Last night I announced two new BONE projects; BONE: Tall Tales and BONE: Quest for the Spark.

Tall Tales, pictured above, is a major repackaging of a book I did with Tom Sniegoski a few years ago called Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails. This new book, which takes place after the Bones have returned to Boneville, revolves around Smiley and Bartleby telling tales around a campfire to a group of young Bone Scouts (their names are Ringo, Bingo, & Todd!).

One of the tales will be the long out of print story I did for Disney Adventures that was not in the BONE books, and will now be returned to the BONE cannon with a beautiful coloring job by Steve Hamaker. Another will be the The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero, which appeared in black & white as Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails. Tom Sniegoski, who wrote SSRT, has written two new Johnson Bone stories, both of which are pretty incredible. All now in glorious Hamaker colors! I will be writing all the new Smiley and Bartleby stuff.

BONE: Quest for the Spark is a slightly different kind of thing. It is not a comic; it’s a novel. A series of three novels written by Tom Sniegoski that follow a new generation of Bone characters into the Valley.

I was a bit unsure about this project when Tom first suggested it, but when I read the first book I laughed so hard, I agreed to do it. Scholastic was so blown away by it, that they decided to make it available in hardcover and wanted the illustrations, of which I think I’m going to do about twenty, full bleed and in color.

While not an official sequel to my comic, it will be fun to see some the characters again, like the stupid rat creatures, and Roderick the racoon.

BONE: Tall Tales is scheduled for Summer of 2010, and BONE: Quest for the Spark volume one, is set for 2011.

Links:

The Beat – Exclusive: More BONE on the way from Scholastic

CBR – Jeff Smith Announces New BONE Projects – Official Press Release 

We are San Diego bound!  Come by the Cartoon Books booth 2109 and check out what fun things we have for the show!  Check out Jeff’s appearance schedule here!

 We will be easy to find right next to our friends at Abstract Studios and across the aisle from DC Comics.  

-We’ll have the debut of Little Mouse at our booth during a signing on Friday

-We are doing joint limited edition prints with Terry Moore

-We’re debuting the Limited Edition RASL Hardcover

-Friday night screening for the Jeff Smith Documentary
 

Mills James Productions, the company that produced the Jeff Smith documentary, have a beautiful interactive website to purchase the DVD.

The film’s Emmy-winning director, Ken Mills, is also the president of the Columbus-based company.

Ken’s major focus for the last 25 years has been the growth of Mills James Productions, the company he co-founded with partner Cameron James.  With buildings packed with studios, edit suites, cutting edge gear and a staff of 140 – writers, producers, directors, DPs, art directors, editors and composers – Mills James resembles a scaled-down version of the classic Hollywood studio.

The employee-owned firm produces commercials, original television productions, documentaries, infomercials, corporate videos, interactive media and special events.

Here are some stills from The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, BONE and the changing face of comics.

For more information on Mills James, visit the company’s Web site at www.millsjames.com.
 

RASL #5 went on sale this week!

I’m collecting letters and comments for the next letters page, so be sure to let me know what you think!

Click here to read Pick of the Week Review: RASL #5

This August, Jeff is jumping the lake!

On Saturday August 8th, Jeff will be doing a signing at the Indigo Book Store in Toronto.

Indigo is Canada’s largest bookstore with locations across the country.

Jeff’s appearance will be at the Indigo Books in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The address is 3401 Dufferin Street, Unit #29, Toronto and the phone number is 416-781-6660.

The signing begins at 2pm.

This event could fill up quickly and you should contact Indigo for more information as the event gets closer.