"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated October 31, 1926:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 14, 2022):
Well, this strip was published on Halloween itself… and (unless I'm really missing something) has nothing to do with Halloween at all. - 1/10
The strip begins with Impie, Flip, and Slivvers bedridden with Dr. Pill looking over them. Throughout the strip, he tries to explain three different times what the matter is, but keeps getting interrupted by explosions. - 2/10
By the end, one can piece together that the boys have eaten dried-apples and drank a lot of water… the insinuation being that the dried apples would enlarge inside their stomachs once they absorbed the water? - 3/10
Apparently this is so dangerous that the Princess even swoons to know it (panel 7). I at first wondered if she fainted from the explosion, but he comment in the word balloon suggests her focus is still on her friends. - 4/10
Now, I'm not entirely sure what to make of the explosions… I feel as though they are meant to represent the powder that Dr. Pill has prescribed the boys working within them, but I'm not sure… - 5/10
We have three explosions. One happens in the sick room, and two happen outside the hallway windows (one on the left and one on the right). - 6/10
I don't *think* these explosions are actually the boys… at first, I wondered if the explosions were the apples bursting, or something else humorous that a little boy might illogically worry about, but I don't see how that's possible with the locations. - 7/10
I think it's more likely that they are symbolic, but I'm interested to hear what others think. - 8/10
In the end, the boys come out, no worse for wear, and are grateful to Dr. Pill for his help! This isn't the first time, but it's always nice to see Flip let bygones be bygones and bury the hatchet, as it were! - 9/10
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #539. What's yours? - 10/10