Posted by Tom

The current issue of Entertainment Weekly (April 11th) on newstands now, has a review of RASL #1.

Here's a quote:

"A rollicking sci-fi caper and promising follow-up to Smith's all-ages masterpiece Bone, albeit for older fans. Grade: A"

Read the rest of the article here. 

Hi everybody! Tom here, the newest addition to the Cartoon Books family. Jeff will still be posting regularly, but in between, I'll be posting CB, Bone, & RASL related blogs and will try to answer all of your questions. We have a lot of exciting things going on here and I can't wait to hear your comments.

So, for my first entry…Did you know that BONE colorist Steve Hamaker, is a BONE-ified writer/cartoonist himself? You can see his latest adventure of his characters Fish-n-Chips in Flight Explorer Volume 1. Go out and get your copy today! Here are a few teaser panels to get your appetite goin. Congrats Steve!

Buy Flight Explorer at Amazon.com

One of the coolest and most original web comics on the internet is Kazu Kibuishi's "Copper".  Kazu is a friend of the Cartoon Books family, so we are extremely happy to have another of his comics in the Scholastic graphic novel library!

Amulet seems to be doing very well, and I imagine kids of all ages are going to fall in love with Copper as well.  Grats to our pal Kazu!

Terry Moore is today's guest blogger. Terry has been self-publishing off and on since 1993, and always managed to put out a new issue of Strangers in Paradise every six weeks (!). Terry writes the most emotionally involving comics around, and I always looked forward to next chapter in the complicated lives of Francine, Katchoo & David. Terry just wrapped up his multi-volume, award winning, self-published opus Strangers in Paradise last year, and is launching straight away into his new series Echo, which goes on sale tomorrow, March 5. I can't wait!

Terry Moore: 

The only reason I’m working in comics today is because of the self-publishing movement, in particular Jeff Smith. Bone and the other self-published books were a discovery that showed me a solo cartoonist could make comics and sell them in comic shops without having to draw superheroes for a major company. Not that I have anything against drawing heroes for Marvel or DC, that’s just not something I had dreamed of or trained for. But making comic stories like Herge or Robert Crumb… yes, that I wanted to do. So I discovered Bone and Cerebus and all the other indy black and whites one day in 1992, spent the rest of the year learning and researching the biz— drawing my first issue at night, then redrawing it completely— and began pushing against the comic universe to let me in. By the time Strangers In Paradise #1 hit the stores in Nov. 1993, the original Brat Pack of self-publishers had been established for a couple of years and were famous. My first store signing was at Bedrock City Comics in Houston with Jeff. Actually, it was a Jeff Smith signing and I was allowed to participate because, although new, I was still a self-publisher and therefore welcome. It was an eye-opening experience. Two or three hundred people showed up and jammed the store to see Jeff. I sat next to him with my first couple of SiP issues published by Antarctic Press, trying to give them away to Bone fans (no takers as I recall). Afterwards we were treated to dinner and I pumped Jeff for info on self-publishing. Jeff was open and honest and encouraged me to give it a try. By the time we walked out to the parking lot I knew that as soon as I finished the SiP mini-series with Antarctic Press I was going to self-publish a SiP series.

And that’s what happened. I spent three months making three comics and a trade with Antarctic Press and made almost nothing. I spent six weeks making the first issue of SiP and made a very nice profit. Like most cartoonists I had a family to support with kids who expected me to feed and clothe them. I desperately wanted this exciting new creative outlet, but I also needed it to provide a solid living for my family. The simple economics of self-publishing made that possible; one guy doing it all, paying the printer bill and living off what’s left. There were no guarantees of course… one bad book and you could be sitting in a trash heap (at least that’s how my neurotic mind saw it), but I got used to being my own boss and loved getting up on Monday mornings to go to work.

Zip! Fourteen years went by. 107 issues written, penciled, inked, lettered, Photoshopped and printed, countless conventions, planes flights, 2 passports, a ton of freebie comics from fellow cartoonists (I love perks) and yes… 2 kids fed and clothed. And the friendships Robyn and I made with Jeff and Vijaya and all the other self-publishers over the years will last a lifetime.

So, as a cartoonist, what do I think of self–publishing? Best thing that ever happened to me. In fact, like somebody else we know around this blog here, I liked it so much I’m going to do it again. My new series, Echo, debuts March 5. And yes, it will be self-published.

Hey all!  Our friends Charlito and Phil at the Indie Spinner Rack podcast have a 2 part interview with Jeff over at their site!

Click to listen to part 1!

Click to listen to part 2!

Warning:  Podcast contains some mild language… but it's all in good fun!