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Day #429: Little Nemo and the Delicious Sights of Slumberland

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated September 21, 1924:


Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (AUGUST 25, 2021):


Another really fun one here, this strip features the return of the Candy Kid and some fun visio-spatial play to boot. - 1/20

In panel one, the Princess (re)introduces Nemo to the Candy Kid. We should remember the CK from a lot of previous fun way back at the NY Herald between 1905-1911. - 2/20

Of course, there were many CKs all of whom looked pretty similar, so there is no guarantee that this is *the* CK that we had so many early adventures with. - 3/20

Anyhow, this CK is here to show Nemo and the gang all the sights of Slumberland and they begin with three pretty cool ones! - 4/20

First off, we get the Soda Fountain, second is a massive strawberry shortcake, and finally the ice cream caves. - 5/20

Now, the soda fountain is cool, but we've seen better (that said, I couldn't for the life of me find the soda geyser strip while I was looking through the #QuickLinks). - 6/20

The ice creams caves are interesting, but they look quite familiar, as well; very reminiscent of the "Caves of Glass": - 7/20

That said, the ice cream caves are neat to talk about because not only are they pretty, but they feature Slumberlandians (who are hopefully being paid a living wage) to excavate the ice cream. - 8/20

Now, I joke about the fictional wages, but this would be an interesting history lesson. The coal mining industry was hitting a rough patch around the 1920s… - 9/20

Now, of particular interest for the ice cream caves is Felix. A Slumberlandian who is… well, basically Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. - 10/20

It's sad that he becomes the butt of McCay's gag when Flip throws the strawberry in his face and short circuits his lightbulb nose, but it's a rather inventive and pretty clever gag. - 11/20

The penultimate panel ("blink") is, for its intense simplicity, really funny. The colourful spark that we see when the berry hits Felix is beautiful. - 12/20

At first, when viewing the strip all at once (through iconic solidarity), I thought, "oh, we get fireworks in this strip"… quite the opposite though. Where fireworks are fun, the "blink" places everyone into the dark… from pleasant to not so pleasant in an instant. - 13/20

All that said, the best part of this strip is the second tier triptych. I love it. - 14/20

The massive strawberry shortcake is represented across all three panels in the tier so that we can see the entire thing in all it's glory! - 15/20

I love watching Impie sneak up on Flip and Slivvers (now Flip's secretary?). Honestly, this is totally playful in my opinion… like throwing a snowball. It's part of why I enjoy this strip… - 16/20

Though it turns out a little dicey because Felix's nose goes out while they're in the dark caves, it's a game I've played with my family many times… whack 'em with a snowball, run, repeat! - 17/20

It's a moment that, for me, that represents family and comradery really nicely. Even Flip's "this is your finish" isn't overly mean. So I really enjoyed the moment. - 18/20

Now… how do they get out of the caves? - 19/20

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #429. What’s yours? - 20/20

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