Vijaya and I spent most of last week in LA visiting the Fox and Warner Bros. studios. Vijaya snapped the picture above while we were waiting at the super cool 60′s style futuristic Encounters Bar at LAX to board our red-eye flight home to Cols.

The trip was good! We were on the Fox lot to attend a table read for a new Simpsons episode, and let me tell you, it was a blast. It was fun to see Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartright and the rest of the cast doing the voices. The show was funny, too. The Simpsons still has it after all these years!

We had two separate meetings on the Warner Bros. lot; first with Wigram Productions, who has optioned the film rights for RASL, then over to Lin Productions to meet the new studio exec. in charge of the BONE project.  The BONE film has been stalled for some months now, and the new exec wanted to meet and let us know that he likes the BONE comics and wants to get the film moving again.

I think both meetings went very well!

Also, just before we left for LA, I finished  issue #10 of RASL and sent it off to the printer. Should be sliding into comic book store shelves the last week of April.

Hey, everyone! Starting on Friday, March 18 at noon, there will be a spot on our shop site to pre-order the BONE 20th Anniversary  Full Color One Volume Edition Box Set and pick your shipping options.

You will be able to have it shipped directly to you when it ships in July, or you can avoid shipping charges all together by picking up your pre-paid box at the Cartoon Books booth in San Diego and selected other comic book shows during the year.

You can also pre-order the $350 Collector’s Box Set through your local comic book shop; the Diamond item code is:  MAR111015

Here’s a complete schedule so far for comic book shows and conventions that we’ll be at!

Nice picture below of the three cousins in pewter! Fone & Phoney are aprox. 1 3/4 “, and Smiley is 2 1/2″ tall.

And lastly: a reminder, these are big collector books, and through American Forests.org we’ll plant a tree for every one we sell!

I just ran across this on Google’s main page.

That…is cool.

Happy Birthday, Will. You are missed so much!

Before we start, I want to say that this has been one of the most complicated, difficult, and exciting projects I’ve ever worked on. And one of the things I most want for myself!

At last! For the past five years, the single most requested item at Cartoon Books has been a single volume of BONE in color.  Now, to celebrate two decades since the publication of  BONE #1, Cartoon Books is pleased to announce a full color One Volume Edition of BONE in a collector’s box and a deluxe slipcase version! There will also be a very limited edition that contains original art by me and Steve!

BONE: 20th Anniversary Full Color One Volume Collector’s Box Set with Signed Art Print – limited to 2000 copies

(Click image to enlarge)

Special Features:

- all 1344 full color pages of BONE in a single hardcover volume that measures 9 1/2″ x  7″ x  3″ . The book is adorned with colorful foil stamps and art work and includes a satin ribbon bookmark.

-A new essay by cartoonist Jeff Smith called “Twenty Years with BONE”.

-A signed and numbered 6 ” x  9″ art print of a previously unpublished piece of  BONE concept art.

-A 22k gold plated coin with Phoney Bone’s head on one side, and Fone Bone on the reverse giving the dates of BONE #1 July 1991, and the 20th Anniversary July 2011.

-Pewter figures of the three Bone cousins.

-A miniature facsimile of the BONE #1 comic book in black & white as originally published in July 1991.

-An expanded Cover Gallery of the BONE comic books and graphic novels.

-An Illustrated 20 Year Timeline

-Award winning feature length documentary DVD – The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, BONE, and the Changing Face of Comics.

-Comes in a beautiful, 12″  x  12″  x 4″  illustrated red box with a magnetic clasp.

-Limited to 2,000 copies.

-Price: $350.

-Ships in July 2011.

The Collector’s Box Set will debut in San Diego at the Comic-Con International (it is listed in the May shipping Previews catalog because we needed a caution 3, as well time to get some numbers from retailers, but it will not actually be available until Preview Night at the Comic-Con)

BONE: 20th ANNIVERSARY FULL COLOR ONE VOLUME COLLECTOR’S BOX SET – with original art by Jeff Smith and hand painted by Steve Hamaker – limited to an edition of 50 copies

Special Features:

-All the details are the same as the above collector’s Box Set, but instead of the signed art print, this edition comes with a 6″ x 9″ piece of original art, each one individually penciled and inked by Jeff and hand watercolored by Steve Hamaker.

-Limited to 50 copies.

-Price:  $1000.

-Ships in July 2011. (also debuts on Preview night at Comic-Con International in San Diego)

BONE: 20th Anniversary Full Color One Volume Slipcase

Special Features:

-Deluxe Hard Cover  &  Slipcase 9 1/2″  x  7″  x  3″ with big, chunky close ups of BONE art work on both the Full Color One Volume Edition and the Slipcase with a new 32 page section that includes:

-A new essay by cartoonist Jeff Smith called “Twenty years with Bone”.

-Cover Gallery of BONE comics.

-Illustrated 20 Year Timeline.

-1376 pages total.

-Price: $150.

Ships this Fall, November 2011. (Just in time for the holidays!).

Information about how to pre-order from our website will be available next week, including an option to avoid shipping by picking your up your pre-paid box at the Cartoon Books booth in San Diego and selected other comic book shows during the year.

You can also pre-order one through your local comic book shop; the Diamond item code is:  MAR111015

Next week, we’ll post a complete schedule for comic book shows and conventions that we’ll be at!

And lastly: These are big collector books, and through American Forests.org we’ll plant a tree for every one we sell!

Check back with us tomorrow for an exciting announcement!

Hint:  It’s colorful!