"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated November 23, 1924:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (SEPTEMBER 03, 1924):
This strip feels like one where you have to take the bad with the good… albeit, what is bad is pretty watered down compared to what we've seen in the past, so that’s a plus. - 1/17
The entirety of this strip revolves around manipulating Impie (and by extension Flip) into creating mischief… the butt of this elaborate joke is about filming the chaos and Impie's punishing by Flip. - 2/17
Now, that's mostly the bad part (the turkey in panel 7 must *really* rocket off poor Impie's head to end up bouncing as high as it does). Impie is verbally abused and called names throughout, as well, which is never nice to hear either… - 3/17
…but there are quite a few positives to this strip too. - 4/17
For starters, Flip initially plans to let his pie-in-the-face go. It seems in panel 3, he acknowledges it as Impie's attempt to make film comedy and doesn't seem too intent on doing anything in the moment. - 5/17
It seems to me that his decision to punish Impie (which he claims is the only way to stop him) comes when another pie ends up in Slivvers' face. - 6/17
Tier 3 features a liquid substance (gravy?) being tossed, but it isn't depicted al that well… I'm really not sure what happens with it, especially since (in panel 7) Flip is entirely dry. - 7/17
Another more positive element is that, even though Impie and Flip were responsible for the chaos, it turns out that the jokester (King Morpheus - wow) knew this would happen and is filming it on purpose! - 8/17
This could have been an easy excuse for Morpheus to ban them from the dinner and ensure that they were excluded, and yet, in the penultimate panel, there are two places set for Impie and Flip. - 9/17
In fact, Morpheus even *calls them* to come to the dinner table… this is… well, monumental in my opinion. - 10/17
We've gone from Impie not even being permitted in the Slumberland palace to both having his own room and dining at the royal table with the King. - 11/17
I think that's a very positive progression, even if there are some missteps here and there along the way from joke table to real table. - 12/17
The Princess is not too happy with her father when she learns from her attendants (in this case Pill and Figures; the Candy Kid reveals the trick to Nemo) that he is pranking them. - 13/17
She feels that he is "mean" doing what he's done… and, in truth, she's probably right. His manipulation causes Impie, Flip, and Slivvers some form of pain and disrupts an otherwise nice evening for the Princess and Nemo. - 14/17
Of course, Morpheus doesn't really care about that. He is King and gets what he wants, right? If that's a moving picture comedy featuring his daughter's little friends causing a ruckus, then their pain is a small price to pay for his amusement. - 15/17
Apparently, even in dreamworlds, monarchies are all the same… - 16/17
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #438. What's yours? - 17/17