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Day #489: Little Nemo and the Giant Squirrel

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated November 08, 1925:


Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (NOVEMBER 2, 2021):


This strip genuinely feels as though it's two entirely different strips connected by this vehicle of Slivvers'… it's a bit odd. - 1/13

That doesn't mean I don't like it; the giant squirrel is actually delightful! It just feel very strange to this reader. - 2/13

Basically, it's divided into the car incident in the top two tiers and the squirrel incident in the bottom two. The car and its scissor lift are the connective tissue, but otherwise, they're different focuses. - 3/13

It would be one thing is the scissor lift gag impacted the end of the strip (then we could say it came back around) or maybe they landed on or scared a squirrel in the early events… - 4/13

Again, it isn't that I don't like it, but I do find it to be a dissonant narrative. - 5/13

One big qualm that I have is how Impie gets picked on it both tiers though. In the first two, he is the only character launched into the air that doesn't land back in the vehicle. - 6/13

In the second, Flip accidentally pelts him with a butternut as he tosses them down to the waiting group. It just seems an unnecessary inclusion by McCay (though sadly not surprising). - 7/13

Of course, the boys pay for this second one by being kidnapped by the giant squirrel. I did laugh out loud in panel 8. - 8/13

After reading Nemo's comment about the big squirrel and reading across the panel to see the squirrel's head sticking out of the hole, I literally laughed out loud. - 9/13

Giant squirrels aren't exactly imaginative… I mean, any [insert real-world animal] being made giant reveals a bit of a deficit in the creativity department… but, again, I think we could read this as Nemo's continued waking world maturity as much as the former. - 10/13

Finally, Flip's comment about "a little accident" not hurting is quite interesting… I don't think falling from 100-ft is a "little accident"… - 11/13

This speaks to the characters of the dreamscape and their… if not indestructibility than their very high resiliency in the face of certain death. - 12/13

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #489. What's yours? - 13/13

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