Editor’s note: Special thanks to Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers, who provided us with this report from the Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond exhibit in Columbus, Ohio.
by Vaneta Rogers
It was enough to make a comics reader giddy. Hundreds of people viewing original comic book art, analyzing the structure, admiring the design, and impressed with the work.
It was the opening night for Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond, the exhibition running from May 10 through Aug. 3 at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Among the works on display were pages by well-known names like Will Eisner, Charles Schultz, Walt Kelly — all hanging alongside more than 70 pages by Smith himself, including work from Bone, Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil, and his new comic, RASL.
There were several die-hard Bone fans at the opening — some of them kids who had read the pages they were now viewing on a wall. But others were people who had never read a comic before, many of them lining up in the bookstore that night to finally buy one.
The atmosphere was exciting for anyone who reads comics, because there was a level of respect and awe that is rarely seen among the general public. In fact, I walked out of there with a genuine “high,” just from eavesdropping as I took photos of those in attendance and hearing their admiration for an art form that is so central to my life.
And seeing Smith’s face as he talked to his fans and colleagues at the show was pretty awe-inspiring too. “Wow!” I said to him when I first walked in behind him and saw the mural covering one wall of the lobby outside the exhibition.
“Yeah, isn’t that something?” he said, his face covered with a smile as he stopped to look at it from the stairway above.
The next day, the Wexner Center hosted a “conversation” between Smith and Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics. The two creators sat on a stage talking about the evolution of Bone and the story of Smith’s life. (Much of it was familiar to Newsarama readers who read our two-part Behind the Page interview with Smith in February.)
But along with the profile of Smith came some interesting discussions about the comic book industry in general, particularly after the two encouraged members of the audience to ask questions at the two microphones in the aisles.
The discussion often turned toward changes the creators have seen over the years. Smith said one of the most frustrating things for him when he was doing Bone was that his comics were getting to such a limited market. He explained that when he asked distributors why they didn’t sell his Bone comics to Target or Barnes and Noble, “they said, ‘Well, that’s not where comic books go.’”
When McCloud said that mindset still exists to some extent, Smith said, “Oh, we’re destroying that.”
Another big change the two talked about was the number of options open to people who want to create comic books. “In my generation and Scott’s generation, when we were doing our comics, the only option open to us was folded newsprint with a few staples, then shipped out to a store,” he said. Smith pointed out that the options now are much more extensive, including webcomics. While color was once too time-consuming and expensive for self-publishers, now it’s as easy as putting it on a computer screen, he said, and the talent that has emerged because of that has him “really excited.”
“Are we in agreement that we have probably the strongest generation of young cartoonists that we’ve ever seen in comics?” McCloud asked him.
“Absolutely,” Smith said, then added enthusiastically, “and there’s women!” to laughs from the audience.
“I don’t mean to sound lecherous,” he said, smiling. “I’m just really pleased.”
This became somewhat of a running joke for Smith, who explained that at one time, the men’s bathroom at San Diego Comic Con would have a line, but the women’s bathroom would be empty. “It really was just us guys for a long time,” he said.
Now, it’s completely changed, Smith explained, motioning toward the audience, which had many women. He said he never understood why comic books were such a guys club, and he used to ask his friends at comic conventions why there weren’t any women readers? “We could double the audience!” he said.
Another encouraging thing for many of us in the audience who are involved in the comic book community was that so many of Smith’s fans are kids. Several of the questions from the audience came from young people, who had to stretch up on their tip-toes to reach the microphone. One child asked how he got the idea for Bone; another asked about the backgrounds he drew; and yet another got laughs from the audience when he asked, “Are you going to sign books?” — with Smith apologizing for the on-stage talk going a little long.
Smith also talked about the future of Bone in video games and movies. He said the two Bone video games that were produced by Telltale Games served as somewhat of a training ground for the new company at the time. “I think they did a pretty good job,” Smith said. “But since we were the first one out the gate, we didn’t quite get the audience we were looking for. It was too long. It was a little too simple. Then they did the Sam and Max games and they learned from that, and they were very short, and very funny.
“Bone games are still out there, and they’re still doing pretty decent, but they just kind of got lost,” he said, adding that he doubted there would be another one released.
Smith was hesitant to talk too much about the deal with Warner Bros., which recently acquired film rights to Bone. But he admitted the fervor in Hollywood over movies being made from comic books is encouraging. “Comic book movies are hot!” Smith said, adding that he really loved the Spider-Man movies and has heard good things about Iron Man.
“But I’m not a huge fan of Hollywood. I love movies. And I would love to see a Bone movie made. But it’s a big business with a lot of money at stake,” Smith said. “I’ve been through the wringer a couple of times with different studios, and I’m amazed that any movie gets made, let alone good ones.”
Smith said the people at Warner Bros. seem very interested in making the movie, and they “seem very smart,” so he’s keeping his “fingers crossed.”
“But I’m not holding my breath,” he added.
After the discussion, McCloud and Smith signed books for a line of hundreds who were waiting in the lobby. Again, it was encouraging to see so many kids, but it was also entertaining to talk to Smith’s father, who was watching his son with pride. As he wore an Ohio State sweatshirt and talked about cutting out his son’s comic strips from the college newspaper and keeping them in a scrapbook, it was a stark contrast to where Smith was today. Surrounded by fans, his artwork hanging on the wall in a major art exhibit, it’s easy to forget that Smith was once a college kid with a dream. And clearly, as he sat at the university where he honed his skill and signed his books for his fans, that dream has come full circle.
Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond is free to all audiences, although there is a fee for some of the programs, including tomorrow’s talk with Terry Moore. For more details on the exhibit, upcoming programs with Jeff Smith, and the Wexner Center for the Arts, including hours and directions, visit the Wexner Center for the Arts website.
Above: Jeff Smith posed for us with his mom and dad. We talked to his dad for awhile as he shared stories about when he used to work near Ohio State and collected his son’s comic strips from the college’s newspaper. That comic strip became the Eisner Award-winning Bone, one of the best-selling independent comic books in the world.
