SMITH, Jeff(rey Alan) 1958–

PERSONAL: Born February 27, 1958, in McKees Rock, PA; son of William Earl and Barbara Smith; married Vijaya Iyer (a publisher), June 3, 1989. Education: Attended Ohio State University.

ADDRESSES: Office—Cartoon Books, P.O. Box 16973, Columbus, OH 43216. E-mail—vijaya@boneville.com.

CAREER: Cartoon Books, Columbus, OH, cartoonist and publisher of Bone comic books, 1991–. Character Builders (animation studio), cofounder, producer, and director, 1986–.

AWARDS, HONORS: Eight Eisner Awards, best humor publication, best continuing series, best writer/artist or cartoonist, and best serialized story, 1993–95; Genie Award, best continuing series, 1994; four Harvey Awards, best cartoonist, best graphic album, and special award for humor, 1994–95; Germany's Prix Vienne, best book, 1995; two German Comic Speedline Awards, best newcomer and best graphic novel, 1995; French Alph-Art Award, best comic originally written in a foreign language, 1996; awards for best comic book artist, National Cartoonist Society, 1996 and 1997; Italian Yellow Kid Award, best author; Spanish Premio Expocomic, best foreign comic; Finnish Lempi International Award, best international cartoonist.

WRITINGS:

The Complete Bone Adventures, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 1993.

Bone, Volume One: Out from Boneville, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 1995.

Bone, Volume Two: The Great Cow Race, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 1996.

Bone, Volume Three: Eyes of the Storm, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 1996.

Bone Reader, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 1996.

Bone, Volume Four: The Dragonslayer, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 1997.

(Illustrator) Tom Sniegoski, Stupid, Stupid Rat-tails: The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 2000.

Ghost Circles, Cartoon Books (Columbus, OH), 2001.

The Bone comics and books have been printed in more than a dozen foreign languages.

SIDELIGHTS: Cartoonist Jeff Smith, creator of the popular Bone comic books, indulged himself with an adventure that he always wanted to read as a child. Inspired by Peanuts, Uncle Scrooge, and Walt Kelly's Pogo, Smith once told CA that he "always wished that my childhood heroes would go out on an adventure that had actual danger in it … or an adventure that would have consequences that might actually alter their existence."

"Bone is about growing up and leaving home for the first time," Smith continued. "The story is about what happens when the Bone cousins leave Boneville … this sheltered little world they grew up in and then go out into this wilder, outside world."

Smith created Fone Bone and his companions as a serial comic strip for Ohio State University's student newspaper, the Lantern. His work drew the attention of national syndicates, but Smith opted to start his own animation studio and produce Bone himself. Critical response to Smith's efforts has been favorable. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Katharine L. Kan, reviewing Bone, Volume Two: The Great Cow Race, observed: "This is one for the whole family to enjoy, full of raucous humor, great dialogue and marvelously twisted plotting." Reviewing Bone, Volume One: Out from Boneville, Gordon Flagg of Booklist called Smith "a major talent as skilled as the old masters," adding: "Such gentle, all-ages humor as Bone's has all but disappeared; consequently, Smith's neo-traditionalism seems fresher than anything else the comics medium offers today."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 1995, Gordon Flagg, review of Bone, Volume One: Out from Boneville, p. 1922; July, 1996.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1994, Katharine L. Kan, review of Bone, Volume Two: The Great Cow Race, p. 260.

ONLINE

Welcome to Boneville: Cartoon Books Web Site, http://www.boneville.com/ (September 13, 2004).