"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated February 09, 1913:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JUNE 23, 2021):
This strip is notable because not only does it reintroduce a character from the Herald Days back into the fold, but it also gives him a name! - 1/16
Believe it or not, we first met "the Professor" (the name by which we knew him the entirety of his time with us) 203 strips ago: - 2/16
We can finally stop calling him that now and go by his proper name: Slivers. - 3/16
Now, 201 strips ago, we saw Slivers, Flip, and Nemo engaged in a similar game of peg the hats off of strangers: - 4/16
It really is only the top tier that is "reused" here, and it's Pill and Figures that take the brunt of the fastball this time, so I see it as more of a callback then anything else. - 5/16
It could have been McCay's subtle way to remind readers who have been journeying with him for a long time about the last time that Slivers was a member of the group. - 6/16
McCay is quick to subvert that though, because in tier two he has Slivers "miss" (I don't buy it) Flip's cigar and peg him in the face. I really, really believe Slivers did it intentionally... That's how I understand this moment anyway. - 7/16
Of course, this leads Flip to chase Slivers and Slivers is smart enough (maybe he remembers Flip's volatility) to get out of dodge as fast as possible!! - 8/16
The snow plough is also a pretty neat piece of Slumberlandian engineering. It can go really fast (a mile in six seconds) and it looks pretty neat to boot! - 9/16
The fact that Figures created the plough also speaks to this character a bit more, as well. Add inventor to the list of accomplishments that Figures can take credit for! - 10/16
Most notably in this strip is Impie's complete and total absence. Did McCay feel as though re-introducing Slivers meant he had to drop a different character? - 11/16
Where is Impie and why is he not included? The last time Slivers joined the gang we went months (maybe even years) without Impie… is it possible that will happen again? - 12/16
#SPOILERALERT: No. Impie will be back next week. - 13/16
But that still begs the question as to why he was left out of this strip? Impie hasn't always fared well in the winter weather strips (gee, I wonder why…) so maybe it was just as simple as he stayed inside where it was warmer? - 14/16
I'm sure there are other possibilities, but that was the one that instantly came to mind. What do you all think? Any ideas? - 15/16
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #373. What's yours? - 16/16