Hi All

Vijaya here – Just want to make a quick announcement – Cartoon Books will be re-releasing the Bone One Volume again!  Below is the press release:

BONE ONE VOLUME EDITION - Available Again In September 2006

(Columbus, OH - June 27, 2006) This September will see the return of one of the most popular graphic novels of recent years, the BONE: One Volume Edition.

The massive five-pound, 1300 page paperback, by Jeff Smith, is being brought back by popular demand. The paperback tome, which originally retailed at $39.95 and has been out of print for more than a year, regularly sells for $100+ on e-bay.

The return was made possible by an arrangement between Cartoon Books and Scholastic/Graphix, the current publisher of BONE.

The original black & white BONE: One Volume Edition debuted at Comic-Con International in San Diego 2004 and sold 50,000 copies before being taken out of print the following year to make way for Scholastic's full color versions.

With the tremendous success of the full-color books (Graphix, Scholastic's Graphic Novel imprint has sold more than a million copies to date of the newly-colored BONE books), both Scholastic and Cartoon Books felt there was enough room on bookstore shelves for two versions.

David Saylor, Creative Director said, "In view of the historical significance of the black & white collections, we wanted to work with Jeff and Vijaya to bring the One Volume back."

The One Volume Edition has been named one of the ten greatest graphic novels of all time by TIME Magazine, Book of the Year by The Comics Journal, and earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

Vijaya Iyer, Co-founder and Publisher of Cartoon Books explained the indy company's motives, "We noticed that while BONE now has a significant presence in the children's section of bookstores, it was mostly absent in the adult graphic novel section. With the re-release of the One Volume Edition, we hope to fill that void."

Cartoonist Jeff Smith summed up his feelings this way: "I'm thrilled. The BONE: One Volume Edition is my baby, and I'm glad to have it back."

Here's the Promo Poster:

And here's a mockup of the new cover (click on image for larger view): 

Vijaya and I took Preston downtown to the North Market to pick up our veggies. It was hot and sunny. Summer’s finally here! Happy Summer Solstice!

Publishing News on Wednesday…

The whole staff of Cartoon Books went down to Old Man’s Cave a few days ago (if you’d like to see some pictures visit Steve’s blog ).  The purpose of the trip was… well, come back this Wednesday, June 28th, and Vijaya will tell you.  We have a publishing announcement to make… the first of many this year, I think. 

Comics! 

I recently traded comics with James Kochalka and Craig Thompson.   Both had some new comics I hadn’t seen. 

James K. and pal Jeffrey Brown made a second Conversations mini, and it’s good.  The way these two play off each other is what makes these stream of consciousness “conversations” about art and artists’ motivations interesting.  Also, I’d never seen Kochalka’s Super F**kers before. 

It’s a colorful riff on teenage superheroes that made me laugh out loud.  Kochalka must have read a load of Legion of Superheroes comics when he was a kid.  If you know Kochalka's work, you know that sometimes it's kid friendly, sometimes not, so beware, and just in case the title doesn’t make it obvious, Super F**kers is an adults only book.

Craig Thompsom has switched publishers and he sent me Pantheon’s new binding of Good-Bye, Chunky Rice as well as a beautiful travel sketch book called Carnet de Voyage which is published by Top Shelf.

Although Craig’s masterpiece may turn out to be Blankets (see Time Magazine’s list of The Ten Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time ), Chunky Rice is still my favorite, and this new printing is exquisite.  

Not Comics!

“Not comics” is the phrase Tom Spurgeon over at The Comics Reporter uses on non-comics related stories to, as he puts it, keep him honest.   I’m swiping it so I can show you these pictures of my neighbors watching the World Cup match between Italy and The Chech. Republic last week. 

I was invited by Alessandro Siciliani, conductor of The Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Musical Director Emeritus, to come watch the game and sip Prosecco.  We gathered in the kitchen with his friends and watched the tiny TV in the corner while Alessandro’s son, Giacomo fixed us omelets. Italy won 2 to 0, thanks in part to Alessandro’s lucky charm, which he is holding up here. Note the Italian flag in the doorway.

Italy scores the second goal at the 88th minute!  It’s not comics, but we have to keep our priorities straight.  As soon as I finish typing this, I’m heading back over to watch the match between Italy and Australia.  You haven’t watched an Italian World Cup match until you’ve watched it with a few Italian friends! Ciao

I’m back from Nova Scotia where I spent Friday morning with the first ever Scholastic Canadian National Book Fairs winners at the Tantallon Jr. High School. In preparation for the event, the students held their book fair, sought sponsorships from the community, built Goblets of Fire and made dragons, sold lots of books (a good portion of the sales of each book goes to the school) and generally had a fun time. For winning, the students of Tantallon got a thousand dollars for the library, and a visit from me. Ingrid Taylor, one of the organizers of the event sent me this e-mail:

PS - the school is VERY EXCITED!!! Apparently there is a boy named Duncan with Down's syndrome that was not reading at all. So Erica gave him a copy of Bone and he loved it! Now he is reading and can't wait to meet Jeff. He will be at the pizza lunch and we will give him a copy of Bone #3 for Jeff to sign.

The picture at the top is of me reading with Duncan. He didn’t want to stop after the cameras left, so we kept reading to the end of the chapter!

This dark shot is the BONE reading I did for both assemblies. It ends with Gran’ma Ben’s farmhouse in flames… it’s always fun to hear the kids gasp when they realize I’m going to end the reading with a cliff hanger.

This is the Student Crew that did all the hard work. The complete list includes Cameron, Drew, Natasha, Andrew, Alex, Kayla, Brittany, Sarah, Dawson, Katie, Duncan, and Brandon. And of course, their fearless leader, Library Support Specialist Erica. We ate pizzas in the library and had many animated discussions about fantasy books. I enjoyed the kids so much, and I hope they had a good time, too. Just enough time for a quick detour to Peggy’s Cove before heading back to the airport and home.

Scholastic tells me that BONE 4:  THE DRAGONSLAYER is shipping to most book stores on July 10, 2006.  The official release date is actually August 1, so stores have a couple of weeks to put them on the shelves.  Until then, I’ll share these never-before-seen newly colored images from THE DRAGONSLAYER.

As always, if you want to find the comic book shop nearest you, call 888-comic-book or visit The Comic Shop Locator Service website.

Black Tie Event

On Saturday night, Vijaya and I were Table Captains at this year’s Human Rights Campaign Dinner.   We had a wonderful time with friends and supported a good cause.  

As a cartoonist, I don’t often get to dress up, but a closer look at my tie reveals that I took the opportunity to use my vintage 1946 Captain Marvel Tie Clip!  

I’ve just been given my flight arrangements for the Scholastic Canada Book Fairs contest winner. This year it looks like I’m off to visit Tantallon Junior High School in Tantallon, Nova Scotia on Friday June 15, 2006.  The contest is a national one that rewards the students who work the hardest over the year to put on the best Book Fairs.  I speak to the students in assembly and then spend a little time at lunch with the student Crew that did the hard work.  This is my second Book Fair visit. The first (which is where these photos were taken) was the US winner last August:  The Graves County Middle School in Paducah, Kentucky, and we had a blast. 

The kids liked it, they got out of class for a couple of hours, and I got to eat delicious homemade southern cooking that parents brought in which included chicken and two kinds of cake.  And that’s pretty much all it takes for me.