Jeff Smith reveals his ‘dark’ side

When he started creating the comic series Bone, people ridiculed him saying it would be a big flop. But today his work is regarded nothing less interesting than the legendary Lord of the Rings. American comic book artist Jeff Smith says, “I love books which start off as a simple kid’s story and becomes darker as it goes on.”
Jeff created the comic characters of Bone at a very young age. He started a daily four-panel black and white strip for a student newspaper while studying in Ohio State University. The strip was then known by the name of Thorn. It became Bone only when he started self-publishing it as a comic series from his garage in early 90’s. Expressing his obsession with long stories Jeff feels that Ramayana and Mahabharata have huge potential to become into a great comic series. “Ramayana and Mahabharata have so many interesting characters that just the description of each character will become a series in itself. But you have to find somebody crazy enough to create detailed comics out of these great epics,” he says.
Incidentally Bone has a lot of Indian flavour in it. Jeff says, “I am married to an Indian woman and that did influence my creation of Bone. For example it has bullock carts, crowded, bustling and narrow streets like any of the Indian bazaars."
Jeff has been in talks with the Warner Brothers to create a motion picture out of his creation Bone. He has agreed to do so because he thinks they understood his creation.
He says, “I have seen so many film-makers who want to do something very cheap and clichéd just to sell something easily. But I am glad the way Warner Bros is treating my creation.”