"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated March 28, 1926:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (NOVEMBER 23, 2021):
First, I appreciate McCay coming up with an inventive and magical name for his Slumberlandian donkey (the Blue Buzuzzu)… but that is where the creativity stops. - 1/15
Where once McCaydian creature creation was vibrant, whimsical, and entirely unique, now his new Slumberland denizen is simply a pretty straightforward donkey swipe. - 2/15
I find this curious; Nemo would undoubtedly know what a donkey is (a donkey was included in the tri-colour series, too), so what makes this one a Buzuzzu? - 3/15
I suppose the most obvious answer is it's connection to April Fools Day. As Slivvers (?) tells us, the Buzuzzu goes crazy once a year! For the other 364 days of the year, they are very calm and gentle. - 4/15
Of course, the day that the Buzuzzu appears is the day that the gang is inspecting Morpheus' collection of glassware… a strange collection to have, sure, but who am I to talk… I have a beer glass collection. - 5/15
It's interesting that the gang really does try to save the day here… even though it doesn't go according to plan, it isn't Flip, Slivvers, or Impie who intentionally cause the chaos. - 6/15
Of course, none of this interests me as much as the final tier. - 7/15
McCay returns to a rarely used grid style with an extra panel in the bottom tier. This takes away from the traditionally large horizontal penultimate panel, but gives McCay that extra panel to fit in the narrative. - 8/15
Here, it creates the restricted space necessary to make his final spatial gag work; by forcing the characters into a smaller space in the second last panel, it allows him to have the Buzuzzu flip the gang into the final panel. - 9/15
I LOVE the silent meta-visual of a waking Nemo turning back to see Impie, Slivvers, and Flip crunching his wake-up panel behind his headboard. - 10/15
Not only does it function on the level of Nemo seeing into his dreams, but it also allows Nemo to see into the past panel! - 11/15
We're seen this technique before (it is certainly not new at this point), but where it was mostly just visio-spatial before (the characters moving, constricting, or otherwise engaging with the spatial confines of the panel), here there is a narrative element, as well. - 12/15
It's not much, and Nemo doesn't even speak, but just having him notice the boys is a pretty impactful moment; and my favourite in the strip! - 13/15
The glass in Morpheus million-dollar collection may have shattered diegetically, but what really shattered is our perception of the borderline between Nemo's dream and waking world. - 14/15
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #509. What's yours? - 15/15