"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated June 14, 1925:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (OCTOBER 12, 2021):
Well, this comic is far less a dream than it is pure nightmare fuel. Thanks Winsor! - 1/15
Today, it seems as though we're shifting from children's literature in YA horror fiction… that Mosquito farming Slumberlandian is a psychopath… it's actually terrifying. - 2/15
"Oh! Won't I have fun watching the people trying to fight these flying wolves o'mine!" he says in panel 8… that is some serious supervillain nonsense, right there. - 3/15
We're talked about Nemo and the superhero genre before, but I don't think it's ever been quite as pronounced as it is here… I mean… Flip's handling of this menace is Grade A Superheroics, isn't it? - 4/15
He's basically just told them all that the mosquitoes are an impending threat to the safety of all of Slumberland… maybe more when you think about the potential implications of these monsters in a dreamscape… - 5/15
So, Flip's tossing the farmer to his brood solves the problem pretty clearly… both the farmer and the mosquitoes will die if the gang can get out and lock them back in the basement… win-win. - 6/15
Obviously, it puts the group in extraordinary danger… having awoken the mosquitoes, the gang needs to get out as soon as possible! Luckily, their numbers are reduced for this strip. - 7/15
It would seem as though Slivvers, Blutch, Pill, and Figures didn't want to attend this trip to the mosquito farm. I mean… I can't blame them. Who wants to visit a mosquito farm anyway? - 8/15
Of course, this is one strip where Impie *is* included, and I think shouldn't have been. Remember, Impie has a traumatic history with mosquitoes (well, a martian bee, but the distinction doesn't really matter)… - 9/15
The whole strip, I watched Impie's facial reaction… it shifts from curiosity in tier one, to outright terror across tiers 2 into 3. The trauma he's experienced with creatures similar to this is scrawled across his face and it's upsetting. - 10/15
The scale at which the mosquitoes grow across the page is interesting and visually impressive… even if it is gross. I mean, McCay's detail is as good as ever and their legs (especially across the second tier) are really unnerving. - 11/15
I cannot even imagine what standing in that room with those monsters would feel like… again, this is no dream; it's a nightmare of epic proportions as far as I'm concerned. - 12/15
But, to come full circle, I do think that Flip's heroism in this strip should be commended. The villain did the one thing every corny villain does and that's monologue about his plan too long… - 13/15
Flip just figured out how to stop him. - 14/15
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #468. What's yours? - 15/15