REVIEW: "This Little Piggy GETS EVEN!"

It is with great pleasure that your friends at

Comic Creators United
recommend completely the great collection
from Francis Bonnet and his "Suburban Fairy Tales".

"This Little Piggy GETS EVEN!"

Add 100 pages of an outstanding cast and fun
 that never stops along with several sweet story arcs
throw in great writing, art, a rad egg and a Pied Piper
that will make you laugh every time
and you've just read a winner.

It's a slice of the life that we all wanted.
 We join the gang at home and in school as they deal
with their enchanted youth. What could go wrong?

Just ask Little Pig #3...
He's the one running from the wolf.
Look over there it's the Frog Prince. Go on kiss him.
Pinocchio tells it like it is...he has to.

I found that once I started reading this collection
I had to finish it right away.
That's how I felt in my youth reading "Peanuts",
"Family Circus" and the like.
"This Little Piggy GETS EVEN!" brought me back.

Francis in his wisdom has also included
 from his sketchbook a love story.
A frog, a puppet and "Red" work it out in a story 
that's presented to us in its raw state.
It works. As the reader and comic fan
 I thought it was a nice look at the creative process.

The following strips are also in their rough state
 and are not included in this collection.
They are a gift from Francis to all of us.

Don't miss this collection.
Click here for your own copy.
And...
Follow the gang three times a week here.



It was a thrill to be able to review this great book
Francis bonnet has a winner on his hands.
CCU loved it.


 

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THIS LITTLE PIGGY GETS EVEN

BREAKING NEWS

A New Collection From

Francis Bonnet's

"This Little Piggy

GETS EVEN!"

Go Ahead Click Here!!

Official Book Summary:

SUBURBAN FAIRY TALES, the popular web comic by Francis Bonnet, returns in an action-packed, all-new volume!

Featuring a cast of your favorite fairy tale characters thrown into a modern suburban setting, THIS LITTLE PIGGY GETS EVEN continues the adventures of Frog Prince, Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood and more as they make their way through high school! As an exclusive bonus, this book features an original sketched story arc, which was never published online! Don’t miss a single comic!

Whether you’re young or old, SUBURBAN FAIRY TALES will bring your favorite fables into the 21st century!

My Comments:

My last Suburban Fairy Tales book came out in 2006 and only had 15 months worth of strips in the entire book. The most obvious reason for such a long wait between books is because Suburban Fairy Tales had ended in 2006 and those 15 months worth of strips were all I had. But I can happily say that my newest book, This Little Piggy Gets Even has almost two years worth of strips and it doesn’t end the series. In fact, I’m hoping that in another two years I can have a third Suburban Fairy Tales book out.

So what’s with the name, This Little Piggy Gets Even? Well, the first Suburban Fairy Tales book was titled “Suburban Fairy Tales: The Complete Collection” (it has since been renamed to “A Comic Strip Collection”). The series was meant to end with the first book. But since I brought the series back, the second book needed a title worthy of standing on its own, and calling it “The Complete Collection Volume 2” was not only weak, it was also kind of stupid. This was a re-launch, after all.

“ This Little Piggy Gets Even” just popped into my head after reading a book of nursery rhymes to my daughter. I thought it would be a funny and unique title and I couldn’t think of another book, comic, movie, or cartoon that has ever used that phrase.

 As a point I made sure not to reference that this was a “volume 2” anywhere in the book.

As an added bonus I put in a 12-strip storyline that I never published online. This story is told in sketches taken directly from my sketchbook. It’s the story of Red Riding Hood and how she fell out of love with Frog Prince. What’s unique about this story when compared to my other rejected stories is the fact that even though it didn’t officially make it into the series, repercussions from the ending of this particular arc changed the direction of the strip forever.

In case anyone is wondering, I’ve already thought up a title for my third Suburban Fairy Tales book. The book is still at least two years away, but it’s never too early to get a jump on things, is it?

Be here this WEDNESDAY, July 21st

 for CCU's EXCLUSIVE review of

This Little Piggy Gets Even!

 Catch a sneek peek and our comments...

B.Y.O.B please.

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Francis Bonnet and his Suburban Fairy Tales SPECIAL EVENT

It's a Crunchy, Made To Malfunction,

Suburban Fairy Tale. It's...

Francis Bonnet

I’ve been working hard at comics for as long as I can remember.

 I’ve always been drawing something, but it wasn’t until 2003

that I started seriously pushing my work and publishing it

 on the web. My first web comic was Crunchy,

which was actually based on a character I created

in high school. I worked on the strip for about four years

(the first year was never published online).

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After a while, I felt that Crunchy wasn’t really going anywhere.

