Bone (comics)
|
|
Boneonevoled.jpg
Bone is a graphic novel by Jeff Smith. It was originally serialized in an independently, irregularly published comic book series for 55 isues, from 1991 to 2004, notable as one of the longest-running self-published comic book series by a single writer/artist.
Smith's black-and-white drawings are inspired by animated cartoons and comic strips, a notable influence being Walt Kelly's Pogo. However, the story contains both light-hearted comedy and dark, epic fantasy, drawing inspiration from J. R. R. Tolkien and others. Different characters are drawn in widely different styles, reflecting Bone's diversity of tone.
The comic ended with its 55th issue, dated June 2004. The back cover has, in place of the usual comic panel, a black and white photo of Smith in his studio drawing the last page on May 10.
| Contents |
Story
The three Bone cousins - the avaricious Phoncible P. "Phoney" Bone, the goofy, cigar-smoking Smiley Bone, and the everyman character Fone Bone - are run out of their hometown of Boneville after Phoney decides to run for mayor with disastrous results. An example of his resulting unpopularity was given by Smiley, saying that the mayor declared a school holiday just so all the schoolchildren could come and throw rocks at Phoney. After crossing a desert and ending up in a mysterious valley, the cousins are separated, and must individually make their way across a fantasy landscape pursued by locusts and rat creatures before meeting up again. At this time, they are taken in by a mysterious girl named Thorn and her even more enigmatic grandmother. As they stay longer in the valley they encounter humans and other creatures who are threatened by a dark lord, the Lord of the Locusts. Fone Bone is drawn into the events around him and finds himself on a hero's journey to help save the world.
Notes
Although essentially a high fantasy, Bone often displays great comic humor, particularly the Great Cow Race in issue #12, and Phoney's ongoing efforts to become rich off the credulous valley residents. The series tended to become more serious and adventurous as it went on, and the humor became a lesser element in the story.
The Bone characters have been compared to those of Walt Kelly's Pogo, but the resemblance is in appearance only. Phoney Bone's personality resembles Carl Barks' Scrooge McDuck, Fone Bone's personality bears some similarities to J.R.R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, and Smiley Bone's personality is akin to something like a less intelligent version of Groucho Marx.
The series was self-published by Smith under his Cartoon Books imprint, but for a short time was published by Image Comics. During this time, the first 20 issues were reprinted by Image with new covers. These reprints are identifiable by having color reproductions of the original covers on the back. Original printings have black back covers inset with a single panel reprinted from inside.
The story has been collected into a set of nine black-and-white trade paperbacks; some of the artwork, especially in critical exposition scenes, was revised and expanded for these editions.
The 1300-page story has also been published in a single paperback volume, from Cartoon Books. This decision, essentially unprecedented in a work of this length, was praised as an important step toward reaching readers outside the traditional comic-book-reading community.
Issues from the Out From Boneville collection were also reprinted in the semi-independent magazine Disney Adventures, first in 1994 and later in 1997 through 1998.
As of 2005, Cartoon Books' Steve Hamaker is coloring the entire series for new color editions of the nine trade paperbacks, to be published by the Graphix imprint of Scholastic Press.
In addition to the regular series, there have been a pair of spin-off mini-series: Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, about an earlier visitor from Boneville to the valley, and Rose, about the early experiences of Thorn's grandmother.
Collections
- Regular series
- Out from Boneville
- The Great Cow Race
- Eyes of the Storm
- The Dragonslayer
- Rockjaw, Master of the Eastern Border
- Old Man's Cave
- Ghost Circles
- Treasure Hunters
- Crown of Horns
- Bone: One Volume Edition (ISBN 188896314X) - contains all of the above; 1300 pages
- Spin-offs - both prequels to the main storyline
- Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails: The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero
- Rose (with Charles Vess)
Other media
Animated film
An attempt to produce a film of Bone through Nickelodeon Films was unsuccessful. According to Smith, Nickelodeon saw the story strictly as children's entertainment, and insisted that the Bone characters be voiced by child actors and that the film had to include pop songs by the likes of Britney Spears.
Video game
On February 22 2005, video game company Telltale Games announced that they will be developing an adventure game based on the comic.
External links
- Boneville.com - official Bone site (http://www.boneville.com/)de:Bone