Google’s latest stunning doodle honors legendary animator Winsor McCay

Just when you think Google has reached the epitome of Doodle awesomeness, they prove you wrong again. Google’s Doodle today celebrates the 107th anniversary of iconic cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland. And this one is not an ordinary doodle as it builds an entire story, which the users can see as they continue to click down.

The comic strip by McCay made its first appearance in 15 October, 1905 in the New York Herald with the title Little Nemo in Slumberland and later in New York American under the tittle In the Land of Wonderful Dreams. The doodle, an interactive animation, shows the story of Little Nemo in Slumberland, through various panels. Of course the Google imprint is ever present in each story panel, you can see the Google, G, e’s and l all playing their own parts in the story.

In the comic strip, Nemo would fall out of bed and into a fantastical world with a King, a Princess, and surreal, scary characters. In Google’s rendering, Nemo goes through a similar type of story as the user clicks a tab several times. It’s a lovely piece of animation, perhaps one McCay would enjoy.

Check out the 1911 short “Little Nemo” below to see some of McCay’s impressive animation skills in action.

This Google Doodle is perhaps the coolest one to come out this year. The animations and colours are totally dreamlike and only enhance the beauty of the original McCay work. Other famous works by Winsor McCay include Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (written under the pen name Silas and the animated cartoon, Gertie the Dinosaur.Needless to say the Google Doodle is already trending on Twitter. Here’s a look at some tweets.