rather, it's likely just us revisiting (or visiting for the first time at the NY American) a space we'd been before. - 20/23
Admittedly, I remember the fairies, but not if we've ever visited the Fairy palace or the fairy kingdom. This strip from very early in #LittleNemo's existence was immediately brought to mind: - 21/23
Lastly, I wonder why Flip's punishment was to be tossed into a vat of ink… I can't read much into it (tar, one could logically draw a connection to with punishment, but ink?). I would love to hear what others think about this moment. - 22/23
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #334. What's yours? - 23/23