 I was sick of the main character and found myself writing

 more about the side characters. It wasn’t the same strip anymore,

 so I wanted to try something different. I actually had two ideas

for a new strip pop up in my head around that time.

 The first idea I had would be to put fairy tale characters in a

 modern-day suburban high school. The second idea I had

would be about an inventor and his housekeeping robot.

I decided to go with the fairy tale strip as I thought

it might appeal to more people,

 and thus Suburban Fairy Tales was born.

I worked on Suburban Fairy Tales for about 15 months.

 At around the 10-month mark, that previous idea I had

 about an inventor and his housekeeping robot

was burning a hole in my head. I really wanted to work on it,

 but I’m the kind of person who likes to put all his effort into

 one project at a time. If I was really going to work on that new strip,

 Suburban Fairy Tales would have to end. .. and so it did.

Made To Malfunction was the strip to follow Suburban Fairy Tales.

Instead of just a simple gag strip, it followed longer story arcs mixed

with science fiction and comedy. I worked on the strip for two years.

 During this time I was also sending my work off to the syndicates.

 To my surprise, The Washington Post Writers Group

 showed interest in Suburban Fairy Tales and wanted to see more.

 My dilemma was that I wasn’t working on it anymore.

 So I had to end Made To Malfunction abruptly

(thankfully not in the middle of a story arc)

 and pick up working on Suburban Fairy Tales.

I’m still working in Suburban Fairy Tales to this day.

 It actually felt good to return to this strip as I felt it had ended

prematurely. I’ve been at it for almost 20 consecutive months,

which has now exceeded its original run.

I just recently sent a sample off to the syndicate,

so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

When I’m not cartooning I work as a graphic artist.

 I have a regular job and I also do freelance. Right now,

 one of my freelance jobs is a website called The Ecobabe.

All the Ecobabe illustrations are my artwork.

They were done exclusively using Adobe Illustrator,

 which is different than I do my comic strips.

 My comics are usually always hand-drawn.

Thank you Francis for sharing the interesting

twists and turns your artwork has taken.

CCU is glad you've carved out a place in

 the world of comic strips...three times.

What will you do next?

Come back and show us ASAP. Until then we'll

live our Suburban Fairy Tale along with yours.

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Steve Butler

The Art and Stories of

Steve Butler

I am a pen and ink junkie and creator of Cuckoos Wear Black.

Although having spent most of my life addicted to the joy of ink,

my entry into the world of comics was a late one.

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Before that, most of my work tended to be single page commentaries

 on whatever caught my mind at the time.

Mostly incomprehensible ideas but I know what I meant.

Waiting for an asteroid.

The inequity of global warming.

Soapbox Schadenfreude

That all changed when I read Strangehaven by Gary Millidge.
A soap opera written in comic format. It just sort of clicked and
triggered all the bells that perhaps, just perhaps,
 the ideas floating around in my head would work.
 And from there Cuckoos Wear Black began to evolve.
 The idea was to create a series of individual dramas
 set in a fictitious English town.
Richard and Julie's story
 is the first in the Cuckoos Wear Black series.

The artwork for Cuckoos Wear Black is traditional
with the exception of the dot tones and lettering
which are added later using Manga Studio.
I guess you can still get zip tones
but I wouldn't trust myself with anything sharp.
 The technique changed slightly during the comics development.
The early pages were primarily brush, which I love,
but the latter pages have tended to all be drawn with
 a Deleter G pen; an awesome pen, although it does
lay down a lot of ink so inky forearms and smudges
are always waiting in the sidelines to grab me.

I'm not saying where the change occurred and hopefully

 it's not obvious.

If anyone is interested, I pencil in reverse on the back

of the Bristol board and then ink on the other side

 using a homemade drawing board

with built-in light box; sounds much grander than it is.

Who paid the ferry man?

Although primarily working in black and white for comic work,

I will often work in colour for other illustration work.

Most of my colour work is undertaken using vector colours.

Alongside the comic illustration, I have also undertaken

a number of illustrations for

presentation and promotional literature...

 and of course, new commissions are always welcome.

Contact me at

http://cuckooswearblack.com/blog/?page_id=183

Follow me on twitter
http://twitter.com/henspace
Facebook of course at
http://www.facebook.com/henspace
Cuckoos Wear Black and links to other stuff over at
 http://cuckooswearblack.com/

And then there is this......

So much great work. Thanks Steve.

We can't get enough of the inking style you've crafted.
We want to see more and will follow the strips progress.

About your "Mostly incomprehensible ideas"...

Please keep 'em coming.

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The Art of Maurice Love

Maurice Love

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“Say What” is the brain child of self proclaimed

cartoonist Maurice Love.

 He’s been drawing as long as he can remember, but it’s been about

 eighteen years since the birth of his comic strip “SAY WHAT”.

