Bone by Jeff Smith

            Bone is an epic story disguised by its relatively cartoony stylization.  Anyone who hasn’t done their research about the series prior to digging in will be in for a surprise at how well the story was crafted, and how lengthy it actually is; I only made it about 3/4ths of the way through the full collected edition, which contains over 1, 000 pages.  This didn’t include prequel works made later on, like Rose (which I’ve picked up for later reading, after I’ve actually finished the rest of Bone).  Bone takes some pages out of the book of American animation, and that of European comics, combining somewhat simplistic characters with complicated backgrounds (aside from the Bone cousins, who are the most cartoony of the cast of characters).  This makes for an interesting contrast in terms of visuals and world building.

             Although I was a bit skeptical at first due to the cartoony nature of the Bone cousins, Bone really grew on me.  Jeff Smith’s art is absolutely beautiful, and I found a lot of the character designs really appealing (except for maybe the Great Red Dragon, who reminded me a little too much a character out of a Dr. Seuss book); unfortunately this doesn’t carry over as much in the prequel Rose, though whether it’s because of just the drawings themselves, or because they chose to colorize the work is hard to say (some research after writing this review indicates that Smith in fact did not do the work for Rose, but Charles Vess did).  In either case, I felt the black and white nature, and Smith’s careful choices while making the pages really add to the story in very subtle ways (just look at the way he took advantage of it on this page!).  It’s interesting to note that the contrast between the cartoony-ness of the Bone cousins and the rest of the characters seems to be part of the story-telling aspect as well.  Throughout their conversations, the Bone cousins talk about their old hometown, Boneville; although we never see the town, we learn through the cousins that it seems to have relatively modern-age technology, despite the fairly medieval setting of the Valley.  This proves to further distinguish the kind of world the Bone cousins came from, versus the world and life they must face in the Valley.

            The amount of care and methods that were used to each character, from the get-go and as the story progresses, was also highly reminiscent of what one would see in The Hero With a Thousand Faces.  The character evolution of Thorn is particularly notable, as she starts off the series as a fairly innocent, slightly naïve young girl, and along the way becomes something of a hardened, stubborn princess/queen.  Other characters, like Phoney Bone, get a chance show how multi-faceted and developed they are, which I really enjoyed as a reader due to how very natural the character development felt.  Between the art and the story, Bone was a highly enjoyable read.  I wish there was more work like it.

Gran'ma Ben/Rose shows why she's my favorite character, and the true badass of Bone.  So strong, she'll punch right through her home's wall and the comic's gutter space to beat up some stupid, stupid rat creatures.

On one last note, while I realize this animation is old, if a film or animated series is ever created based on Bone,I hope its never made using CG.  The Bone cousins just don’t translate well to the third dimension, and Smith’s line work is really too nice to lose.