First with his magisterial fantasy Bone to his mind-bending,
time-warping sci-fi noir RASL, Paleolithic-set fantasy Tüki: Save the
Humans, arthouse-styled superheroic miniseries Shazam!, and his latest
children's book Smiley's Dream Book, Jeff Smith (b. 1960) has made an
indelible mark on the comics industry.
As a child, Smith was drawn to Charles Schulz's Peanuts, Carl Barks's
Donald Duck, and Walt Kelly's Pogo, and he began the daily practice of
drawing his own stories. After writing his regular strip Thorn for The
Ohio State University's student paper, Smith worked in animation before
creating, writing, and illustrating his runaway success, Bone. A comedic
fantasy epic, Bone focuses on the Bone cousins, white, bald cartoon
characters run out of their hometown, lost in a distant, mysterious
valley. The self-published series ran from 1991 to 2004 and won numerous
awards, including ten Eisner Awards.
This career-spanning collection of interviews, ranging from 1999 to
2017, enables readers to follow along with Smith's development as an
independent creator, writer, and illustrator.