Awards, Reviews & Testimonials
AWARDS
2005
Eisner Award-Best Graphic Album-Reprint
Harvey Award-Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work
Harvey Award-Best Cartoonist
2003
Harvey Award-Best Cartoonist
2002
YALSA/ALA Popular Paperbacks for young adults
Eisner Award Best Painter Charles Vess for Rose
2001
Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts
Sproing Award (Norway)-Best Book
2000
Harvey Award-Best Cartoonist
1999
Harvey Award-Best Cartoonist
Sproing Award (Norway)-Best Book
Yellow Kid (Italy) -Best Author
1998
Spain’s Premios Expocomic-Best Foreign Comic
Eisner Award-Best Writer/Artist, Humor
Lempi International (Finland)-Best International Cartoonist
1997
Harvey Award -Best Cartoonist
National Cartoonist Society -Best Comic Book
Lucca (Italy) -Best Foreign Cartoonist
Georgia -Inducted into Cartoonist Walk Of Fame
1996
Harvey Award -Best Cartoonist
Adamson (Sweden) -Best Comic Book
Premio Fumo Di China (Italy) -Best Cartoon Character
National Cartoonist Society -Best Comic Book
Angouleme Alph-Art (France) -Best Foreign Comic Book
1995
Harvey Award -Best Cartoonist
Eisner Award -Best Writer/Artist, Humor
Eisner Award -Best Humor Publication
Eisner Award -Best Continuing Series
Comic Speedline (Germany) -Best Newcomer
Comic Speedline (Germany) -Best Graphic Novel
Prix Vienne (Germany) -Book of the Year
1994
Harvey Award -Best Cartoonist
Harvey Award -Best Graphic Album
Harvey Award -Special Award for Humor
Eisner Award -Best Cartoonist
Eisner Award -Best Humor Publication
Eisner Award -Best Continuing Series
Eisner Award -Best Serialized Story- The Great Cow Race
Diamond Distributor’s Gem Award -Vanguard Product of the Year
Genie Award -Best Continuing Series
1993
Eisner Award -Best Humor Publication
Russ Manning Award -Most Promising Newcomer
Quotes and Reviews
TEN GREATEST GRAPHIC NOVELS OF ALL TIME
”This is first-class kid lit: exciting, funny, scary!” STARRED REVIEW
“BONE is storytelling at its best… running the gamut from hilarious whimsy to thrilling drama.”
The Comics Journal BOOK OF THE YEAR 2005
Cartoonist Reveals Hidden Talent
“One of the best kids’ comics ever.”
– VIBE Magazine
“[This] sprawling, mythic comic is spectacular.”
– SPIN Magazine
“BONE moves from brash humor to gripping adventure in a single panel.”
– ALA Booklist
“BONE, in short, is unlike any other comic.”
– Star-Tribune
“BONE is a comic-book sensation . . . a classic mix of writer-artist craftsmanship not to be missed.”
– Comic Buyer’s Guide
TESTIMONIALS
"Applause, Applause to Jeff Smith for his achievement with the indelible and brilliant story of BONE. From his fans and his admirers facing the end of the series comes the cry … ‘Say it ain’t so, Jeff!’"
Will Eisner, The Spirit, Hawks of the Sea
"Congratulations, Jeff. It was consistently the funniest, smartest, most exciting, most surprising periodical comic of its day, and now it’s done. I’m looking forward to settling down and reading it from beginning to end, and smiling at the scenes that are old friends and going "oh *that’s* what was happening" at all the places which reconfigure in hindsight."
Neil Gaiman, American Gods, Coraline
"Like The Lord of the Rings, BONE glides past the trends and fads of the day, its lovely sails blown full with the steady, strong wind of the Mythic, the Classic. Best yet, and doing Tolkien one better, this Jeff Smith guy can DRAW!"
Frank Miller, Batman: Dark Knight Strikes Again, 300
"Jeff’s enchanting work has helped spark a revolution in all-ages fantasy. Generations of future master cartoonists may well have been given their first warm welcome into the comics medium thanks to BONE."
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics
"BONE is an amazing accomplishment. From the very first page to the last, the quality of Jeff’s work is inspiring and the story is bigger than anyone realized. This meticulously crafted epic saga has already asserted itself as an American classic. Congratulations on a job well done, Jeff! You can take the rest of the day off."
Terry Moore, Strangers in Paradise
"Jeff Smith continues to be an inspiration, both artistically and as a human being. It is easy to set a monumentally ambitious goal for one’s self, most of us do it all the time. Yet very few follow through and do the work necessary to reach their goal, especially when the pursuit requires years of continuous effort, performing essentially the same task day after day. We should all be wise enough to emulate Jeff Smith.
Oh, and the book’s great too."
Kyle Baker, King David, Cartoonist
"Jeff Smith’s BONE does everything ‘wrong’. It’s Self-published, in black and white and only comes out three or four times a year, yet throughout it’s 10 year run BONE has consistently provoked laughter, wonder and terror as well as gasps of delight from it’s considerable audience (and that, most definitely includes me!). Jeff’s well crafted story and gorgeous drawing has created a living, breathing world populated with characters that you truly care about, all of which stay with you long after you’ve closed the pages of the latest installment. So I, along with it’s legions of fans, rather anxiously await the conclusion to Jeff’s epic story but, in the end, I’ll be extremely sad to bid the cousins, Thorn, Lucius and most especially Gran’ma Ben farewell."
Charles Vess, A Circle of Cats, Rose
"Congratulations to Jeff at the finale of one of the most unique, funny, sad, exiting and well-told stories in the history of the comic medium. A true epic by an exceptional artist."
