Bone Reader - The Making of the First Trilogy

by Jeff Smith

103 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

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Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville. Against all odds, the small company flourished, building a reputation for quality stories and artwork. Word of mouth, critical acclaim, and a string of major awards helped propel Cartoon Books and BONE to the forefront of the comic book industry.
In 1992, Jeff’s wife Vijaya Iyer joined the company as partner to handle publishing and distribution, licensing, and foreign language publications. In the Spring of 2005, Harry Potter’s U.S. publisher Scholastic Inc. entered the graphic novel market by launching a new imprint, Graphix with a full color version of BONE: Out from Boneville, bringing the underground comic to a new audience and a new generation.
In 2007, DC Comics released Smith’s first non-creator owned work, SHAZAM! Monster Society of Evil, a four-part mini-series recreating a classic serial from comic’s Golden Age. Between projects, Smith spends much of his time on the international guest circuit promoting comics and the art of graphic novels.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book offers some interesting insight into the process of building an epic comic book story, one of the best things is the inclusion of a short Bone story not included in the other collected editions. Treasure Hunt was originally published in the Disney Adventures Digest. There are couple of other short pieces originally from Hero Illustrated & Wizard magazine, but these are included in the collected editions. 
This volume also includes Bone #12 & #19 to help illustrate the process of creating the story. 

[Anna Palindrome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as much as I enjoyed the Bone graphical novel series by Jeff Smith, I enjoyed learning about the work behind it. I do wish there was more information in here about his inspiration from the comic of Pogo, but overall a great read with lots of unique drafts and sketches.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes Bone# 19, epilogue to Act I. Act II begins in Dragonslayer vol.

Much background information &/or drawings.