Click to play videoNew Delhi: You wouldn't know it to look at him, but American comic book artist Jeff Smith and his once-upon-a-time underground comic Bone transformed the comic book industry in the US and worldwide since his journey began, in 1991.
"Yeah, definitely Bone was like a cult book. Originally my wife was my partner and she helped me publish it, and it was just published out of our garage, very slow. Each chapter of Bone was done as a comic book, and it was done in black and white, and sold to the US undeground market. It took me two months to come up with one chapter, so it took about 12 years to tell this entire 1,300 page story," says Smith.
Bone has been translated into fifteen languages and the three cousins from Boneville - Fone Bone, Smiley Bone and Phoney Bone - as well as the other characters they meet in their adventures, have travelled to some thirty countries worldwide.
It was just a couple of years ago, in 2005, that Time magazine called Bone one of the 10 greatest graphic novels of all time. It was just in May this year, that readers in India got to meet the three Bone cousins in Boneville.
Assistant Manager Marketing Scholastic India, Rohini Vij says, "The first four comics have done very well. They've sold about 3,000 copies so far, May onwards."
Jeff himself has an India connection - his wife's family is from Kerala, but his Indian fans have to wait for a while to find out how the whole nine-book series comes together.
"It starts out very light and funny, but underneath there's darkness and the story begins to grow till it becomes this big epic. There are only eight books out in the US. The ninth will be out next year. Four are available in India so India is quite close and catching up. And yes, about angry emails from mothers and children who are like where are the next books - I think that's good, because I like to keep them upset and waiting for the next book," laughs Smith.
The rest of the series is coming, early next year and is priced at Rs 350 a book. It's worth it to start saving now.
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