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Day #531: Slivvers Spears a Wasp's Nest

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated September 05, 1926:


Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 6, 2022):


Today, we have a nearly identical narrative concept and pretty similar series of events. McCay shifts just slightly enough that it feels different, but it's also undeniably uninspired… - 1/10

Rather than stealing watermelons out of the patch, the boys decide to steal plums (well, at least the insinuation is that they are stealing because of the way they're going about it…). - 2/10

Slivvers, who we know by now is a pretty talented individual, tosses the spear and pulls back the first plum, which the group gives to Impie to keep him from causing them any trouble (suggesting a conscious continuity from the last strip where pacifying him was a factor). - 3/10

While I recognize that the intention here is far from pure kindness, I like that Impie is the only boy to get a chance to experience the plums; he has taken a lot of crap and it's nice to see him get a moment of something that is only his. - 4/10

Plus, I think it's particularly important (given the reminder we had yesterday about watermelons and their connection to racist caricature) that it is a plum and not a watermelon that Impie actually gets to eat. - 5/10

Unless I'm mistaken, plums have no connection to racial discrimination, so it *seems* like a conscious decision on McCay's part to avoid drawing a full-blown connection to the idea in this series (even if, as both @pfxbryan and @AlexxKay noted, it was heavily insinuated last strip). - 6/10

Now, on Slivvers' second toss, he spears a wasp's nest and sends the boys into a frenzy. As the boys flee, they're spotted by the Princess, Pill, and Figures who then all get caught up in the wasp attack! - 7/10

McCay has a traditional of drawing interesting insects and these are no exception… that said, they don't look all that much like wasps (at least, not wasps that *we* know)… - 8/10

I suppose that it is entirely possible that wasps are a different insect in Slumberland than they are our waking world. This really seems as though it is the only option we're left with… unless we want to assume Flip misidentified them in panel 7. - 9/10

This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #531. What's yours? - 10/10

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