News - Bone | Bangalore Mirror | Nov '08

Image Courtesy: Scanned by Pathy Forwarded by Viswa

We ran a full post review on the Bone Series on Comicology, when it debuted in India.  Well, we now have a Media article about the series and the creator Jeff Smith,  who was on a comic book promotion tour in India, last month. Bangalore Mirror newspaper carried a personal account of Jeff Smith on his work on Bone, which has made him a top-shot in the Graphic Novel Biz.  The article also talks about the new venture of Jeff Smith, about which you can find in our earlier post.  Read the Article, where Jeff talks about his child hood passion and how he formed the idea of Bone. For those who wonder, why Jeff Smith loves India so much, it's got to do with his wife Vijaya Smith (formerly Vijaya Iyer), whose ancestors are from Kerala, another Southern State of India.  Through which he has close knitted family connections in India, including Mumbai.  Jeff claims the Indian connection was instrumental in the concluding plot works on the final two chapters of Bone series.  I would love to see those final chapters reprinted by Scholastic in India.

Jeff never forgets to thank Vijaya, who is also his business partner, and takes care much of the production and administration work; like attending comic-con events, invoicing, publishing contacts; right from their self-publishing company Cartoon Books (which originally serialized Bone as 55 issues, consisting one chapter each).  This has let Smith concentrate solely on his comic work, which has what made him world-famous now. Doesn't it feel good to have a life partner who share your hobbies, and interests? Heah, I can hear some "Grins" from the wed-locked Comicologists here :). Here is an excerpt from Jeff's another Interview while in India on his promotion tour:

You started off drawing Bone when you were five years old. How did it evolve to its present state?  I was very young when I used to go to my grandmother’s house and watch movies and read. She used to give me this big sheet of paper on which I used to draw. The very first comic though was published in 1991. Each chapter was released as one comic book. It was black and white initially. Now the entire series is a beautiful 1,300 page continuous novel that I have released independently. I always had the start and end in mind, but when I started writing I went off on different tangents and just wrote the funniest things that came to my head. How tough has the journey been? The medium is very difficult as the readers are very picky. When I started off, I had the strangest idea that the comic should be like Bugs Bunny-meets-Lord of the Rings. It didn’t sell well initially, we literally had to carry boxes to big comic conventions like those in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. My wife and me were unaware that the comic was being picked up by libraries around the country and kids were reading it. Scholastic called us, and that’s when we realised that the comic appeals to children.  How did you decide to take the “self-publishing” route initially? I had no choice but to self-publish. I was turned down by every newspaper syndicate in the US. I realised if I wanted to draw Bone, I would have to publish it myself out of my garage. Now, of course, it’s published around the world by many big mainstream publishers in different countries. But I still own the comics themselves, the copyrights belong to me even though the Bone cousins can speak many languages that I cannot! Will graphic novels find their way into history as great literature? The art is very new. Since its inception, graphic novels have always been found only in collector’s stores in the States, it’s only three years ago that they have found their way into bookstores. Now there are talented 25-year-olds who are exploring the art form. The future is bright, I think. Is there an Indian connect in your series? My wife, Vijaya, has always been there for me. I can always bounce ideas off her. The Indian connect comes in the last couple of books, where they have been modelled in India and Nepal. As for reading Indian authors, I just got a stack of them. I haven’t read much so I wouldn’t be able to comment. Pity that Jeff Smith's arrival wasn't covered in any Chennai based papers (even though on a personal visit, and not part of his book tour), as he has spent quite a lot of time visiting the ancient Shore temples at Mahabalipuram, a tourist attraction in South India, located at Chennai.  Doesn't talk well about the Comics passion actually existing in the city.  You can read more about Jeff's India trip at his Official Website, here and here.  He looks a free-to-move persona with his Pani-Puri act.  I am impressed with Jeff's creative work, since I read the Bone series for the first time.  Hopefully, we will be seeing his next venture, RASL, also getting published in India sooner.