"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated July 6, 1913:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JULY 12, 2021):
So, the real question here is whether or not Flip's giant status gives him an advantage over the Lilliputians? I mean… I think that it does anyway you look at it. - 1/18
As a giant, he doesn't need help manning the sails and (if he wanted to) he could create for himself extra wind the way that Impie does… I don't know a ton about sailing so this is a hypothesis more than an opinion. I could be very wrong. - 2/18
But, as a result of my feeling that a giant has an advantage over the other Lilliputians, I read this strip thinking the entire time that Flip should never have been allowed in this Regatta in the first place. - 3/18
Realistically, in my mind, all Impie was doing in this strip was providing a counter-advantage to the poor Lilliputians who would have no chance of defeating Flip otherwise. - 4/18
So, when Flip loses it and tosses the boat at Impie, it is a reflection of his feeling slighted… like Impie levelling the playing field took away his advantage, which got him angry. - 5/18
I don't blame Impie for trying to help the others win after the way Flip has been treating him of late. I wouldn't want to help him either… you could say it's petty, but I'd want to see the others kick his butt. - 6/18
I was really proud of Impie in this moment! It was a solid plan to get back at Flip without creating too much chaos or mischief or harm to anyone but Flip's pride. Of course, Flip couldn't handle it and lashed out. - 7/18
This is notable here because the last few strips have seen Flip go after Impie for reasons related to his role as Police Chief/Duke; he was "protecting" Lilliput in many of those moments (or at least he could argue he was). - 8/18
But this is a return to his poor treatment of Impie for selfish reasons. - 9/18
The Princess even talks about Flip in panel 1: "I hope he doesn't do anything to spoil this beautiful day." This hasn't been a concern for many weeks because he's taken on responsibilities/shifted status… why now? - 10/18
Are we reverting Flip back to a lower status position by letting his role as Chief and Duke slowly fade from memory? Is this a fill-in strip that was meant to be published earlier than it was (hence the older narrative beats)? - 11/18
I'm not sure. It will be particularly interesting to pay attention to this as we progress through the (seemingly never ending) Lilliputian strips. - 12/18
The unconventional (at least by Nemo's recent 12-panel standard) spatial organization is a good choice to allow a more complete view of the regatta and the action that follows. - 13/18
McCay's decisions about the variation of his panel sizes always strike me as interesting because, even though they rarely react/respond to the visual/narrative the way that they used to, he rarely chooses a layout that fails to serve the story being told. - 14/18
Finally, I'll note that Pill's continued hostility towards Impie has grown exponentially since Flip became Chief/Lilliputian royalty. The ever increasing usage of simian slurs against him is also incredibly irritating. - 15/18
Impie has always been mistreated by the strip, but never has it been so explicit or frequent. Is McCay running out of clever ideas so he falls back on the racist abuse common in the 1910s? - 16/18
It is tiresome to see Impie beaten with something as a way to end the strip… part of what makes #LittleNemo exciting is McCay's imagination and, in this regard, it's been lacking of late. - 17/18
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #391. What's yours? - 18/18