Here it is, the first ever Bone plush toy. 

Can you believe it? The stuffed Fone Bone stands 13" tall and should be available sometime in July. This is the proto-type, and we took pictures of it yesterday to get ready for the Previews catalog. I’ll have more information later when it we get closer to the order date.

AWARDS NEWS

We recently received e-mails from two of my overseas publishers with news about some comics awards:   Leftereis Staurianos,of Jemi, in Athens, writes to say:

Hello V,  

Bone won the "Best Greek edition of foreign comic" award in the Comicdom con. We had to "fight" with Conan chronicles, Mafalda, Life and time of Scrooge McDuck, and Persepolis.  

All my best  

Lefteris

Below is a picture from the Greek leg of the World Tour.  

Then we heard from Spain:

Hello Vijaya and Jeff,

Just a few words to let you know that BONE has been nominated as Best translated graphic novel for the awards of the forthcoming Barcelona Comics Festival!

Kind regards,

Laureano

Laureano Dominguez is from my Spanish publisher, Astiberri. I had a great time when I was there. I’ve got my fingers crossed, Laureano!

THE GREAT BONE RE-READ 

And lastly for today, The Great Bone Re-read.   Blake Bell has an interesting website called Best Of Most Of where he talks about comics and pop culture.  On March 22, he proposed a Bone Re-read and he invites everyone to play at home. He seems to like the first three chapters so far.  We’ll drop in on him every now and then to check on his progress.

Here are some comments on Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #2:

Silver Bullet Comics Reviews:   "Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil gives fans of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family a real alternative. Smith uses the more fantastical elements as symbols of optimism in a grim, dark world that faces an even greater threat, and if you're not careful, you just may actually smile while reading this comic book."    Read the whole review…

Newsarama:   "If you read my review of the first issue last month you'll remember I raved about how well Jeff Smith fit with the character of Captain Marvel.  Well, guess what?  The second issue's even better! …A good part of the issue is reserved for the introduction of Mary Marvel, who is a far younger and spunkier version of the original character. The jury's still out on her new incarnation, but Smith plays her introduction with great comic timing so I'm willing to cut him some slack."     Read the whole review…

The following was posted to the blog comments, but I wanted to show it here because this really hit the spot for me…

Hi Jeff!

I wanted to drop you a quick line to tell you how much I enjoyed the latest issue of Shazam, in particular, your treatment of Mary Marvel. As a diehard Golden Age fan of Mary, your presentation of her as a little girl, happy to have a new outfit and the super powers that go with it, made me feel as if it were her first appearance in decades! Thank you so very much for one of the best comic moments of my life! Truly!

As the owner of a twenty-year old + comic book store in Iowa City, Iowa, it is so wonderful to be able to present a super hero book to both older AND younger readers. Believe me when I say that we have done all that we can to push and support the book and we all are looking forward to the later installments. If you ever find yourself in the area, we would absolutely love to have you come and do a signing!

I wish you the best of luck and once again, thank you for the wonderful work!

Adam Mix
Daydreams Comics
Iowa City, Iowa

Thank you, Adam! You are exactly who I'm drawing this for!

Last item – - a new comics interview blog cropped up a couple of weeks ago, and already people are bookmarking it. It's called The Daily Cross Hatch and they just posted an interview with me about the early days of BONE, designing The Complete Pogo, and Shazam. While you're  there, check out the interviews with Tony Millionaire and Tom Hart.

The second issue of Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil will be in your local comic book shops on Wednesday March 7 . I can hardly wait!

The reviews on MSoE #1 have been really good. Here are a few more recent links:

Let's start with Entertainment Weekly, who said MSoE#1 was one of their Five Reasons To Live.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer review "…a brilliant re-imagining of the Captain Marvel legend." BONE author retools DC’s Captain Marvel  

The Washington Post Express feature: Super New Man; Shazam gets a Makeover!

Las Vegas Weekly review, "…captures the sense of fun and adventure of the original 1940s stories, while delivering something that feels more current…" 

Inkstuds podcast. This one is a lot of fun. It's an hour long talk about Shazam and Bone with a Canadian College radio station. Warning: I talk a lot, and there is a little bit of swearing. But there's some good tunes by Dylan, Little Richard, and Tom Waits.

The Pittsburg Patriot-News interview called:Marvel adapted by Bone Creator.

To find the comic shop nearest you, visit Comic Shop Locator website, or call 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.  

Don't forget to bring your Secret Decoder!  

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind. I did two signings on Saturday, the first at Cartoon Books and then at the Scholastic booth. In the morning, I went downstairs to the panel rooms and drew a page of Fone Bone & Thorn for the Comic Book  Legal defense Fund to auction off.

This is the winner of the auction…Alan Gill! Alan fearlessly joined in the bidding and not only ended up with a one-of-a-kind piece of art, but he helped the Defense Fund. The Fund is for defending the First Amendment rights of comic book creators, publishers, and store owners. Hard as it is to believe, there are still people who think comics are not art, should only be for very little children, and even want to ban them. For more information, check out the CBLDF website.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Saturday signings:

This is our autograph line filling up the aisle as far as the eye can see. 

Sunday,  I had to do a BONE reading.  I’ve read a few pages aloud before this, but not really “doing a reading” in front of kids and parents.  I chose the color pages that originally comprised the comic book BONE #3 (now chapter 3 of Out From Boneville), where Fone Bone and Thorn do some chores around the cabin in preparation for Gran’ma Ben’s return home.  It was a lot harder to sustain than I thought. I’m definitely no Neil Gaiman, but everyone laughed in all the right places.  You can see a report on the panel by Edward Liu at the Toon Zone. After the reading I went to the last – - and most chaotic signing of the show. Wow.

In just this one picture, there is the guy in red jacket – - known to me only as The Bard – - who has collected the signatures of all living artists who have ever worked on Captain Marvel on the red poster on the podium;  and in unrelated pandemonium, Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson can be seen laughing and shouting something at me. The size of the crowd around the booth was hilarious.

There is a video podcast on the ifanboy website that will give you a good sense of what it was like being on the show floor, and the ifanboy guys talk to a lot of cartoonists. There is a short interview with me at the Cartoon Books booth at the end of the podcast. Click here to see it. 

I'm out! I escaped from the Javits Center with my cousins from Connecticut who came down to see the show.What better way to end a weekend of comic books than with hot dogs followed by a round of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? Hope everyone had a good time. I did – - I even got the onions I like in the spicy tomato sauce!  My mission is complete. I'll be back, New York!