This is episode 7 of Boing Boing's, Tell Me Something I Don't Know. It's an interview podcast featuring artists, writers, filmmakers, and other creative people discussing their work, ideas, and the reality/business side of how they do what they do. Jeff Smith began writing, drawing, and publishing Bone in 1991, through his company, Cartoon Books. He championed self-publishing in the 1990s with other independent cartoonists known as the Spirits of Independents and continues to self-publish through Cartoon Book. Since 1991, Bone has become a world-wide phenomenon, published in nearly 30 languages. In 2005, Scholastic reissued Bone in color through their Graphix imprint, inspiring an entire generation of young cartoonists who found his work through traditional book stores, comic book shops, schools, and libraries. He followed the Tolkien-esque, Bone, with Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil (DC Comics) and RASL (Cartoon Books) - a sci-fi noir about a dimension-hopping art thief. Smith recently announced his next project, Tüki Save the Humans, about the first human to leave Africa during the Ice Age. Tell Me Something I Don't Know is produced and hosted by three talented cartoonists and illustrators: Jim Rugg, a Pittsburgh-based comic book artist, graphic designer, winemaker, and writer best known for Afrodisiac, The Plain Janes, and Street Angel. His latest project is SUPERMAG. Jasen Lex is a designer and illustrator from Pittsburgh. He is currently working on a graphic novel called Washington Unbound. All of his art and comics can be found at jasenlex.com. Ed Piskor is the cartoonist who drew the comic, Wizzywig, and draws the Brain Rot/ Hip Hop Family Tree comic strip at this very site, soon to be collected by Fantagraphics Books and available for pre-order now. Follow TMSIDK on Twitter Subscribe to the Tell Me Something I Don't Know podcast | iTunes