"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated September 20, 1925:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (OCTOBER 26, 2021):
This strip seems pretty fitting considering we're coming up on Halloween 2021! It's pretty decent timing… almost like I planned it! … I didn't. - 1/16
The beginning of the strip isn't all that special… we're led to believe that the "Haunted House" is possessed by a spirit intent on ensuring the gang doesn't go (or stay) in. - 2/16
From knocking plaster out of the wall, to causing a bump in the hardwood that knocks Flip over… from shattering a window, smacking Slivvers, turning off the lights, and telling them to "Get out…" the ghost does a decent job. - 3/16
Its best moment is panel 9 though. That "BOOH" sound effect is just great! It's ghostly/transparent depiction allows us to see through it (like a ghost) and its size within the panel demonstrates its loudness and "boom". - 4/16
Now, most of what makes this strip interesting happens in the penultimate panel. - 5/16
It's revealed here that there is no ghost at all (there goes the Halloween angle…), but that it is the old personification of Imagination itself that has caused all the haunts! - 6/16
I'm impressed that it's taken this long for McCay to introduce this particular personification. It seems, given the subject of Nemo's dreaming, that his "imagination" would've been a factor previously. - 7/16
Again, even if it's in a bit of a half-hearted way, I'm excited to see McCay return to proving Slumberland's denizens for story material (especially when they're quasi-deities). - 8/16
He tells Nemo and the gang "when you see or hear something spooky and it frightens you, remember always that it is me fooling you." - 9/16
I think this is a really good lesson for young readers! A reminder not to let the things that frighten you control you because it's mostly your imagination creating the frights! - 10/16
I also think that the juxtaposition between the spooky events of the upper tiers and the colourful and happy setting of the bottom tier works really well. It feels interesting and if not meaningful, at least delightful. - 11/16
We also have another meta-moment baked into the penultimate panel! As Impie backs away from Imagination, he bumps into and causes the gutter (and final panel) to bend in response. - 12/16
Slivvers tells him he needs to stop backing away or he'll knock Nemo's bed down. Obviously, he understands that the group are Sunday Supplement characters! - 13/16
More than that though, it indicates the Slivvers (and presumably others) can *see* the final wake-up panel… do they simply recognize the dream construct? The comics page as a construct? Or something else? - 14/16
It reflects McCay's renewed interest in all things meta very well and also extends and expands the metaverse that we're building surrounding Nemo. I find that quite cool all these years into #LittleNemo's existence. - 15/16
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #482. What's yours? - 16/16