If you’ve read my previous entries, you’ll know that I’m a long term comic book fan and that it’s mostly been superhero comics that I’ve been reading and collecting. Mostly Marvel, also a lot of DC and of course a lot of Image stuff in the 90’s. But one of my all-time favorite comic books is not about superheroes and wasn’t published by Marvel or DC. I’m talking about Jeff Smith’s Bone. And today I’ll try to explain why I think it’s so awesome.
Like I said, it was all about superheroes for me in the 80’s and 90’s. But a friend of mine kept talking about this awesome book he was reading called Bone. He showed me some stuff, but I thought it was too cartoony and it just didn’t look like anything I would be into. But then we were at a Dutch comic book convention, somewhere in the early 90’s, and I saw a Bone comic at a stand and decided to give it a try. It was issue #28 of the original black and white Cartoon Books series, where Fone Bone, Smiley Bone and Bartleby meet Roque Ja. I had no clue what was going on or who these characters were, but I really liked the humor and the feeling of the book.
For some reason (I honestly can’t remember why), I didn’t continue reading Bone or made an effort to get the back issues. I guess there was just too much superhero stuff coming out at the time. It wasn’t until years later that I rediscovered the series, once the collected editions came out in color. I bought the first volume at a convention, and loved it so much, that I bought and read every other volume in a couple of weeks. And then Rose and Tall Tales as well. And then I was sad that there was no more Bone stuff to read….
Luckily they did those Quest For The Spark novels a couple of years ago, which included some nice artwork by Smith, but they were still novels, not comics, and the story wasn’t nearly as good as the original Bone series and seemed to be aimed at a younger audience. But what was so good about the original Bone series?
In my opinion it was the combination of several factors. The way the story is built up and takes several side tracks, only to end up in a big climax with all the characters involved, is just amazing. But it’s not just the fantasy style storytelling that reminds of Tolkien. Cartoonish humor is also a big part of it. The three Bone cousins look like they just stepped out of a Disney or Smurfs cartoon, but end up in this medieval fantasy world with dragons, rat creatures, cow races and all sorts of things that they’re not used to and this causes some hilarious situations. And the characters are just brilliant. Thorn, Grandma Ben, Lucius and of course the Red Dragon are all done very well and have some great interactions. Of course Smith’s art is also a big part of the series’ success. It’s so different than most of the stuff that was being done in comics in that period. This is probably also one of the reasons that he initially published it himself, but now it has become one of the most popular and decorated comic books (or should I say graphic novels?) ever.
Two years ago Bone CODA was released, which included a new 32 page story of the three Bone cousins trying to make their way home, but other than that we haven’t seen any new Bone material. And there really hasn’t been anything like it since. Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet series is the only thing that comes remotely close, as far as a combination of great artwork and all ages fantasy story telling is concerned, but even that is just not Bone. I wish Jeff Smith would consider doing a second series someday, but I don’t think that is ever going to happen. And that’s a damn shame, because I’m sure it could be so good, that it would blow anything away that the “big two” are putting out these days.
The only thing I can do, is read the whole lot again someday. And try to encourage people to give it a try sometime. The original series just keeps you wanting to buy the next volume, because you want to know what’s going to happen next. All this while laughing at Phoney’s antics and those two hilarious rat creatures. And the “Rose” prequel, with art by Charles Vess, even made me cry at the end. This is definitely a must read for anybody who loves comic books, fantasy novels or even funny cartoons. Check out Bone, people, you won’t be disappointed.
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