"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated December 02, 1906:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JULY 26, 2020):
So, first things first… the scan of this week's strip at CSL is… well, to say anything other than disaster would be underselling it… Take a look at a photo of the page (taken by my iPhone) from the Taschen collection: - 1/30 [INSERT IMAGE]
Even if the quality of my iPhone image isn't the greatest, you can very clearly see that the recolouring choices were… much different between whatever edition CSL scanned from and the Taschen. - 2/30
We've been having some discussions recently about reproduction quality and WOW does this comparison really demonstrate it nicely (@AlexxKay, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this…). - 3/30
While I don't want to get too far down the materiality rabbit hole here, I think that it's really valuable to comment on the fact that how we engage with these strips really impacts our reading of them. - 4/30
Because of the fact that this project is being facilitated online, the availability of the CSL links and scans have been a welcome convenience… but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I've been reading them from my Taschen… - 5/30
I think it's safe to say that these collections have quickly become the gold-standard in Platinum Age comics reprints; In fact, the Taschen #KrazyKat collection won an #EisnerAward for #BestArchivalCollection just a couple days ago! - 6/30
While this doesn't change our narrative understanding (though the grayed out scanning error in this week's sure might…), it alters some of the detail, colour communication, and, most importantly, one's ability to engage with it mise-en-page. - 7/30
We've talked a lot in days past about how McCay utilizes iconic solidarity expertly and it's much easier to see this when you open the original newspaper-sized Taschen tome and take the whole page in. - 8/30
All this to say, even though I didn't openly acknowledge it at the outset of the project, I am not blind to the limitations of what we've endeavouring to do together and how our various modes of engagement impact that. - 9/30
For the remainder of this thread, I'm going to do a bit of a side-by-side discussion and would encourage you to share your thoughts however you'd like; you can focus your thoughts to the scan alone, the photo alone, or both! I appreciate all input! - 10/30
Narratively, this strip introduces us to Granny Hag; a Slumberland witch who is promised youth and vitality if she can deal with Flip. How that's to be done isn't outrightly identified; but we soon learn her plan is to make him *her* playmate instead of the Princess. - 11/30
Tier 1 is really interesting because of the courtroom feel that it gives off; a panel of judges, a clown policeman (bailiff?)… it's almost like this is a sentence that they are giving to Granny Hag. - 12/30
That she eagerly accepts the deal makes clear that she is a somewhat traditional witch. It seems that witches (as hags) always want their youth back. Granny is no different here. - 13/30 [INSERT IMAGE]
The juxtaposition between her true form and her form as "Rose" is actually quite interesting. It tells us that she can simulate youth, but, we must remember that, at least in Slumberland, simulation and reality are far from the same thing. - 14/30
As Flip, the Princess, and Nemo come down the stairs, we learn that Flip has been given what he's been after and has been declared the playmate of the Princess… Nemo is now the tag along. - 15/30
Nemo's immediate response is that he wants to go home, but the Princess fills him in on the plan through small asides throughout the proceeding panels. - 16/30
I really like panel 3 in the Taschen reprint. Notice the difference between the CSL scan? Granny Hag's spectral figure hovers above her simulated form (Rose), in order to really emphasize her transformation from hag to girl. - 17/30 [INSERT COMPARE 1 and 2]
The exact same thing happens in panels 6-9. - 18/30
Because you can barely see the image in the CSL scans, the affect is much more jarring and far less smooth than was intended by McCay. - 19/30
Either way though, it should be clear that the tables have turned; now Flip is the one who is being tricked. He quickly spurns the Princess and decides that Rose, the young girl who gives him a "flower" will be his new playmate… the Princes can keep Nemo. - 20/30
Obviously, this was the plan all along and the Princess is quite excited that it has all worked out as she wanted (see her excitement in the penultimate panel). - 21/30
Of course, this is also immediately following the first trick played on Flip… - 22/30
As we witness the hag to girl/girl to hag transformation occur across the panels, there is another transformation occurring! The rose gifted to Flip in panel 5 slowly changes into… a dead cat. - 23/30
It begins in panel 6, finishes in panel 7, and is noticed by Flip in panel 8 when he tosses the dead cat to the ground exclaiming, "where did that old dead cat come from?" - 24/30
By the time we see it in panel 9, it is a rose again. Granny Hag/Rose is upset that Flip would toss away her gift… though Flip is suspicious at this point, he apologizes and the stage is set for a series of upcoming strips that features Flip as the butt of many a joke. - 25/30
Finally, I want to end by commenting (briefly) on the recolouring differences that I mentioned at the outset between the CSL scan and the Taschen. - 26/30
In the CSL scan (wherever they came from…), the atmosphere is bright, cheery, and joyful. The walls are a brighter pink, the sky in the bottom tier is a vibrant blue… I, personally, find it juxtaposes awkwardly against the narrative's dark humour. - 27/30
The Taschen reprint retains the feeling of daytime, but it is subdued. The walls are an off-white, the sky a dark blue (possible pathetic fallacy that "a storm is coming"…). It fits much better with the overall atmosphere being established. - 28/30
Given how explicit McCay was in directions for Herald colourist, Alfred Benjamin Hunt, I feel as that he must have had a vision for this strip… one that, if I had to put money on, would bet the Taschen reproduces much more closely than the CSL scan. - 29/30
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #60. What's yours? - 30/30