"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated October 12, 1913:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JULY 26, 2021):
Where did this strip come from? I mean… the dinosaurs have been a part of the last few, I get that… but where did Cliffville come from? - 1/16
It seems as though we've missed a strip in between this one and the last that explains how exactly Cliffville (or the population of Cliffville) was discovered. - 2/16
It is one of the most abrupt and rocky continuity transitions between strips that we've seen to date, I think… - 3/16
And, against all odds, McCay found a way to make the physical depiction of Cliffville's citizenry even more offensive than Impie's… - 4/16
Though some of the characters that we see in the distance in panels 1 and 2 look similar, the ones we see up close look far more simianized. - 5/16
I'm not sure if it's the hair style chosen to put on them or the exaggeration of the ears (especially in panel 2), but I couldn't help but be shocked by the fact that it was possible to go even farther into this territory that had been previously done. - 6/16
Yet, by contrast, they speak English… a very odd choice if the goal of this depiction was to make them seem uncivilized and animalistic… I don't know what to make of the dichotomy. - 7/16
My first instinct is to read a racial attack directed at Black Americans with aspirations of integration… caricature was one way to "remind" folks (post-emancipation) of the lie that Black Americans could never *be* civilized no matter how much they tried (Riggs, 1986). - 8/16
That's a reading heavily dependent on historical context and left-field positioning… I don't mean to suggest it was McCay's intention, but it certainly could be read as conveying that message… one suggested frequently on the minstrelsy stage, too (Zipcoon, for instance). - 9/16
That Impie is the cause for trouble here today is really Flip's fault. He is the one that taught Impie to twist the dino's tail a couple weeks back… he's just repeating what he was taught. - 10/16
Of course, everyone has a short memory and no one brings this up… - 11/16
Characterization was, for the most part, pretty consistent with what we've seen previously. Though, the Princess' callousness at the end was a bit new. - 12/16
Finally, I really like what McCay's does with sightlines to guide the readers eyes in panel 2, 3, and 4. - 13/16
Our dino friends neck becomes a way to draw the readers gaze downward (as his neck brings the group closer to the ground) and really does a nice job justifying the reduced panel sizes in the following tiers. - 14/16 [INSERT IMAGES]
It lacks flash being as subtle as it is, but it is quite successful in it's aims. I think it's a neat productive layout that responds to the narrative needs in tier 1, but provides a solid enough explanation for the reduction in size as we continue. - 15/16
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #404. What's yours? - 16/16