Local Comic’s Life: A Suburban Fairy Tale

Who would be a more fitting Homecoming Queen, Rapunzel or Little Red Riding Hood? Would you vote for Pinocchio or the Frog Prince for your class president?

Thanks to one graphic artist, these questions can actually be answered.

"This Little Piggy Gets Even," the latest comic book in Francis Bonnet's Suburban Fairy Tales collection, recently went on sale. For Bonnet, this latest publication is just another facet of a career he's wanted since he was a child.

"Ever since I was a kid I drew for my friends," said Bonnet. "I used to go to the bookstore by my house to get new comic books. I always knew it was what I wanted to do."

Bonnet's first comic strip launched online in 2003. Crunchy followed the adventures of a turtle bearing the same name.  After ending that series in 2005, Bonnet launched Suburban Fairy Tales, which focused on teenage fairy tale characters living in the present-day suburbs.

"I thought it would be kind of cool to have fairytales living in modern suburbia," he said. "I wanted to pick characters that were easily recognizable."

Suburban Fairy Tales ran until 2006, until Bonnet launched the science fiction and humor-mixed, Made to Malfunction. That comic ran for two years, before Bonnet re-launched Suburban Fairy Tales.

Bonnet also teaches cartooning for kids at Hofstra University, and says it's important for cartoonists of the future to learn as much as they can from the past, and to keep practicing.

"You can't stop," he said. "You have to broaden your horizons. Read as much as you can from the past. As much as you read, you keep on getting better."

"This Little Piggy Gets Even" features comic strips from Suburban Fairy Tales from September 2008 through June 2010, along with a bonus story never published online, and is available on Bonnet's web site www.FrancisBonnet.com.