Raised in the tough & violent streets of New York City, Peter turned to comic strips and comic books as a way of dealing with the harsh realities of urban living. Peter soon discovered the almost healing like powers of humor and comic art.
He became the first in his family’s history to attend and graduate from college and while there continued his pursuit of cartooning as he became the school magazine’s in-house cartoonist and illustrator. It was during his final year in college that he sought out a mentor to train him in the world of comic art. To his luck he found two mentors: Bill & Bunny Hoest – creator of the syndicated comic strip THE LOCKHORNS. Peter tutored under their guidance for 6 years until Bill & Bunny said he was ready.
During that time right after college, Peter found himself homeless, not being able to return to his mother’s apartment due to a fire. Peter found shelter sleeping on the floors of college friend’s dorm rooms for several months until he was finally able to return home. Unfortunately, that same fire made it impossible for him to get a job in his chosen field because of the damage caused to his portfolio.
Knowing he needed to work, Peter became a New York City Police Officer in the winter of 1986. After several years of hazardous duty on patrol in the Bronx, New York, he garnered several medals for excellent and meritorious police duty – Peter was accepted in the department’s Tactical Narcotics Team of the Organized Crime Control Bureau where he worked opening Buy & Bust operations as a Narcotics Investigator. It was during one of those Buy & Bust street operations in the spring of 1991 when Peter was injured in the Line of Duty while affecting the arrest of a drug dealer.
The injury forced Peter to retire and turn in his gun belt for an apron as he assumed the hole of “House Husband” and “Stay at Home Dad” to his infant son. It was during his first months at home that after realizing the transition was not as easy as he thought, Peter created “Raising Hector”, a semi autobiographical comic strip about 3 generations of a Latino family trying to hold on to Old family traditions while moving forward in a new age. The strip mirrors Peter’s role change and new life. Not Knowing what he was doing, Peter relied on help (or being “raised”) by his family to help him along. Peter chose the name Hector for his title character in honor of a friend and fellow Police Officer Hector Fontanez who was killed in the Line of Duty.
Now, Peter finds himself working a new job as a syndicated cartoonist writing and drawing his strip RAISING HECTOR for TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, Inc. Peter says “ When I had my house built, I had them add a Studio where I can work on my strip right next to the kitchen. Hey, just because I got syndicated doesn’t mean I get to stop cooking! |
