by Jeff Smith; Cartoon Books
Bone is a truly epic adventure story. It features the Bones: Fone, Phoney, and Smiley, a group of cartoon people run out of their hometown for schemes and rabble rousing. As they cross the wilderness in search of riches, they run afoul of wretched and fearsome Rat Creatures and a dragon before ending up in The Valley. There Fone, cut off from his friends, is taken in by the kindly Thorn and her tough, cow racing grandmother, Grandma Ben. But the trouble in the wilderness is only part of something larger, something that threatens to drive the entire region into turmoil. And Grandma Ben has a secret. It is up to Fone, Thorn, the other Bones, and their friends to save the valley from the forces of evil. Bone is one of those absolute gems of comics that you encounter if you take one big step away from the superhero mainstream. It is epic in scope and format, beautifully and adeptly illustrated, and has some really fun, really well constructed characters who grow over thousands of pages of comics. While the comic is very accessible, and safe for a variety of audiences, it is also wonderfully idiosyncratic and unique: there is nothing else quite like it. And, drawing as it does on a variety of comic styles and traditions, it really operates as this grand celebration of the medium. It is, in my eyes, an essential comics read.
Word count: 238
Post by Michael Bround
Previously:
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