Friday Recommendation: Bone

Normally I want to end up recommending an on going series so that readers who don’t know the title can hop in and find a comic currently being sold that they’d enjoy, but this week is an exception. One of the other writers for this blog, Carina (who is the only writer here who has written more articles than me!) reminded recently of a book called Bone that I hadn’t thought about in a while. When I was a kid I would read Disney Adventures on a regular basis, and there was this little cartoon in some issues that I didn’t think much about called Bone. It had little cartoon characters lost in the woods being stalked by ugly monsters. Little did I realize what it was I was actually reading until years later when I met a guy with a Bone tattoo and he told me that it was so much more than what I thought it was.

So what is Bone? Well, Bone is probably one of the most epic stories I’ve ever read, right up there with Lord Of The Rings. While Fone Bone, our main character, and his two cousins Phony and Smiley may look rather cartoonish, that is the only aspect of this story which is child-like. In fact, I read that in the Disney Adventures I read, they had to be highly edited in order to remove aspects of smoking and innuendo, so I hope that gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with. In Bone, Fone Bone and his two cousins are run out of Boneville only to end up in a valley they’ve never seen or heard of before where they get separated. Bone is hunted by hungry rat creatures and, before he can find his cousins he is snowed in for the winter. After learning how to survive the harsh winter as well as defend himself from the rat creatures, Bone stumbles upon a secret that has been hidden for ages, and the rest of this epic tale unfolds as such.

Bone itself is a wonderful read. When you start to read it, you think it’s rather silly and childish, but it’s good humor that adults an access too. Very soon after the introduction, you begin to realize that there is a layer of depth and nuances to the story that you hadn’t seen before, and little things such as the opening scene where the cousins are separated are revealed to mean more than what you had previously assumed. Full of rich characters and top notch story telling, I found myself reading all 1332 pages of bone in under a 48 hour period. I just had to keep going to learn more. As I finally closed the book on it’s last page, I was more than happy to admit how big of a fan I was of the story. Originally just black and white, Jeff Smith’s artwork is great, filling in all sorts of little details with just one pen. Later, Bone was re-released in color, so if that’s more your thing than go for it, but I prefer Bone in just the black and white. There’s something there that’s just more special and extraordinary in regards to the unique story telling.

So if you’re looking for your new favorite story, look no further than Bone. It’s fresh, it’s fun, it’s exciting and engrossing. It’s pure fun for the entire family, to be quite honest. It’s by far one of the most enjoyable things I’ve read recently, highly satisfying all the way through.

To order your copy of Bone in one epic volume, please click the link to the left. You won’t be sorry.