Jeff Smith: Before Bone

Before Bone is a signed and numbered paperback limited to 500 copies. It collects 64 Thorn comic strips from a 2008 exhibit at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. Also included are an introduction by artist Jeff Smith, a foreword by his colleague Jim Kammerud, and an essay by Lucy Shelton Caswell. Thorn was the college newspaper strip by Jeff Smtih that later became the award winning Bone comic series. These rare early comics from 1982 to 1985 show Smith's evolution as an artist and give readers an early glimpse at Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, Thorn, Gran'ma, Rat Creatures and the Red Dragon over 10 years before the release of the first Bone comic book.