About:
I originally hurried to get "Detection" into Litmus Test 8 in time for the Alternative Press Expo in 1999 and it showed. The story was rushed and the ink wash looked horrible photocopied. Yet there was a kernel of something in this story that I liked so I decided (with the urging of my wife) to edit it in the summer of 2002. It was difficult to recreate the old drawing style of the original, but the challenge was very educational. This version appeared in Litmus Test 12.

The original concept was inspired by the New York Trilogy by Paul Auster and David Cronenburg's film adaptation of Naked Lunch. What these works have in common is they use the detective story motif to talk about writing and mental delusion. One critic felt that the influences were too strong in this story and went so far as to say I had no right to do it. The discussion about identity here was inspired by conversations I've had with my step-father, Brian Raney. Also, through my wife's family, I have come to see that the delusion depicted in this story is perhaps not so far fetched as I originally thought.

comics