For Immediate Release

Jeff Smith’s TUKI: Fight for Fire Makes Debut on Kickstarter!
Creator of BONE and RASL Launches Third Self-Published Comic Series During 30th Anniversary Celebrations

Key West, FL – May 3, 2021:  Jeff Smith’s third creator owned and self-published comics project, TUKI, is making its graphic novel debut on Kickstarter on May the 4th! TUKI, some may remember, was a short-lived online comic experiment in color, but now Smith has completely rebuilt the world of two million BCE into two full blown original black & white graphic novels set to ship this Summer and Fall. This Summer also marks the 30th anniversary of the first issue of BONE #1. View the Kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tuki/tuki-fight-for-fire

The story takes place at the dawn of the human race, and pits Tuki against a rival species of humans, the Habiline, who view the making of fire as a dangerous blasphemy and hunt those found using it.

“I’ve always been fascinated with human evolution, especially the point two million years ago when more than one species of human existed at the same time,” said cartoonist Smith, “this was also the moment we conquered fire. Definitely our best party trick!”

“I started to play around with TUKI before COVID hit,” he continued, “but once the lockdown happened, I decided to dive in and focus on straightening out the story. I ended up with enough material for two books! It was friends from the old self-publishing days, the Tucci’s and the Pulido’s, who turned my wife Vijaya on to Kickstarter and persuaded us to give it a go. If all goes well, this could be the beginning of a new series! Come check us out! We have rewards that are super high on the neat-o scale!”

The Kickstarter campaign covers both graphic novels. The first book, TUKI: Fight for Fire, if the campaign is successful, will ship to supporters in July, 30 years to the month the first issue of BONE was released. The second book, TUKI: Fight for Family, will ship in October.

Both volumes will be oversized, and landscape formatted (11.375” x 8.875”) with approximately 144 pages each with a bonus material stretch goal. The return to black & white line art is in keeping with the initial runs of both BONE and RASL. The first book is 100% complete and ready to go to the printer.

About TUKI: At the dawn of humanity, during a period of tremendous change and drought, three lost children meet a mysterious traveler named Tuki. Together, their search for the Motherherd of all Buffalo leads them far north through the dangerous territory of a rival species called the Habiline. The Habiline hunt and kill anyone found using fire. Tuki’s reputation precedes them and soon they find themselves at the center of unwanted attention not only from Habiline warriors, but of gods and giants!

About Jeff Smith: Jeff Smith is the writer & artist of comics and graphic novels like BONE, RASL, SHAZAM: The Monster Society of Evil, ROSE and Tall Tales. Both BONE and RASL were self-published and are New York Times Bestsellers. BONE won 41 national and international awards including 10 Eisner Awards and 11 Harvey Awards, and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. RASL won an Eisner for Best Graphic Novel. The short lived webcomic version of TUKI won the National Cartoonists Award for Best Online Comic in 2014.

For more information or if you would like hi res images, contact
Kathleen Glosan
 e-mail:  kathleen@boneville.com
 phone:  +1.614.224.4487

Quite a few fans have been asking how this new version of TUKI differs from the previous comics. Jeff explains:

“The webcomic version of TUKI, later reprinted in four comic book issues, was set aside for various reasons. For one I was busy co-founding the comics festival CXC with Vijaya, Lucy Shelton Caswell and Tom Spurgeon. But mostly I felt TUKI needed to be reworked to flow better. I was trying at the time to replicate the feeling of classic Sunday pages like Flash Gordon or Prince Valiant, and while it seemed to work on the web, when collected, the one-page-a-week format had a start and stop feeling that didn’t allow the story to come to life in way that satisfied me. Also, when the children showed up in the strip, I realized this is a story about family, and I needed to start over from the beginning. Which I did! This is essentially a new piece of work.”

There you have it! TUKI Kickstarter launches on May 4th, and you can get in line on the prelaunch page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tuki/tuki-fight-for-fire

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TUKI alternate cover inks in progress

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From rough to pencil to ink – One of the TUKI alternate covers! Ink wash and color to follow soon! Visit the pre-launch page for updates! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tuki/tuki-fight-for-fire

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Cartoon Books’ first Kickstarter is launching a week from today! Celebrating the release of TUKI, Jeff’s third self-published project, as well as the 30th anniversary of BONE! TUKI Book 1: Fight for Fire ships July, TUKI Book 2: Fight for Family ships October.  Join us! Sign up for prelaunch here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tuki/tuki-fight-for-fire

https://sktchd.com/column/comics-disassembled-ten-things-of-note-from-the-past-week-in-comics-led-by-a-fave-returning/

Fan Art Friday from our buddy Ezra! Awesome!

TUKI: Fight for Fire, coming to Kickstarter May 4th.  Click here to be added to launch notifications! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tuki/tuki-fight-for-fire

#TUKI #comics #books #graphicnovels #jeffsmith #cartoonbooks #bonecomics #evolution #homoerectus

Respect Mother Earth!

TUKI is coming to Kickstarter! Read the exclusive IGN story for a preview and more details!
https://www.ign.com/articles/tuki-graphic-novel-preview-jeff-smith-bone

So much to love in this photo! Vijaya and Wolverine at Comic-Con International 2015.

The only one happy about tax day is Phoney Bone…

From Screenrant…
https://screenrant.com/best-comic-book-romance-non-marvel-dc/

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The wonders of Nikola Tesla

Tuki Volume 1: Fight for Fire, Jeff’s new self-pubished graphic novel, launches May 4th on Kickstarter! Stay tuned for further announcements and previews here!

#TBT BONE milk carton! This was created for the Scholastic school promotion ‘Read It!’ from 2005. Fone Bone was whole milk, Phoney was chocolate and Smiley was strawberry!