Longtime readers of Suburban Fairy Tales may have noticed how the strip has changed to be more pig-centric in recent months. While there was never an official announcement or storyline that acknowledged this change, the fact is that Suburban Fairy Tales has become a different strip.
The change in Suburban Fairy Tales happened around January of this year. I wanted to intentionally change things up after shopping the series around to different editors and listening to their comments. While most editors loved the humor and writing, the one consistent comment between them was that the cast was too big — and after reading through my samples, I realized that they were right. The cast of Suburban Fairy Tales had grown exponentially since its debut in 2005, and this ever-increasing number could make it difficult for some readers to connect. I decided I needed to do something about that.
I thought long and hard about which characters were important to the series; which ones were not only fun to draw, but were likable, funny, and would bring about the most interesting and humorous stories. The brotherly relationship between the Three Little Pigs felt the strongest, so I made them the new stars of Suburban Fairy Tales. Red Riding Hood, Wolf, and sometimes Rumpelstiltskin help to round out the supporting cast. Looking back at the last 7-8 months of Suburban Fairy Tales, I feel that the strip has never been stronger, and I’ve never had more fun doing it.
So what happened to the other characters like Pinocchio, Frog Prince, Rapunzel, and Goldilocks? While they are no longer in the spotlight, I like to think they are in the background somewhere, living their lives in the Suburban Fairy Tales world. And who knows… I wouldn’t be surprised if occasionally one of them made a guest appearance in a future strip or story some day. But for now, it’s all about the Pigs.
