It was never going to be Batman, even though I always read Batman. The choice was always between Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka, or Jeff Smiths Bone.
I met Jeff in London at a signing and he drew a pic of Fone Bone for me in about 25 seconds in his collected Bone adventures. It's one of my most treasured possessions.
However, being a messy scrawler, I found it deceptively difficult to recreate the soul of Bone, and I tried a couple of times then decided to go for one of the Quiche-eating Rat creatures from the series instead.
If you've not read Bone, and you enjoyed Lord of the Rings, I suggest you pic up this comic immediately. No I'm serious. He may draw characters that look like Snoopy, but he puts them in situations that Tolkien would have been proud to have scripted.
February 18, 2011 at 3:43 AM
We have all the Bone books. My 14 year old read them when she was 10 or so. I haven't read them yet, but I like the pictures. Have you ever read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick? It is not a comic, but it a novel told by illustrations. Really cool.
February 18, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Thanks for the tip nhigh, I've put a reservation in for it at my local library! If you have Bone lying around in your collection, you MUST read them straight away! You'll fall in love with Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone I promise!
February 18, 2011 at 12:12 PM
oh yes! Bone, gosh I'm feeling like a bit of a loser now because I've known about him forever but never got around to it. I think we have some Bone books back home in Portland. I'll read them when we get back there.
I second The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Such beautiful drawings and a very sweet, exciting story with a killer graphic punchline if I recall correcly.
Andy, have you read Blankets by Craig Thompson? Please do so immediately if not. When he signed my copy he spent 3-5 minutes illustrating the front page then dedicated it. WOW, I know what you mean, such a treasure.
February 18, 2011 at 12:24 PM
Oh JJ I was the same! I knew about Bone for years but the characters looked so well...dorky, I didn't delve any deeper. Talk about making the ultimate mistake of judging a book by it's cover! Jeff Smith draws so deceptively cute characters, you wouldn't even begin to suspect how dark this story is, which makes it more of a surprise when you find yourself totally sucked in.
It's such a delight to draw his characters, as they are quite basic lines, but he has an economy of style which works perfectly. I loved Bone.
As for Blankets, I've picked it up from the library twice but never got around to reading it. That does however mean that Craig gets the royalties, so that's ok with me, and next time I pick it up (today actually - I'm clean out of reading matter) I'll consume it in it's entirity and be thinking of you while I do so
February 20, 2011 at 6:13 PM
Great drawing Andy! I have never read a bone book either but they are always in the library. I pick it up, stare at it, and for some reason always put it back on the shelf. This time I'll have to take it out.
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