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INTERVIEW
WITH JEFF SMITH
ORIGINALLY FEATURED IN 1996- by Andrew Goletz
Jeff
Smith’s story should be an inspiration to us all. As a child, Jeff
created the Bone character during ordinary doodle sessions. Years later,
the images of these creatures stuck with him, and when it came time to
develop a cartoon strip, his characters were already there. From the
strip, Jeff took Bone to self publishing, where he created Cartoon Books
and published Bone, rather successfully, on a bi-monthly schedule.
Eventually, the masses took notice of the work and the book became an
independent cult hit, even sometimes rivaling the be all and end all of
the self publishing world, Cerebus. With the industry in a state of
uncertainty. Jeff had a golden opportunity to ensure Bone’s continued
safety and joined Image comics, making the entire industry take note.
AG: How did you come up with the idea for Bone?
JS: I first
created these characters when I was a kid. I was always a big animation
freak, and I also loved mythology and stuff like that. I’m a big Tolkien
fan, and I loved The Lord of the Rings. I wanted to somehow join the two
worlds together, so I took all of these ideas and created this
amalgamation of different genres and styles. When I got to college and
wanted to do a newspaper strip, I remembered that I had these characters
that I created as a kid that had remained with me for so long.
AG: What appealed to you about the idea and getting
into comics?
JS: I always loved
cartoons and the Sunday newspaper strips. I enjoyed everything from Uncle
Scrooge to Batman and everything in between. I got a scholarship to art
school, but I gave that up when the professor basically told me to become
more commercialized or to get out of class. See, there were basically two
types of art we could do. There was Fine Art, which is throwing crap at a
canvas and if you can write a term paper about what you’ve created, then
you’ve succeeded. Then there was Commercial Art, which was art done for
commercial purposes. The professor thought my art was too cartoony and
wanted me to change my style and conform. I really couldn’t wait for
Modern Art to end and for the Post Modern Style to begin. Art is something
that is inside you. Believe me, society doesn’t encourage you to do what
you like; it’s more like they oppose you. A true artist finds his
calling in himself.
AG: Who are your inspirations?
JS: There are too many
to name, truthfully. Off the top of my head, a few do come to mind. Walt
Kelly, Chuck Jones, Neil Adams, Carl Barks, Paul Hogarth and his anatomy
book. And my inspirations don’t just come from the world of animation
and drawing. I’m a big fan of Charles Dickens, Tolkien and mythology and
stories about Robin Hood and King Arthur.
AG: I heard you worked in an animation studio?
JS: We actually owned an
animation studio, awhile back.
AG: Why did you leave?
JS: I sold
my share to the other partners in 1992, when Bone really started taking
off. The company was just entering the feature film market when I left. We
did Rover Dangerfield and Ferngully, and now are at work on Space Jam.
AG: Any desire to do Bone: The Animated Movie?
JS: Yes. I
would like to do a movie with the characters, but I wouldn’t want to
work on the animation myself. I’m working on a screenplay for it now.
AG: What do you think about the state of the comic industry now?
JS: The
whole industry is in a state of flux. Self publishing is better now than
when I entered it. There is now a larger accepting of self publishing, and
I think it is easier now than ever before to get a book published. The
industry as a whole used to operate like this giant bubble economy and the
entire mess with the Speculation Boom was unreal, and then it finally
imploded, causing the mess and confusion we have now.
AG: What prompted you to take Bone to Image?
JS: Bone was doing well
in 1994. We were dealing directly with distributors and publishers. When
the shit hit the fan and the bottom fell out of the Speculator market, a
lot of stores went out of business and they simply never paid us. We were
so small and they figured they could get away with as much as they could.
Since Image is a more powerful entity than Cartoon Books, the distributors
deal with them, and Image gets the money for me. While I know a lot of
fine people at other companies and respected their offers to pick up Bone,
I couldn’t do it. I wanted to still retain creative rights and rights to
what was mine. Now if Image hadn’t offered me this deal, I may have had
to stick it out by myself and hope for the best.
AG: So it wasn’t the selling out that people claimed?
JS: I think
a lot of the confusion comes from the fact that not everyone totally
understands the concept of Image and how they operate. And no one knew
what the consequences were of me going to them. I still self publish all
of the related items like posters and trade paperbacks and I still control
Cartoon Books and Bone.
AG: Would you ever work for Marvel or DC or do work
for hire for a company?
JS: Of course I would
work for hire. I don’t believe that it is ‘evil’ like many people
think. I believe that’s a
stupid way of looking at it. I’ve done work for hire before in The
Simpsons comic and did a story for Charles Vess. I’ve also done a pin up
poster of a Sandman character. What I believe is wrong is when companies
try to own creations. I would never create anything for someone else. And
I’m sorry that Jack Kirby didn’t get his due, but he was an adult, and
he knew what he was getting himself into. Eisner got into this before him,
and he didn’t sell his rights away.
AG: A lot of creators have their ideas completely planned out. Do you know how Bone will resolve itself? How many issues it will last, etc?
JS: I have
it set up basically as three acts. I know what each act is about, but by
the time I get around to doing them, they may turn out to be longer or
shorter than I intended. I perceive that it will last around 60 issues,
but that can, and probably will change.
I think Bone is different from what Dave Sim is doing and what Neil
Gaiman is doing in the sense that Cerebus is a character’s life in
review and Sandman is an episodic with series that will tie together to
form an entire story. Bone is a single story that starts and goes right to
the end.
AG: And life after Bone?
JS: I know
what I want to do for my next project and I’m looking forward to working
on it, but I’m very happy with what I’m doing now, and I’m not ready
to discuss that next project yet.
Copyright©2000 Andrew Goletz