History Creator / JeffSmith

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up from an early age with an interest in cartoons and comics, most notably the work of [[ComicStrip/{{Pogo}} Walt Kelly]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]], Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/CarlBarks and [[ComicStrip/ThimbleTheater E.C. Segar]]. As he got older, he got a taste for the narrative complexity found in literature and film, most notably ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'', ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Literature/MobyDick'', which is Smith’s all-time favorite book and is referenced constantly in ''Bone.''

* ChekhovsGun

* GenreBusting

** ''Shazam'' is a light-hearted Reconstruction of Golden-Age Superhero tropes, with elements of political satire thrown in.

* GenreThrowback: While liberally mixing moods and genres, Smith's work harken back to older forms of cartooning, genres and entertainment.
* TheHerosJourney: His stories often follow it very well, ''Bone'' most notably.

* ProductionPosse: Most of his books are colored by Steve Hamaker, his business is managed by his wife Vijaya Iyer and the books that are only drawn by him are written by Tom Sniegowski.

* RunningGag

Smith has also crafted other books, including ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails'' and ''Rose'', two supplemental books in the Bone universe, ''ComicBook/{{RASL}}'', a FantasticNoir about a universe-hopping art thief, the light-hearted ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil]]'', the children’s book ''Little Mouse Gets Ready'' and the paleological adventure book, ''Tuki Saves the Humans.''

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up from an early age with an interest in cartoons and comics, most notably the work of [[ComicStrip/{{Pogo}} Walt Kelly]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]], Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/CarlBarks and [[ComicStrip/ThimbleTheater E.C. Segar]]. As he got older, he got a taste for the narrative complexity found in literature and film, most notably ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'', ''Film/StarWars'' and ''Literature/MobyDick'', which is Smith’s all-time favorite book and is referenced constantly in ''Bone.''

'''[[http://www.boneville.com Jeff Smith]]''' (born February 27, 1960) is an Eisner and Harvey-winning American writer, cartoonist and former animator, best known for the independent comic, ''ComicBook/{{BONE}}''.

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* BodyHorror: As light-hearted asSmith's stories are, they occasionally have intense moments of these, like the devolution of Kingdok in ''Bone,'' the effects of radiation in ''Rasl'' or the monster transformations in ''Shazam!''

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up from an early age with an interest in cartoons and comics, most notably the work of [[ComicStrip/{{Pogo}} Walt Kelly]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]], Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/CarlBarks and [[ComicStrip/ThimbleTheater E.C. Segar]]. As he got older, he got a taste for the narrative complexity found in literature and film, most notably ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'', ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'', ''Film/StarWars'' and ''Literature/MobyDick'', which is Smith’s all-time favorite book and is referenced constantly in ''Bone.''

** ''Tuki'' is an adventure book with humorous elements about a stone-age wanderer trying to leave Africa.

* BodyHorror: As light-hearted asSmith's stories are, they occasionally have intense moments of these, like the devolution of Kingdok in ''Bone,'' the effects of radiation in ''Rasl'' or the monster transformation in ''Shazam!''

* {{Reconstruction}}: Most of Smith's works qualify, as they tend to sincerely and masterfully use thie tropes of his favorite genres and tones, like fantasy, noir, superheroes and golden-age cartooning, while also giving them more narrative complexity and mixing them together.

[[http://www.boneville.com Jeff Smith]] (born February 27, 1960) is an Eisner and Harvey-winning American writer, cartoonist and former animator, best known for the independent comic, ''ComicBook/{{BONE}}''.

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up from an early age with an interest in cartoons and comics, most notably the work of [[ComicStrip/{{Pogo}} Walt Kelly]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]], Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/CarlBarks and [[ComicStrip/ThimbleTheater E.C. Segar]]. As he got older, he got a taste for the narrative complexity found in literature and film, most notably Literature/LordOfTheRings, ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'', ''Film/StarWars'' and ''Literature/MobyDick'', which is Smith’s all-time favorite book and references constantly in ''Bone.''

After graduating from Ohio State University (where he wrote and drew Thorn, a sort of first-draft comic strip version of ''Bone''), he co-founded Character Builders, an animation company that specialized in commercials and credits openings. In 1991, he founded the comic book house Cartoon Books and that same year began to self-publish ''Bone,'' to critical and commercial success. He completed the 1,300-page epic in 2004 and released it all as one book, commonly referred to as [[{{Doorstopper}} the brick.]] That next year, Scholastic approached Smith with rereleasing Bone, this time in full-color.

Jeff Smith (born February 27, 1960) is an Eisner and Harvey-winning American writer, cartoonist and former animator, best known for the independent comic, ''ComicBook/{{BONE}}''.