Bryan Talbot, A Tale of One Bad Rat, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
“BONE is THE book that lured me back into comics. I’d been a childhood devotee of the medium, but abandoned it through my adolescence for more socially acceptable interests. For years, friends tried to win me back to the faith - - dragging me into shops, lending me their favorites, etc., etc., but all those cluttered pages simply gave me a headache.” “Finding BONE was a revelation. These brush lines seemed to do all the work for the reader. They were DIVINE lines that instilled the characters with honest-to-God breath. As in my childhood, I could pour over a single 30-page issue for weeks, as if they were sacred gospels. Thanks to Jeff, I was BORN AGAIN as a disciple of comics.”
Craig Thompson, Good-bye, Chunky Rice
“Jeff Smith is a consummate craftsman who makes lively cartooning and brisk visual story-telling look effortless. He is to funny fantasy folk what Bukowski was to stewbums and reprobates: their ideal chronicler.”
Bob Fingerman, Minimum Wage
“Rendered with master craftsmanship, animated storytelling, and intuitive drama, the mighty Jeff Smith reinvents classic fantasy adventure and raises the genre to the next plateau with his exquisite BONE chronicles.”
Dean Haspiel, Keyhole, Jonny Dogma
“I remember the first time I saw a Disney movie, the first Calvin & Hobbes strips I read and the day I discovered Tintin. The sheer delight of these discoveries has stayed with me a lifetime, and BONE is a member of this elite group. BONE is timeless, a gift from our generation to the next and the ones after, courtesy of Jeff Smith.”
Terry Moore, Strangers in Paradise
“It doesn’t matter what’s going on in my life at that moment, when I open up Jeff’s book, the world around me comes to a dead halt, and I’m immediately deep in the forest right by the Bone cousins’ side sharing their adventures, laughing at their antics. It’s ALWAYS an effort to return to “real” life. So I’ve got some advice for you Jeff, “Start drawing right now, because I want more, lots more!”
Charles Vess, Ballads and Sagas, Rose
"There is a bittersweet magic as you come to the last pages of a tale you love, torn between the joy of completion and wondering if you will ever visit with beloved friends again. Thanks, Jeff for the magic of BONE and here’s hoping that you take us back to that magic land soon."
Paul Levitz, Publisher - DC Comics
“What Jeff has done is giddily impossible-he’s telling an epic story with the comic timing of a Chuck Jones cartoon. Princesses, dragons, cow races…who could resist?!”
Mark Askwith, Producer
“What more can be said about ten years of BONE? All I know is that it makes me want to rub my butt on the lawn - - and that’s a good thing!”
Tom Sniegoski, Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails
“BONE features a winning cast of characters, confident, deftly paced storytelling and just plain-out killer artwork. It recalls the days of classic cartooning without being a nostalgic retread, and weaves a tale of epic fantasy and adventure that even an elf-hating creep like me can enjoy. BONE’s ten-year run is a major achievement in the medium, and Jeff is one of our most accomplished cartoonists.”
Evan Dorkin, Milk & Cheese, Dork
“BONE is a breath of fresh air - - an all ages comic that’s smart, funny, and beautifully drawn. The world desperately needs more comics like BONE.”
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
“BONE is a work that excites and delights. It is new, yet somehow familiar. Always innovative, always superior in its intelligence, its heart and its craftsmanship. It is in short, art, and we are richer for its existence.”
Jim Valentino, Publisher, Image Comics
“BONE’d for ten years! And I’ve loved every minute of it!”
Diana Schutz, Editor, Dark Horse
“When BONE#1 first appeared in my local comic book shop, I was completely taken by surprise by how wonderful it was. Silly, sweet and innocent yet full of depth. I read that first issue probably 20 times. I felt really, really lucky to have stumbled across such a perfect little book. I still do.”
James Kochalka, Monkey vs Robot
“Ten years. Ten bleedin’ years!! What joys, what entertainment, what paroxysmal stretching to make a one-joke idea stretch for a whole decade!! And all I had to do to bask in these delights was to turn over my firstborn to Jeff Smith for his Sunday brunch. Which was a helluva trick, seeing as how I had my vasectomy in April of 1975, Ah, but, what the hell, congrats, kiddo: you done good.”
Harlan Ellison, Author
“Jeff Smith is an anomaly in the business of graphic storytelling. He has no embarrassing early work. He arrived full-blown with BONE, spinning a complex story with simplicity, wit, and elegance.”
P. Craig Russell, The Ring of the Nibelung
“Like classics such as Tintin and Calvin and Hobbes, BONE has that rare ability to appeal to all age groups. It’s one of my favorite comics, not only because of Jeff Smith’s beautifully fluid and energetic clear line technique and his extraordinary talent as a compelling and fluent storyteller but also for the milieu and characters of the story itself, for which Jeff obviously cares a great deal.”
“With influences as diverse as Carl Barks, The Lord of the Rings, Aboriginal mythology and Moby Dick, in a comedy-adventure of epic scope, BONE is essential reading for all lovers of the comic medium.”
Bryan Talbot, The Tale of One Bad Rat, Heart of Empire
“[BONE has] all of the emotional and psychological heft of Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece The Seventh Seal with the flight and whimsy of The Wizard of Oz.”
Jeff Mason, Publisher, Indy Magazine
“Congrats on 55 trips to Boneville, Jeff! I’ll miss the denizens and enemies you’ve made me care about and rally against… but secretly I can’t wait for one of my faves (you) to tackle one of my faves (Captain Marvel) next year on SHAZAM!”
Mike Carlin, Senior Group Editor - DC Comics