Jeff Smith, the legendary 63-year-old creator of the classic Bone comic book series, suffered a cardiac arrest last weekend, forcing him to cancel his upcoming book tour.
Smith had been on his “Dawn of Men” tour since February of this year, his first tour with his publishing house, Cartoon Books, in a number of years, promoting his new collection, Tuki. However, his recovery will be long enough that he will not be able to continue the tour this year.
Kathleen Glosan, from Cartoon Books, released the statement early today:
To our friends and fans: Jeff Smith is recuperating from a cardiac arrest, which he suffered on Sunday. There will be a long road to recovery, so regrettably we must cancel the remainder of his book tour this year. Our apologies to his fans who were coming to see him at: Rob Con (VA), CXC (OH), Bedrock Comic Con (TX) and NYCC (NY). We hope this is just a bump in the road and that Jeff will see you all next year. Thank you for your support and understanding at this time.
In an interview with CBR back in 2021, when Tuki was first crowdfunded, Smith explained the project, noting that it is about “the first humans to use fire because that was also happening around 2,000,000 B.C. It created a much better story for it because the other humans that were alive at that time — Australopithecus, Homo habilis — I thought they could be terrified by this fire and almost think it stolen from the gods and blasphemous to use fire. And I have this situation where things are getting set up for a showdown and, at 2,000,000 B.C., our immediate ancestor was Homo erectus. They showed up right then and they looked different: They were tall, sleek, had bigger brains and ate, cooked food and controlled fire.”
In a recent interview with CBR, Smith spoke about the legacy of his iconic Bone series, and why it has remained so popular, “Mainly the characters. They’ve been with me since I was five years old, and they light up when they come on stage. And the readers! New ones pick up the books all the time! Barely a day goes by that I don’t see someone on social media talking about the first time they encountered the story or sharing the books with their kids for the first time. It’s hard not to love that!”
CBR wishes the best to Jeff Smith on his recovery.
Source: Cartoon Books