"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated October 25, 1925:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (OCTOBER 31, 2021):
Again, a rather mundane everyday experience is exaggerated here as a way to attempt reflecting the magic and whimsy of Slumberland. - 1/15
I'll admit that I think the larger conceit (vacuuming fallen leaves) is a bit too boring to be at the centre of Nemo's dream… but, to be fair, maybe he had been helping his parents in the yard that day? - 2/15
The normalcy of this strip has really amped up my wondering about Nemo's waking world growth… does the more "real world" content of his dream (which has been more and more frequent of late) signal Nemo's maturation? - 3/15
The practical reason could easily be that McCay is running out of ideas here, but it creates a ripple effect where there *can* also be an in-story justification for it, as well… even if that one must be made up by the reader. - 4/15
Anyway, I also have to say that Flip's handling of this situation is also quite mature. - 5/15
Let's be real; it's entirely the boys' own fault that they got sucked into the vacuum (although, I'll admit that I'm unsure why the giant didn't just… stop. Was he playing a game of vacuum chicken?). - 6/15
And after purchasing such nice new clothes too! What a shame that they're all now tatters. - 7/15
Speaking of the clothes, we see another moment in panel 1 where Flip gives Slivvers his old garments to wear. Though it hasn't been a talking point much of late, it's a subtle reminder that Slivvers (seems to be) of lower socio-economic status. - 8/15
The charitable moment from Flip doesn't seem out of place because we've seen similar behaviour before. That said, it speaks uncomfortable volumes since Flip has never once offered Impie his hand-me-downs. - 9/15
This is probably a much larger conversation about #LittleNemo and the characters clothing, but Impie is never afforded the opportunity to change from his "costume" unless narratively necessary. - 10/15
Indeed, if you look at the penultimate panel, Impie looks terrified, sure, but his clothing doesn't seem any worse for the wear, really. Meanwhile, Flip and Slivvers' clothes are in ruins. - 11/15
The strip really got me thinking about the politics of fashion in McCay's work (as some others have in the past) and I think that there really is a lot to explore in this area. - 12/15
Finally, the production mistake in panel 6 is pretty bad… The first part is easy to make out, "I wonder if the giant let someone get drawn into his sweeper?" … but what about the last part? - 13/15
It looks to me like "L [space] bad". Is it "Looks bad"? Any other ideas? - 14/15
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #487. What's yours? - 15/15
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