* CopiouslyCreditedCreator: Creator, writer, penciler, inker and publisher of comics that span multiple genres.

* ProductionPosse: Most of his books are colored by Steve Hamaker, his business is managed by his wife Vijaya Iyer and the books that aren't written by him are written by Tom Sniegowski.

** ''Shazam'' is a light-hearted Reconstruction of Golden-Age Superhero tropes, with elements of media satire thrown in.

* SlidingScaleOfVisualsVsDialogue: Somewhere in the middle, but leans more towards visuals at the end of the day.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Firmly on the Idealistic end, but ''Rasl'' is fairly cynical.

* {{Reconstruction}}: Most of Smith's works qualify, as they tend to sincerely and masterfully use the tropes of his favorite genres and tones, like fantasy, noir, superheroes and golden-age cartooning, while also giving them more narrative complexity and mixing them together.

Jeff Smith (born February 27, 1960) is an American writer, cartoonist and former animator, best known for the independent comic, ''ComicBook/{{BONE}}''.

* Reconstruction: Most of Smith's works qualify, as they tend to sincerely and masterfully use the tropes of his favorite genres and tones, like fantasy, noir, superheroes and golden-age cartooning, while also giving them more narrative complexity and mixing them together.

Smith has also crafted other books, including ''ComicBook/StupidStupidRatTails'' and ''ComicBook/{{ROSE}}'', two supplemental books in the Bone universe, ''ComicBook/{{RASL}}'', a FantasticNoir about a universe-hopping art thief, the light-hearted ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil]]'', the children’s book ''Little Mouse Gets Ready'' and the paleological adventure book, ''Tuki Saves the Humans.''

* {{Fantasy}}: Tropes and elements from the genre are Smith’s bread and butter. They’re usually paired with elements from other genres, like [[FantasticComedy comedy]], [[FantasticNoir]] film noir and {{Superhero}}es.

** ''Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails'' is a Slapstick comedy and ''Rose'' is a dark, fantasy drama, both set in the Bone universe.

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up from an early age with an interest in cartoons and comics, most notably the work of [[ComicStrip/{{Pogo}} Walt Kelly]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]], Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/CarlBarks and [[ComicStrip/ThimbleTheater E.C. Segar]]. As he got older, he got a taste for the narrative complexity found in literature and film, most notably Literature/LordOfTheRings, Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn, Film/StarWars and Literature/MobyDick, which is Smith’s all-time favorite book and references constantly in Bone.

After graduating from Ohio State University (where he wrote and drew Thorn, a sort of first-draft comic strip version of Bone), he co-founded Character Builders, an animation company that specialized in commercials and credits openings. In 1991, he founded the comic book house Cartoon Books and that same year began to self-publish Bone, to critical and commercial success. He completed the 1,300-page epic in 2004 and released it all as one book, commonly referred to as [[Doorstopper the brick.]] That next year, Scholastic approached Smith with rereleasing Bone, this time in full-color.

Smith has also crafted other books, including ComicBook/StupidStupidRatTails and ComicBook/{{Rose}}, two supplemental books in the Bone universe, ComicBook/{{RASL}}, a FantasticNoir about a universe-hopping art thief, the light-hearted [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil]], the children’s book Little Mouse Gets Ready and the paleological adventure book, Tuki Saves the Humans.

* CerebusSyndrome: Invokes it incredibly well. He’s even admitted that he designed Bone from the beginning to start out rather fun and get increasingly dark over time.

* DeadpanSnarker: Bone has the biggest offenders, but all his works have at least one.
* DecoyProtagonist: Bone and Shazam are the best examples.
* {{Doorstopper}}: Bone is the biggest example at 1,200+ pages, while Rasl’s 400+ pages aren’t anything to skimp about either.

** Bone is a comedy-drama set in a HighFantasy world with a comic book equivalent of the RogerRabbitEffect.
** Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails is a Slapstick comedy and Rose is a dark, fantasy drama, both set in the Bone universe.
** Rasl is a sci-fi noir with elements taken from Native American culture and real-life historical events.
** Shazam is a light-hearted Reconstruction of Golden-Age Superhero tropes, with elements of media satire thrown in.
** Little Mouse is a short, comical children’s book.
* TheHerosJourney: His stories often follow it very well, Bone most notably.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Firmly on the Idealistic end, but Rasl is fairly cynical.

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up from an early age with an interest in cartoons and comics, most notably the work of [[ComicStrip/{{Pogo}} Walt Kelly]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]], Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/CarlBarks and [[ComicStrip/ThimbleTheatre E.C.Segar]]. As he got older, he got a taste for the narrative complexity found in literature and film, most notably Literature/LordOfTheRings, Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn, Film/StarWars and Literature/MobyDick, which is Smith’s all-time favorite book and references constantly in Bone.