I love BONE.
Jeff Smith is one of my heroes and probably one of the greatest American cartoonists of the “modern” comic era. BONE‘s story of the three Bone cousins lost in the Valley and getting wrapped up in an amazing adventure is the perfect story to be considered a part of American literary canon.
And while I normally shy away from film documentaries about still-working and still-alive artists of varying types (I have a bit of a complicated relationship with documentaries about specific people), hearing the story about the creation of Smith’s work and hearing so many other amazing writers and artists talk not only about Smith and BONE but also about the way comics was changing in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s s was totally awesome.
If there’s one thing I really enjoy as a part-time cartoonist myself, it’s drawing inspiration from hearing other creators talk about the craft, the industry, and their own inspiration and admiration for other great work.
The entire documentary, including an amazing special feature of a talk between Smith and the similarly-groundbreaking Scott McCloud at Ohio State University, is not just a movie about one of the most unique voices in comics, but is also one of those absolutes everyone who loves comics should have on their shelves to draw inspiration from.
thanks for the cool review!