Jeff Smith Returns With New Kickstarter for ‘Tuki’

Bone creator Jeff Smith returns to the medium with his third creator owned and self-published comics project Tuki.

The new two volume black and white graphic novel set will launch on Kickstarter on May 4th and was inspired by a brief online color comic experiment by Smith.

Tuki takes place during the beginnings of the human race and pits the heroic Tuki against a rival species of humans, the Habiline, who hunt and kill anyone found using fire. Mix in a healthy helping of gods and giants and the adventure is set to kick off in a prehistoric land.

Smith says that he has “…always been fascinated with human evolution, especially the point two million years ago when more than one species of human existed at the same time…” and “…started to play around with TUKI before COVID hit, but once the lockdown happened, I decided to dive in and focus on straightening out the story. I ended up with enough material for two books! It was friends from the old self-publishing days, the Tucci’s and the Pulido’s, who turned my wife Vijaya on to Kickstarter and persuaded us to give it a go.”

The Kickstarter campaign covers both volumes, which will be oversized and landscape formatted (11.375” x 8.875”), and contain approximately 144 pages each (with a bonus material stretch goal as well).

If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, the first book, Tuki: Fight for Fire, will ship to supporters in July (with the second book, Tuki: Fight for Family, following in October). 

Be sure to check out the Kickstarter campaign right here and don’t forget to congratulate Smith on the 30th anniversary of the very first issue of Bone this summer!

Check out a sample art page and promotional image from Tuki: Fight for Fire below.

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