The Google homepage on October 15 was transformed into an interactive cartoon-strip dreamscape to honor animator Winsor McCay. Believed to be born around 1869 in Michigan, the celebrated animator is best known for creating the comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland," which first ran on this day 107 years ago.
McCay's Nemo strips take the reader into the dreams of the young boy character, Nemo, who journeys to the fantastic world of Slumberland, where he often adventures with Princess Camille, the daughter of the realm's King Morpheus. At the end of his romps through the dreamworld, Nemo jolts awake to find himself back in his bed.
"Unlike any comic strip before or since... [I]t represented a major creative leap, far grander in scope, imagination, color, design, and motion experimentation than any previous McCay comic strip (or those of his peers)," McCay's boigrapher John Canemaker wrote of the "Little Nemo" series, per the Ohio State University Library website.
The strip originally ran in newspapers between 1905 and 1914. It has been adapted for the stage and the screen, and it even inspired a video game release, titled "Little Nemo: The Dream Master.".
Writes the Telegraph, "McCay's work is thought to have influenced generations of animators, including future stars of the industry such as Walt Disney."
The imaginative Google logo commemorating McCay is cleverly titled "Little Nemo in Google-Land." The colorful doodle is set up like a comic strip and borrows many images from McCay's work. The user is invited to click his or her way from panel to panel as the story unfolds. The first panel features a sleeping Nemo tumbling from his bed into Slumberland. He's rescued by Princess Camille, who joins him on a brief adventure before he falls back out of the dreamworld and into his bed. Judging by the last panel in the doodle, Nemo's entire dream seems to have taken place as he was falling out of his bed.
Take a look at the doodle (above), then flip through the gallery (below) to see some of our favorite Google Doodles.
CORRECTION: An earlier headline said that Google had created its October 15 doodle to celebrate McCay's 107 birthday. In fact, Google is honoring the 107th anniversary of the "Little Nemo" comic. We regret the confusion.