 Although he loved comic strips the idea for the comic strip

came from such TV shows as What’s Happening and Good Times.

Nothing would have more influence than

the 1970’s movie Cooley High,

 but Charles Shultz served as his idol and inspiration of quality

and where he wanted to go in the business.

Maurice believes he is the standard of comic strips.

Upon graduating high school he began to send submissions

 to the various syndicates, such as United Artist, King Features,

 and the list goes on.

 After years and countless rejections, he and two of his brothers

 would form Gettosake Entertainment.

A media company geared to all forms of entertainment,

 such as cartoons, television, movies and comic books.

These were for a pitch we did at Disney.

 A boy with an imagination. Seen with his imaginary friends.

 I designed the look of the characters and the style we were using.

Gettosake Entertainment would go on to produce

comic books and graphic novels through such companies

 as Dark Horse and DC comics.

 Fierce and Shadow Rock, are some titles to name a few,

 Maurice would aid in some coloring and lettering to the productions.

 One part of the design we did for the pitch at Disney.

 A cartoon about my family,

which had a mother and father with nine children, and a dog.

Later the company would move into flash animation,

 producing many animated shorts.

He would design many of the characters, the look,

and style of the cartoons. His favorites were the two

animated shorts they produced for

 the Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio

 entitled The North Star.

These are designs I did for the

North Star animated short we produced,

about the underground railroad.

The animated shorts can only be seen

at the Under Ground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 Disney considered their animated short

 Fearless Grasshopper for the network,

 ...but would later pass because another

 project in development they claimed was similar.

They would also do things with BET.com.

As of today his focus is, as he calls it, his eighteen year old child.
 Becoming a household name is the primary goal for the comic strip.
There are plans for monthly comic books and
 comic strip collection novels, with new as well as old comic strips.
 Cartoons are also in the plans, but he won’t get ahead of himself.
 He’s also looking to start illustrating children’s books.

Maurice is always open to taking on commission work.

You can contact him at Maurice@saywhatcomic.com.

Wow. A great new comic strip and awesome

artwork, animation and design work.

What's next from Maurice and the Love brothers?

We can't wait.

I suggest checking out their "Chocolate Thunder"

animation too. (a link can be found in the above video window)

We'll be watching and hope to have you back soon.

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Denver Brubaker – Cartoonist

Denver Brubaker Presents

Denver Brubaker is a freelance cartoonist from Ann Arbor, MI.

 He is the creator of the Tales of a Checkered Man comic strip

 which made its internet debut on April 6th 2010.

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TOACM is Denver’s love-letter to everything he loves about comics –

 mixing the 3-4 panel humor strips with the pulpy adventure serials.

 His main character; a caped, mask-wearing mystery man,

 has just begun his life as a crime-fighter and is learning

the ups and downs the hard way with the reader looking on.

Denver has drawn comics for as long as he can remember.

 This included a weekly comic strip in his college newspaper

 called Alligator Man on Campus.

 He actually drew the sketch that would later develop

into his patterned-protagonist way back in 1989!

He self published a handful of TOACM comics

 in the late 90’s and mid 2000’s.

Denver uses a mix of traditional and newer digital methods

 to produce TOACM. He typically writes full scripts,

 then pencils and inks his strips by hand on Bristol board –

 he colors and letters his work in Photoshop and Illustrator.

 Denver thinks digital tablets are neat and all,

 but doesn’t see himself switching to them anytime soon.

 He likes the tactile feel of paper and pencil

 and enjoys ink-stained hands.

Some of Denver’s favorite comic artists are

Mike Allred, Jeff Smith, Sergio Aragonés,

Mike Mignola, Bruce Timm, and Jack Kirby.

TOACM has gained some kind words early on:

“This work is just stunning and I cannot wait to see more.”

-BRIAN DOUGLAS AHERN (Bumpkin Buzz)

"I really dig The Checkered Man!
Solid art with fun puns! That's the best and rarest team-up going!"
-CHRIS YAMBAR (Bart Simpson Comics / Mr. Beat)

“…off to a great start!”
-DAVID PETERSON (Mouse Guard)

“LOOKS fantastic--very cool style, crisp and clear work…”
-TODD DEZAGO (Perhapanauts / Tellos)

“Great stuff!”
-RICHARD STARKINGS (Comicraft / Hip Flask)


Currently, TOACM runs twice a week with
 new comics posting on Tuesday & Thursday.



Denver is always open to taking on commission work
 and suggests that you contact him at
 thecheckeredman@gmail.com
 for more information.

What can we add that the experts haven't already said...

swoop in with new artwork any time you're ready.

CCU is quite down-to-earth so heights won't be a problem.

Thanks for sharing this fine toon and come back soon.

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