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Google Doodle Pays Tribute To Winsor McCay (PHOTOS)

Is This The Most Beautiful Google Doodle Ever?
Michael Rundle
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Google has paid tribute to cartoonist and illustrator Winsor McCay in its latest beautiful homepage 'doodle'.

The search giant regularly uses its homepage to draw attention to innovators, artists, anniversaries or moments in history that it feels are important.

Monday is the turn of McCay, who is best known for his often dark and surreal comic strip Little Nemo, which started in 1905 and continued until 1914.

The doodle marks the 107th anniversary of the strip, in which a little boy tried to reach the Princess of Slumberland.

It is an animated trip through a Little Nemo strip - with a few easter eggs, in typical Google style.

McCay is also remembered fondly for his pioneering work on the early animation Gertie The Dinosaur, which you can watch below.

CLICK through the slideshow for a selection of the Google Doodlers' favorite doodles:

Google Doodlers Pick Their Favorite Doodles
Ryan Germick, Doodle Team Lead(01 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: Moog synthesizer (interactive)Occasion: Robert Moog's 78th birthday"We've been playing with the Google Doodles for years, so it's seems fitting to let users play too. It was really fun geeking out with engineers to celebrate a patron saint of the nerdy arts." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Jennifer Hom, Doodler(02 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: Freddie Mercury animationOccasion: Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday"I loved the opportunity to work with all the other doodlers, other animators within Google and Queen's manager to develop this video. It also didn't hurt that I was able to listen to the same 90 seconds of 'Don't Stop Me Now' and still love the song afterward." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Mike Dutton, Doodler(03 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: Drive-in TheaterOccasion: 79th anniversary of the first drive-in movie"While I really enjoyed working on the Anniversary of the Drive-In Theater, I'd have to say the user reaction is what makes this my favorite doodle. It inspired a great sense of nostalgia as users shared on various social networks their own personal experiences, some even being nearly-forgotten childhood memories. We may have taken them to the show, but in the end, they were the stars." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Sophia Foster-Dimino, Doodler(04 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: The CyberiadOccasion: 60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's first publication, "The Astronauts""One of my favorite aspects of working as a doodler is that I can often find projects that are an intersection of my various interests. In the case of this doodle, celebrating the first publication of esteemed Polish sci-fi author Stanisław Lem, I was able to combine my love for science fiction, video games, and pen & ink illustration to create a complex interactive world featuring characters from one of Lem's most beloved works, The Cyberiad." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Willie Real, Doodler(05 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: Polish grandparentsOccasion: Grandparents Day 2012"This doodle is one of my favorites because it captures a sentimental moment between proud grandparents and their grandchildren. Out for a slow stroll in the park, the grandparents make sure the children are bundled up, and in turn the little guy holding hands with grandpa imitates him by carrying his own 'walking stick' while grandma holds on to her little 'pierogi'. A good friend of mine is Polish and I've visited him twice, where his folks -- real Polish grandparents -- have welcomed me with the utmost hospitality." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Kris Hom, Engineer(06 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: ParticlesOccasion: Google Instant launch"My favorite because it resulted from a collaboration of Google engineers from many different backgrounds. I still love to play with this because it's both fun and calming. It lives on in the header of the official Google Blog at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/" (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Corrie Scalisi, Engineer(07 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: Braille GoogleOccasion: Louis Braille's 107th birthday"This one ran before I even joined the company so I have no idea who made it. There's a wonderfully fun simplicity to it. I remember seeing it when it ran and thinking that it was amazing how clearly recognizable the logo was, even without recognizable letters." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Marcin Wichary, Engineer(08 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: ZX St. GeorgeOccasion: St. George's Day / the 30th anniversary of the ZX spectrum"A doodle celebrating St. George's Day while faithfully representing the constrained technical capabilities of a 30-year old machine, ZX Spectrum, which was the early computer many people started on. (Someone subsequently dug out their childhood Spectrum and put our doodle on it!)" (credit:Courtesy of Google)
Mark Ivey, Engineer(09 of09)
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Favorite Doodle: Pac-Man (interactive) Occasion: 30th anniversary of Pac-Man"I'm a sucker for video games, and seeing how this doodle faithfully recreated the original pac-man even while re-making the map to be the Google logo was great." (credit:Courtesy of Google)
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