Bone volume 1: Out of Boneville


By Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)
ISBN: 978-0-96366-094-7

Jeff Smith burst out of relative obscurity in 1991 and changed the comics-reading landscape with his enchanting all-ages comic-book Bone. The compelling black and white saga captivated the market and prospered at a time when an endless procession of angst-ridden, steroid-breathed super-vigilantes and implausibly clad “Bad-Grrls” came and went with machine-gun rapidity.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Smith absorbed the works of Carl Barks, Charles Schultz and especially Walt Kelly from an early age, and purportedly first began producing the adventures of his Boneville creations at age ten. Whilst at Ohio State University he crated a strip for the College newspaper: ‘Thorn’ was another early incarnation of his personal universe and a proving ground for many characters that would appear in Bone. A high school classmate became a Disney animator and Smith subsequently worked in the industry before striking on his own, mastering the graceful slapstick timing and high finish that typifies his art style.

He founded Cartoon Books to self-publish 55 delightful black and white issues (to be accurate ten of them were put out under the Image Comics imprimatur, but reverted to Smith’s company with #29): a fantasy quest yarn that owed as much to Tex Avery as J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as his holy trinity, Barks Schultz & Kelly. The bold thrilling and fantastically funny saga progressed at its own unique pace between 1991 and 2004. Since then it has been collected into nine volumes from Cartoon Books (with two further collections of prequels and side tales), reissued in colour by Scholastic Books and even reprinted in Disney Adventures magazine.

At series’ end Smith issued a monumental one volume compilation (more than 1300 black and white pages) which Time magazine dubbed “the best all-ages graphic novel yet published” and one of the “Top Ten Graphic Novels of All Time.”

Smith has won many awards including 11 Harveys and 10 Eisners. In 2003 he turned his magic loose again and revived the World’s Mightiest Mortal for DC with Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil. The project took three years but was worth every moment…

His latest work is the science fiction tale RASL.

As you can see there are plenty of versions to opt for but purist that I am I’ve plumped for the original Cartoon Books collection where the action commences in Out of Boneville, which re-presents the first six episodes.

Fone Bone is a strange, amorphous, yet decent little bald guy, a thematic blend of Mickey Mouse and Asterix who has been run out of the town of Boneville along with his tall and not-so-bright cousin Smiley Bone. Well to be exact they haven’t, but their dastardly, swindling cousin Phoncible P. “Phoney” Bone has, due to the kind of irregularities, misdemeanours and malfeasances that bring down presidents – and he running for Mayor at the time…

Crossing a deadly desert and near death the trio are separated by a storm of locusts and Fone finds himself in a lost valley: an oasis of pastoral beauty hidden from the rest of the world. Along the way he is adopted by a dragon he doesn’t believe in, stalked by ghastly rat monsters and befriended by a talking leaf-insect (like a stick insect but flat, not long – and very talkative…)

The little refugee is forced to spend a harsh winter living wild in the deep forest where he befriends many of the small creatures who live there, but as the thaw approaches he meets the beauteous and oddly compelling human girl Thorn. It is Crush-at-First-Sight…

She invites him to stay with her and her grandmother Rose until he can find his lost cousins, but soon regrets it when Phoney turns up: rude, duplicitous, greedy as ever and determined to be a real pain…

Phoney’s insatiable drive to steal, cheat and fake a buck makes life pretty uncomfortable for the besotted Fone Bone, but trouble is brewing in the deep woods. An ancient evil has stirred, driving the rat creatures into a frenzy. An old, cold war is heating up again and for the humans of nearby village Barrelhaven the stakes are really high. The dark creatures have only been waiting for the arrival of their prophesied one – a small bald creature with a star on its chest remarkably similar to the one on Phoney’s shirt…

The assembled horror-hordes attack Thorn’s cottage but their chosen one is long gone. Phoney has scented money and gone to Barrelhaven in search of easy marks. Gran’ma fights a desperate holding action as Thorn and Fone flee through the forest to warn the villagers. After a nightmarish retreat the pair are rescued by the dragon – sworn foe of the rat things and their master. They return to the cottage to find that Gran’ma has survived: moreover she and the Dragon are old acquaintances…

As the Dragon returns to the deep woods the humans (and Bone) relocate to Barrelhaven, where Fone discovers that Smiley has been there all along, working as a bartender in the local tavern. Phoney is there too – working off a tremendous bar-tab…

This volume ends on a happy note as the cousins are finally reunited, but malevolent forces are gathering all around them and there are dark days ahead…

I’ve talked a lot about the influences that informed this wonderful series and there’s one more that cannot be ignored: if you squint your eyes just right you can hear the dulcet deceptions of Bill Watterson’s Calvin (see The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. Just Do. It’s wonderful and so are all the other collections) leaking in to flavour this equally marvelous, child-friendly extravaganza…

Bone is a truly perfect comic tale and one that appeals to kids and adults equally. Already it is in the rarefied rank starring Tintin, Pogo, Rupert Bear, Little Nemo and the works of Carl Barks. It is only a matter of time before it breaks out of the comic club completely and becomes kin to the likes of Wind in the Willows, the Moomins and the Oz books.

If you have kids or can still think and behave like one you must have these books…

© 1996 Jeff Smith. All rights reserved.