Writer & Artist: Jeff Smith
Release Date: 1991 – 2004
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If you are a comic book fan you more than likely have heard of Bone by Jeff Smith. Bone is one of those graphic novels that have a lot of hype behind it. I was a bit nervous about reading it because I thought I would be disappointed after it being so hyped up. I am happy to say that Bone lives up to the hype and then some.

The story revolves around the Bone cousins; Phoney, Fone and Smiley. What exactly are Bones? Well, that’s never really explained. However, they are looked at as more as funny looking foreigners than aliens. At the start of the book the cousins find themselves stranded in a vast desert thanks to Phoney Bone who got three of them run out of their hometown Boneville with one of his scams. It is not long before the three are split up and we start to get to know Fone Bone a bit better. After traveling a great deal he soon meets Thorn; a young girl who he is told can help get him home and goes with her to her cottage. Soon the three Bone cousins are reunited it Barrelhaven where they meet Thorn, her resilient cow racing Gran’ma Ben and a whole lot of other interesting people. It isn’t long, however, before the cousins are split up again. The area Barrelhaven exists in, the valley is filled with all kinds of wonderful and terrifying creatures. We learn that some of them are after Thorn and the Bones, some want to help and some just want a good quiche.

If I were to give a recipe for Bone I would mix The Chronicles of Narnia with Disney. It’s Lord of the Rings with cartoons put in, Kingdom Hearts meet Mage: The Awakening. Jeff Smith gives us a huge fantasy world full of mystery, magic, creatures and more and then stirs in a mixture of very cartoon and Disney like characters, giving it a good mix of epic, humorous and most important attention grabbing.

As the main plot of Bone unfolds there are several other subplots taking place. Jeff Smith does a good job of eventually tying everything together, but also makes it so things are easy to follow. I did not have to once go back and reread and was able to follow the story smoothly. A lot of graphic novels try to have several stories going on at once and it gets confusing. Jeff Smith did a good job of making sure this does not happen. The events start out small, more on the comical side, but as the story progresses it moves into the realm of epic fantasy, but still keeps sprinkles of humor.

The books were originally drawn in black and white, but are now being made in color. The book I read was black and white, but I have seen the ones in color and I think both work equally as well. In the black and white version Smith does a good job creating nice smooth lines that are thick and thin in the right place and character’s expressions are drawn well. There is a few times where he draws the Bones with very cartoon like expressions (e.g. jaw dropping, eyes bugging out). I believe this gives us a nice light hearted feeling and is one of the many reasons this book is appropriate for most ages.

As the story progresses it becomes more epic. Past choices become a matter of life and death, a war approaches and we learn that there may be more to Thorn and Gran’ma Ben than we thought.

Bone is available in separate trades, but in 2009 the whole series was put into one volume. The book is pretty hefty with a page count of 1332. The book is split up into nine parts, each 5, 6 or 8 chapters long. The whole series in one book is $39.95 and well worth it.

Bone is an excellent page turning graphic novel and I recommend it to both comic book and non comic book fans alike.

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