"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated August 18, 1924:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (AUGUST 20, 2021):
Ok, let's get this one out of the way nice and early: - 1/17
At least for those in my generation and earlier, I can’t imagine any other reference coming to mind almost immediately upon reading the name of the car… I mean, c'mon! Did Winsor McCay really inspire the musical, "Grease" too?! - 2/17
As someone not all that into etymology, I was pretty surprised to learn that the term "greased lightning" has a pretty long history, dating back to at least 1833 (according to. Knowyourphrase.com): - 3/17
I guess I've always just blindly assumed that the "Greased Lightning" car was a reference to the musical's title… apparently, the idea is that lightning is so fast without being "greased" that, if it were, it would move even faster! - 4/17
It really isn't too far of a stretch to believe that the creators of the musical named their musical vehicle completely unaware of McCay's comics vehicle, but it's quite a hilarious moment for anyone who can manufacture the connection. - 5/17
Again, I really enjoy these sort of backwards allusions… I can't imagine making the argument that McCay inspired "Grease", but holy cow… the coincidence?! - 6/17
I mean… In the musical, the vehicle they call "Greased Lightning" is a jalopy that is re-imagined as a hot-rod… here, Flip's vehicle is a jalopy that *he* thinks is a hot-rod… - 7/17
In the musical, Greased Lightning is put together for a race… here, Flip uses Greased Lightning for, you got it, a race! - 8/17
The main difference is that Flip's GL breaks down and… explodes, while Danny Zuko's GL wins the race (though Flip *does* get in front of the Slumberlandian driver on the narrow road, so… maybe he wins too?). - 9/17
Objectionable lyrics aside, Greased Lightning is a pretty iconic piece of musical history, so it's really, really interesting to see a moment like this 54 years earlier than the musical! - 10/17
All that aside, this strip really reinforces Flip's stubbornness again for the new readers… he is adamant that when he is in an automobile… he drives! - 11/17
Long time readers might remember though, that Flip has been driven before… way back in 1907, for example: - 12/17
Now, that being said, I would totally accept an argument that his opinion has changed on the matter across the last 17 years… and it fits his character pretty perfectly, so… - 13/17
Finally, of particular disappointment, is the fact that Impie has entirely forgotten the English that he learned all those years ago… here, he is speaking the unreadable language of the Jungle Imps yet again. - 14/17
We've talked about this before; even as ItLoWD progressed, Impie's ability to speak English was abandoned/retconned (whatever you want to call it), but this would've been a pretty good time (the 1920s!!) to begin course correcting Impie… - 15/17
Sadly, that doesn't seem to be happening. That said, I'll be keeping a close eye on McCay's handling of Impie to see if his treatment changes/has changed at all (however subtle) since he was last written. - 16/17
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #424. What's yours? - 17/17