During the Jeff Smith spotlight panel at C2E2 this past weekend, one of the questions asked to the creator was what the status on the Bone animated movie was. According to Smith, Warner Bros is working with a company called Animalogic and they have already done a 3D animation test and are continuing to move forward on the project. Animalogic has worked on other 3D films before, notably Happy Feet.

Smith was also asked whether he would prefer a Bone movie to be filmed in 3D or if he would have preferred a more traditional hand drawn 2D style, and while he admitted he would have preferred the 2D style, he understood that no one would front the money unless it was made in the more popular 3D computer-generated style.

Several other pieces were released during the discussion; some of the news was not so good. Smith responded to the story that a mother in Apple Valley, MN has requested that Bone be removed from elementary schools in the area after objecting to some of the situations in the book, particularly scenes taking place in Barrellhaven Tavern (what with the smoking and the drinking and the gambling). Smith seemed more perplexed than angry by the request to remove the books, saying “I feel sorry for her son. He’s going to be really embarrassed, but you know, not everybody has to like my stuff. That’s fine. But I really can’t go along with this un-American concept of banning books. Let the Nazis do that.”

The good news was that those present at the panel were presented with a reading from the next arc of Smith’s current series RASL. The next arc will look at the Philadelphia Experiment, where the Navy supposedly attempted to turn a ship invisible. Other projects discussed included the two previously announced sequels to Bone, Tall Tales and Quest for the Spark. Both stories are written by Tom Sniegoski and will see release this summer and next year, respectively. Smith also performed a reading from Tall Tales, which features full art by Smith and is a collection of new stories and reprints of stories involving Big Johnson Bone (even Smith himself couldn’t stop from laughing at the name.) Quest for the Spark is a novel with single pages of art by Smith and is set after the end of the comic series and looks like another grand adventure. As a big fan of the series, I’m looking forward to both of these projects.