How I Came Up With The Strip

A Goblin Universe!
"Ghost Hounds" was developed under the working title of "The Goblin Universe," as it was a book by the same name, written by F.W. Holiday, that inspired me to create a comic strip about the paranormal. Though I tend to center my strip on the investigation of ghosts and hauntings, survival after death, if you will, I do not restrict myself to these topics. Like Holiday's book, I am intrigued by examining the dual nature of unexplained phenomena, their physical and "non-physical" manifestations. For instance, many think UFOs are alien spacecraft, a nuts and bolts reality, yet how does one account for morphing craft, craft that vanish instantly or the surreal quality of many abductions? Similarly, such creatures as Bigfoot and Mothman seem to have a physical impact in our environment yet a psychological, if not psychic, impact on the minds of witnesses.

X Files Meets Ghost Hounds!
My second source of inspiration was "X-Files." I designed the lead characters in "Ghost Hounds", Zak and Sam, to bear a resemblance to Mulder and Scully. Even though I've never seen photos of either Duchovny or Anderson as 11 year old kids, I created tenable likenesses of them as youths. Zak and Sam also have similar personalities to the "X-Files Duo," though Zak is more personable than I think Mulder ever was. I savored the discord between Mulder and Scully, and so Zak and Sam find themselves often in disagreement. Zak is full of imagination and ambition for discovery, while Sam loves astronomy and thinks science has all the answers. Sam, however, departs from a pure Scully disposition with a slightly Lucy VanPelt temper.

A "Peanuts" For the Paranormal!
Which brings me to my third source of inspiration, "Peanuts." I don't think I can ever remember a time in my cartoon career when this strip did not somehow influence my gag writing, ideas and drawing. Even though Charles Schulz is no longer with us producing new "Peanuts," he is still helping others to master the art form he loved through his amazing legacy. I am forever grateful for the help he has unknowingly given me in creating my "Peanuts" for the paranormal. (PEANUTS © 2005, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)