Welcome to my new blog!
Welcome to the first entry of my journal, and a whole new Boneville.com!
This picture was taken on May 2, 2006 in Chicago at the annual meeting of the International Readers Association. That’s me at the podium, and a picture of Will Eisner’s Contract with God up on the screen. Six days later, on May 8, I spoke to a similar gathering, the Northern Ohio Library Association, on Lake Erie at The Huron Youth Symposium. I seem to be spending an awful lot of time on the road speaking to groups of teachers, librarians, literacy specialists, bookstore buyers, and art groups who want to learn more about graphic novels. Over the last few years, I’ve been witness to something new and unusual happening in comics: a grass roots movement driven by librarians and kids, and I’m going to write about that in the coming days.
Eisner Nomination!
Steve Hamaker, our colorist, has been nominated for an Eisner Award for his work on the new editions of BONE that Scholastic is publishing. This nomination is well deserved, as you can see in the example here. Steve has beautifully strengthened the compositions, and added some very Warner Bros-style background elements that truly improve the original art. Congratulations, Steve!
Be sure to check out the new HISTORY OF BONE on the BONE PAGE. This started out as an FAQ section, and grew into a mini encyclopedia entry on everything from the Self-publishing Movement, my feud with Dave Sim, the Trilogy Tour, bad movie deals, and the BONE: One Volume Edition. My thanks to Kathleen Glosan, who went through dozens of old files, dug up pictures, jam drawings and organized hundreds of links and quotes; Eric Smith, who built the new website, and despite how clean and simple it looks, was a crazy amount of work; and thanks to Colleen Doran, who not only read over our Self-publishing section to make sure it was accurate, but provided some key photos of us signing at the Diamond Comics Retailer Conference in1993!
I hope this is a fun and useful site. We’ve posted Scholastic’s Guide for Teachers and Librarians called “Using Graphic Novels in the Classroom,” and as we go, we’ll add links and essays to create what we hope is a site useful for cartoonists, readers, parents, and educators.
The handsome fellow at the top is my dog Preston, the official mascot of Cartoon Books. You’ll be seeing plenty of pictures of him.
Enjoy looking around!
Jeff
Hey Jeff -
Came over here from Colleen’s blog – nice to see some of those pictures (and that jam sketch, which I always loved). Loved the history – especially the layout, which fit very nicely into Boneville… And congrats on the continuing success with Scholastic!
Best to you and Vijaya both -
James
Comment by James A. Owen — May 19, 2006 @ 2:35 am
Hey Jeff!
Whaou this is excellent i love the color the disign everything :0) great job! everyone will love it
I really enjoy your comic
See you in San Diego
All the best to Vijaya and you
Comment by Fred — May 20, 2006 @ 1:25 am
Dear Jeff Smith:
We LOVE your Bone books. We have every single one. I even have a Fone Bone action figure, and a Bartleby one! I hope you enjoy this email.
Write back!
Sadie, Age 7
Comment by Sadie — May 20, 2006 @ 8:26 pm
Hi Jeff Smith! I am Sam. I have read all of your Bone books, the whole series, 4 times! I share the action figures with Sadie. The Fone Bone and his accessories are mine! And Bartleby is Sadie’s.
Sam, Age 9
Comment by Sam — May 20, 2006 @ 8:28 pm
Hey Jeff,
I’m dropping my “hello” here, and my “thanks”. As a fellow cartoonist, I was deeply moved by Bone and by how you just stuck with your story and went after your dreams. I want to tell my own stories and you have proven me and every other storyteller in the field it’s possible.
And with such class.
Thanks, and I hope to see you in San Diego this year.
Comment by Fabio Moon — May 21, 2006 @ 1:40 pm
Hi Jeff, I just want to give you my personal thanks. Bone has been one of the best storys that I have ever read, your tale has given me vast inspiration and proof that even a drawn comic can still be a serious and thrilling Epic as well as humorus. Thank you a million times for Bone! I can only hope you amaze us all with your future works whatever they may be.
Comment by dan — May 21, 2006 @ 7:54 pm
I’m glad that the graphic novels have caught on! I pushed for them at the middle school I work at here in Mich. Your’s at the top of the list. Now that Scholastic has recoginized the importance of these works of liturature/art, our collection has grown to an entire shelf (and might I add, are always checked out). Thanks again for having the creativity to reach so many age groups all at once!. I’m being bumped over to the 5th grade next year, and will surely take my parsonal copies of Bone with me to share.
Comment by Shadoe — May 22, 2006 @ 12:49 am
Hi Jeff,
Welcome to the “blogosphere”! Heheh. This is quickly going to become one of my favorite places to visit…
-Kazu
Comment by Kazu — May 22, 2006 @ 2:31 pm
Wow! The new look site is great Jeff! Congrats!
