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Day #529: Flip Cheats the Race

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated August 22, 1926:

Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 4, 2022):


First of all, welcome back everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed a restful (safe and healthy) beginning to the new year! - 1/17

Today, we embark on the final 21 days of #WelcomeToSlumberland; a project that I'm very grateful to have been a part of alongside each and every one of you! - 2/17

So, to begin 2022. I just want to say thank you for joining me on this journey through McCay's dreamland. Now, what we're all here for! - 3/17

I thought this was a good strip to return on because of the season of giving that we just left behind us! It would seem as though Morpheus has gifted the Princess a rather speedy racing boat! - 4/17

Obviously, this wasn't an in universe Christmas gift (it's August), but it fits for our temporal moment! - 5/17

Flip, who is never to be outdone, seems to have worked up a contraption with Slivvers to help simulate the speed of the boat while giving off the impression that it is him swimming of his own accord. - 6/17

The group is dumbfounded when they see it and, frankly, I was dumbfounded that it worked! - 7/17

This isn't because I doubted Slivvers' engineering prowess (we've seen enough examples to know he is capable), but I just thought his deception would be revealed by the end and might serve as the gag. - 8/17

McCay subverts that and instead of Flip being embarrassed, it's everyone else! The gang topples over onto the beach and Pill and Figures get a good soaking to ruin their nap. - 9/17

The farthest most part of the penultimate panel shows Flip speeding along without a care in the world on his way out of the frame. I found that so interesting. - 10/17

I also thought the panel sizes, though not particularly productive or special, functioned well for this strip. - 11/17

Reducing the panel density, shrinking the vertical panel space and increasing the horizontal space works for the narrative of the strip, and gives McCay an extra two tiers to play with. - 12/17

I'm not so sure that McCay works wonders with that extra narrative space, but the foreshadowing in tier 3 of the gentlemen on the beach adds something to the proceedings. - 13/17

More than that, I enjoyed the way that McCay manipulates distance here; it feels like the catastrophe is getting ever closer. - 14/17

Of course, this makes the reader complicit in the eventual kerfuffle because we (of course) make the action occur through the act of reading. - 15/17

Intentional or not, I felt that responsibility heavily while reading this strip and thought that it was a fascinating element. - 16/17

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #529. What's yours? - 17/17

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