The Talbot Family

Many families live here in the village of Sunnyville.  In fact, some of these families actually end up coming from far away lands, especially foreign countries.  It’s not unusual for a Sunnyville inhabitant who’s lived in the town for generations to trace his lineage back to as many as three, four or five different nationalities!  One of these families happens to be the Talbots and I’ll introduce you to them this week.

The Talbot family is a family of squirrels who own and operate the Sunnyville General Store.  They consist of Matthew and Frieda, immigrants from the British Isles, and their three children, Magnolia, Alexander, and Bethany.  Matthew is a dedicated worker, often doing the bookkeeping and ordering merchandise for the store.  Yet in spite of his work ethic, this Anglo-Saxon squirrel will stop whatever he’s doing at four o’clock every day in the afternoon for the time honored tradition of afternoon tea.

Frieda is his loving wife and hails from an upper middle class background.  You’ll find her working behind the counter where she’ll ring up your sales and also talk with you about happenings around town.  Serving everyone in town at her store does let a lot of information pass through her ears naturally.  Frieda is quite active on the town’s social scene too; she’s always the first to start planning special events like a dance or an ice cream social.

Magnolia Talbot, sixteen years old, is the oldest of the three children.  You’ll usually find her working behind the counter of the store.  Since she meets many of the townspeople who come to shop, she knows almost everyone in town.  In fact, that’s how she met her best friend, Margaret Macgregor.  The two are inseparable and can usually be found hanging out together.  Her outfit took awhile to design.  In an early concept, I had it that the town’s juvenile population was psychologically and culturally stuck in the 1980s.  Magnolia’s outfit was going to have the sweater with a pair of leggings instead of her skirt!

Alexander also helps out his family in the store.  He knows most everyone in town and when Rusty and/or Sam stop in, they’ll chat with Alexander as he’s stocking the shelves or moving boxes.

Bethany is six years old, making her the youngest of the children.  Her best friend is Christina Eftirmatur, the youngest daughter of the town’s bakers (we’ll meet them in a later entry).  Bethany is quite precocious as she usually wants to help out around the store, but her family won’t let her since she’s so small.

The inspiration for the Talbots were the Squirrel family from Maple Town.  The Squirrel family was British, hence that’s what gave me the idea to make the squirrels of Sunnyville Anglo-Saxon.  Their wardrobe did also influence the above character designs.

This coming Saturday, we’ll see a short comic with the Talbots in it.  And we’ll meet another family next Wednesday.  So stay tuned, readers!  Oh yes, don’t forget to comment.  Be sure to subscribe via RSS or through email via Google Feedburner too.