Suburban Fairy Tales

A Short Biography of Francis Bonnet

Francis Bonnet is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York with a degree in Illustration.

Francis first began publishing comics in 2003 with the comic strip Crunchy. The strip ran for over two years both online and in print. Since ending Crunchy in 2005, Francis has worked on three other series including Suburban Fairy Tales (2005 – 2006 and 2008-present), Made To Malfunction (2006 – 2008), and Insane Forest (2013). Many of these comics have been featured on GoComics, Kidjutsu, Raytoons Cartoon Avenue, and The Funnies.

To date, eight Suburban Fairy Tales book collections and one Made To Malfunction book collection have been published.

In addition to his own comics, Francis Bonnet freelances for a variety of other comic series. He began working for Archie Comics Publications in February 2015 and provides stories and cover ideas for various Archie Comics Digests. He has also contributed gag ideas to other comic strips including Rhymes with Orange by Hilary Price and Frank and Ernest by Bob Thaves.

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A History of Francis Bonnet’s Comics

Crunchy (2003-2005)

Crunchy began publishing online in 2003. It was a gag-a-day strip featuring a crazy turtle, who also happened to be the pet of a little girl named Tara. Over time, the strip’s focus began to shift away from Crunchy and more toward Tara and her friends. By the end of the strip’s run, it was clear that Patrick, a friend of Tara, had taken over as the lead character, despite the strip still having the name Crunchy.

Crunchy concluded on June 29, 2005 to make way for Suburban Fairy Tales.

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Suburban Fairy Tales (2005-2006 – first run)

This series focused on teenage fairy tale characters living in a modern suburbia. Pinocchio and The Frog Prince quickly took over as the strip’s stars. Although Suburban Fairy Tales featured a wealth of gag-a-day strips, Francis began to further explore working with more complex story lines, which he had first touched upon during Crunchy. The final Suburban Fairy Tales story line was the most intricate, running from August 16 through September 26, 2006. This story actually introduced the characters and concept that was to become Francis’ next series, Made To Malfunction.

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Made to Malfunction (2006-2008)

Made To Malfunction began on October 2, 2006 as a spin-off of Suburban Fairy Tales. This new series — a mix of science fiction and humor — focused on the character Mortimer, an inventor striving to better mankind, and his lazy housekeeping robot, Error. Instead of featuring a mix of gag-a-day strips with minor story lines thrown in, Made To Malfunction ran in full story arcs. This format allowed for the characters and the strip to better evolve over time, as well as allowing the science fiction element to be explored in greater detail.

Made To Malfunction ran for two years and was finally concluded on September 15, 2008. A week later Suburban Fairy Tales was relaunched, picking up exactly where it left off.

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Suburban Fairy Tales (2008-Present – second run)

Suburban Fairy Tales relaunched in 2008 picking up where it left off in 2006 with slightly redesigned characters and an improved art style. It continues to this day.

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Insane Forest (2013)

In March of 2013, Suburban Fairy Tales was put on a temporary hiatus to make way for Insane Forest. This new series featured an all animal cast who never got along, constantly beating up on each other. However, Insane Forest was heavy on potty humor and cartoon violence, and this change was not appreciated by some fans of Suburban Fairy Tales. After only two weeks of being on hiatus, Suburban Fairy Tales returned and Insane Forest was demoted to a weekly strip.

Insane Forest continued to run alongside Suburban Fairy Tales until November 2013 when the series was finally concluded.