Bone comics creator Jeff Smith cancels book tour after suffering from cardiac arrest

Jeff Smith, the cartoonist beloved for his celebrated comic epic Bone, has canceled his upcoming book tour dates after suffering from cardiac arrest.

Since March, Smith had been on his Dawn of Men tour, celebrating the release of his new prehistoric graphic novel, Tuki. He had four more stops lined up for the year, including an appearance at New York Comic-Con. But a statement shared by his publisher, Cartoon Books, has announced that he is currently recuperating from cardiac arrest, which he suffered last Sunday.

"There will be a long road to recovery, so regrettably we must cancel the remainder of his book tour this year," reads a new post on the publisher's website. "Our apologies to his fans who were coming to see him at: Rob Con (VA), CXC (OH), Bedrock Comic Con (TX), and NYCC (NY)."

The statement concludes, "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."

Jeff Smith, DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty 'Bone' and its creator, Jeff Smith

Smith is best known for creating Bone, the hugely successful comic that began in the 1990s as a combination of classic comic-strip whimsy and grand-scale Tolkienesque storytelling.

Smith self-published the original run of comics, which followed three bone-shaped cartoon cousins who've been exiled into Boneville, where they begin their ambitious fantasy adventure. The series eventually won several Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards, and was named one of Time's 10 best graphic novels of all time. It propelled Smith into indie-comic-book acclaim.

Plans to adapt the saga into an animated series were previously set with Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon, separately, but neither came to fruition. Most recently, Netflix acquired the rights to the story. Unfortunately, following huge changes to the streamer's animation division, the project was shelved. In April 2022, Smith lamented his frustrations in the form of a comic strip he shared on social media detailing the many attempts to get his title character, Fone Bone, to the big screen.

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