Comment by Grickle — May 22, 2006 @ 3:34 pm
Hey Jeff! I’m super excited about this new blog! The site looks fantastic, and all of it’s sections go into a great amount of detail! I’ll be spending a good amount of time here, I predict…
Keep up the great work!
Joey.
Comment by Joey — May 22, 2006 @ 6:39 pm
Fantastic new site, Jeff!
That “History” page is a hell of a read.
I look forward to reading what you have to say in the future!
And congrats to Steve on the (well-deserved) Eisner nom.
Comment by Leigh Walton — May 22, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
I agree with Kazu. Def gonna pay this lovely place more visits in the future! WOO!!!Boneville rawks!
Comment by Sandra Khoo — May 22, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
Hey, nice site~! I really enjoyed reading your books. Hopefully you’ll keep writing more~!
Comment by Justin Lau — May 23, 2006 @ 9:04 am
so excited you started this! i’ll be checking in here often.
Comment by mike — May 23, 2006 @ 11:00 am
Love the redesign. It’s about friggin’ time.. kidding. Congrats to Steve on the Eisner nod.
Comment by Tom Williams — May 23, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
Hey V&J
Nice new design… and nice pic of Preston!
rock steady
Comment by Lester — May 24, 2006 @ 2:23 pm
Glad to see the new redesign and a blog to boot! And the History Of Bone section is great to read through and chart what has come before up ’til now. Great stuff. Will be checking in as often as I can. As always, thanks for your inspiration.
- D
Comment by Derek Fridolfs — May 24, 2006 @ 3:30 pm
Hi Jeff and Vijaya,
The blog is great! Boneville is so much fun.
Love,
The Bakers
Comment by Kyle, Liz, Lillian, Isaac & Jackie — May 25, 2006 @ 9:47 pm
hey Jeff i like your books and the way they make sense and all i really like the way you draw the bone creatures they look very funny and also i like the way you put the entire story togeather and how the way you draw things you should make more bones they rock???
your friendly reader kevin
Comment by Kevin — June 1, 2006 @ 10:31 am
hey, my computer will not let me play this game. it says that i need permission from administrater, can you help me understand? because i am the administrater of my computer. please help.
thanks,
amber
Comment by amber — June 1, 2006 @ 10:35 am
Dude Jeff everytime I come on to this site it’s differnt. I like your books and all but I hate all the change here.
Comment by benita — June 6, 2006 @ 5:27 pm
You know, I was sad Bone ended, but I’m glad to see it’s still being kept alive with the new color releases! I hope more opportunities will keep coming up for people who don’t know about Bone to be able to fall in love with it!
Comment by Daniel — June 7, 2006 @ 10:35 pm
Hey Jeff! Just wanted you to know that Bone gave Zach and I a common ground to stand on in a period of his life that should have been madness and mayhem (he’s 14, now). We were online today with each other chatting Okinawa to Ohio and he mentioned that “all the kids here in Okinawa are all buying Bone like crazy”. He’s so proud that he actually got to meet you and spend time at the studio. Thanks so much and good luck in each and every endeavor! – Jen
Comment by Jen — June 14, 2006 @ 10:40 am
Dude,
Great shot of Preston, you were right.Cool updates on the website too. Fun.
Tom & Jeri
Comment by tom — June 20, 2006 @ 11:44 am
hi Jeff!
Your books are amazing i have every single one!
i hope you write more! also one quick question that my sis and i are both wondering what do you mean by saying “book one will be re-relised” is that the book out from boneville or the coplete set of all nine books? well i hope you are well!
~Hatti~
Comment by Hatti — July 9, 2006 @ 4:51 pm
hi again!
i have one more thing to add to my previous comment
your new book “the dragonslayer” is soooooooooooooo
good although i personally think bartelby should be brown not purple! sorry i have a verry strong opinon on things like that! oh and my sis says hi she is reading one of your books now!
bi!
~Hatti~ and ~weezy~
Comment by Hatti — July 9, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
I like Bone because he was so adorable.
Comment by Cara — August 28, 2006 @ 3:56 pm
Wow! Your site has really expanded. I like it alot. Must have taken alot of time, when all considered. I like the links and stuff i can spend hours here. I’ve been a big fan of your work since the first launching of Bone in the early 90’s. I met you at a Capital City Sales Show years ago and ordered a bunch of comics. I hope one day to see a cartoon movie or series. That would be “big time”. Looks like the world tour was alot of fun. I actually got thought all the pictures, but had to speed thru some of the text. Thanks for the photos of the food. Neat!
Comment by Tim Gray — November 27, 2006 @ 8:22 pm
hi bone is the best book ever
pleas peple e-mail me at nicklebeepalm@yahoo.com
Comment by nicholas — November 30, 2006 @ 10:57 pm