The Cartoonist

Whether you’re a longtime comic book reader or just exploring works that fall outside of the Big Two of Marvel and DC, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Bone, a highly-successful, award-winning 55-issue epic from the mind of Jeff Smith. During a quest from one of our contributors to devour every piece of Bone media, we obtained a copy of The Cartoonist (full title The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone and the Changing Face of Comics), a 2009 documentary about Jeff Smith’s career and the creation and surprise success of Bone. With the success of Smith’s first Kickstarter, for two TUKI graphic novels, we finally watched the documentary, which proved insightful even for those who hadn’t read any of his works before.

For about the first half of the film, we learn about Jeff Smith’s early career, including his lifelong interest in cartooning and some of his earliest influences. For example, Peanuts inspired him to learn how to read so he would know what the characters were saying and doing. He also created comics since he was five years old, which included the earliest incarnations of the three Bone cousins, and continued into college with Thorn, a strip in his college newspaper that could now be viewed as a prototype for Bone. From here, the documentary talks about his seven-year stint in animation, where he and two of his friends, Jim Kammerud and Marty Fuller, created the studio Character Builders. While they had plenty of success, including commercial work for major companies and animating sequences for Hollywood productions that had fallen behind, they also had plenty of downtime.

This leads us to the second half of the film, which covers the creation of Bone as we know it, the works that inspired Jeff Smith that his project was viable and the early publishing and distribution roadblocks. For example, his workflow went a lot smoother after he had convinced his wife to quit her lucrative job at a Silicon Valley startup to take over the business side of the comic. At this point, we also get insight into just how much Bone gradually influenced the self-publishing movement of comics, how its classic all-ages approach helped it stand out and how the earliest internet chat rooms played a part in generating worldwide interest.

As Jeff Smith discussed the influence of the early internet on his success, I found myself wondering what the documentary might look like if they had made it today. It would likely have covered the influence that Kickstarter has had on the indie comics scene, including marketing and building a fanbase, as well as touch on the surprise success of TUKI.

Throughout the film, we also hear from those who Jeff Smith had worked with closely, as well as fellow cartoonists like Scott McCloud and Terry Moore. Their stories provide some great insight into the state of the comics industry at the time and, rather commendably, don’t shy away from the reality of how much hard work and sacrifice you need to make a living in comics and that, even then, it’s not a guarantee. These interviews also help give an idea of how comic books had become more respected as an art form, aided by the success of film adaptations and English translations of Japanese manga. Despite the film’s age, these points still resonate today, considering the explosive popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as shows like Invincible and the continuing popularity of manga in the west.

While the film does spend some time praising Jeff Smith as a creator and skims past his post-Bone work, it’s clear that his praise wasn’t unearned and it sticks true to its goal of discussing what went into the creation and success of Bone. Whether you’re already a fan of Jeff Smith or someone interested in learning more about the independent side of the industry, The Cartoonist will certainly hold your attention. For those interested, the DVD also contains a full discussion between Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud, as well as a look at RASL, Smith’s most recent independent work at the time.