"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated June 07, 1925:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (OCTOBER 10, 2021):
I'm always a bit disappointed when McCay uses growing or transforming components to his narratives, but the spatial layout fails to produce any important or meaningful communication. - 1/17
That said, this one works, even if it feels a bit clumsy. As we move form panel to panel (horizontally), we register that the flower is growing ever larger (vertically). - 2/17
The group remains pretty level across each tier, meaning that the only real way for you to read their upward motion is by the changing of the rose (as it grows and gets larger) and the background. - 3/17
Again, it works well enough, but I was also ever conscious of the dissonance created by the framing. It didn't detract from my reading too much, but it was there. - 4/17
The strip starts by referencing famous American pioneer in botany and agricultural science, Luther Burbank: - 5/17
I'd be lying if I said I knew who "the Wizard of the Orchard and Garden" was prior to reading this strip, but a quick review of his life and work reveals a pretty troubling detail about his life... - 6/17
Apparently, he was a member of a national eugenicist group that promoted "anti-miscegenation laws, involuntary sterilization, segregation, and other racially motivated discrimination." - 7/17
I'm not sure that this has much relevancy to the strip in question (though if someone sees a potential reading, please share), but it is a potentially meaningful historical note and worth noting since McCay chose to include the man (even just as a name drop) in the strip. - 8/17
The strip is drawn and coloured beautifully this week. The detail of the roses in the first five panels really demonstrate McCay's skills and the big rose pops off the page once it's bud has opened up wide. - 9/17
There really isn't much narratively going on here (although, having the airship be confused as a bumblebee is a pretty fun little "trick" and seeing Flip's fear of bees was worth a chuckle), but, like a rose itself, it's beautiful to look at. - 10/17
Another quibble that I have with this strip is panel 6. Of course, Impie is the one who happens to hurt himself on a thorn and Flip takes the moment to insult him. - 11/17
This is, as we've come to expect, a pretty familiar exchange, but it's wholly unnecessary and they continue to irk me. - 12/17
That said, at least he's included. Somehow the Princess fails to get on the rose as it's growing… prompting her to bring her airship around to be involved. - 13/17
Of course, I think this was a practice thing… how else were the boys to get down if the Princess doesn't bring the airship? - 14/17
That reasoning falls pretty flat for me because if McCay had simply left them on the rose, I think that we (the reader) would know, by now, that they'd be fine… I wouldn't have expected an explanation anyway. - 15/17
For that reason, I just sort of wish that she would've been included on the growing rose with the boys. - 16/17
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #466. What's yours? - 17/17