Edward Gorey, who enjoyed a wonderful career as the artist of several dark little characters–and cats–is being celebrated with a Google Doodle in honor of what would have been his 88th birthday.

Having written/illustrated more than 100 books, Gorey found a loyal following over the years for his use of pen-and-ink sketches, which often included cats, Victorian-era characters, and doomed children. His illustrations were often tinged with dark humor and have been noted as inspiration for countless creative people, including musicians Nine Inch Nails and writer Caitlin R. Kiernan. He himself was inspired by many varied expressions of art and once said that “Batman: The Animated Series” had a profound influence on his work at one point in time.

Although children played a rather large part in his work, Gorey was unmarried and had none of his own, and expressed no interest in starting a family. In fact, his sexuality often came into question and was swiftly avoided most of the time. It’s reported that he did address it a few times, however, such as in an interview where he said, “I’m neither one thing nor the other particularly. I am fortunate in that I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something … I’ve never said that I was gay and I’ve never said that I wasn’t … what I’m trying to say is that I am a person before I am anything else.” He also spoke briefly about his orientation in the book “The Strange Case Of Edward Gorey”.

Gorey illustrated books for other authors, as well; the work he did for late writer John Bellairs is haunting and lovely, evoking images of spooky mansions and the sense of dark mystery that pervaded all of Bellairs’ work.

Several years ago it was announced that Gorey’s book “The Doubtful Guest” would be put into production for a film, but according to IMDB there’s very little information about it. There is, however, a release date of November 15th, 2013.

The Gorey Doodle will be available in the U.S. tomorrow, February 22nd.

Images: Wikimedia Commons, TagandStation.com