When Bone by Jeff Smith first came out as an independent comic book, I completely ignored it.

I didn't deliberately ignore it, it's just that my LCS didn't carry it and I didn't even know it existed for the first year of its printed life.

However, at the San Diego Comic Con International in 1992, I ran into my friend Wayne Markley who worked for the distributor Capital City. He asked me what I thought of Bone. When I proclaimed my ignorance, he dragged me over to Jeff Smith's table, introduced me to the creator and then shoved the issues-to-date in my hands and told Jeff I'd take them all, ring me up.

Wayne's judgment in these matters was always solid so I did as I was told. I bought them, read them while at the con (no easy task), loved them and duly thanked Wayne when next I saw him. And when next I saw him, a couple of days later, he invited me to join him for dinner on Capital City's dime.

It was a dinner at one of the outlying San Diego seafood restaurants, somewhere past Seaport Village that you needed a cab to get to, for those keeping score.

One of Wayne's other dinner guests for the evening was Mr. Smith, who regaled the table with tales of his pre-Bone  adventures and stories of his efforting as a self-publishing cartoonist.

A great evening and one convention experience I've never forgotten.

Scholastic has long since been republishing Bone to great success and this year they held a party in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Jeff and his creation on an outdoor patio at the poorly-designed Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel.

I got to hang with Jeff again, ever so briefly, and to wish him continued success. I also walked out with a great swag bag, courtesy of Scholastic Books.

More importantly, the evening reminded me that I hadn't picked up Rasl yet. So I did. I'll let you know what I think.

[Artwork: Bone by and © Jeff Smith]