Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville

My son says, "Great adventure story." He loves the characters and plans to read all the installments in this series.

Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville

When Jeff Smith created his "Bone" saga, he was doing something right. What is there not to like about the three charming Bone cousins - the resourceful Fone Bone, the greedy Phoney Bone, and the inscrutable Smiley Bone? And how can you not get caught up in their dramatic adventures? But Smith's Bone is more than just a cute comic strip. It shows the evolution of the graphic novel as a viable literary format, with all the hallmarks that we've come to expect from traditional fiction:

1. Characterization - the three Bone characters have endearing and memorable qualities with immediate appeal, and the other characters in their world are equally, outstanding, charming, and unique.
2. Setting - Jeff's Smith world is peopled by a variety of other fantastic creatures and characters (Thorn, Rose Gran'ma Ben, Ted the insect, the Great Red Dragon, the Possum Kids, Stupid Rat Creatures, and others). The Bone-iverse has Tolkiensque overtones, and will be an instant hit with fans of the fantasy genre.
3. Plot - after leaving Boneville and entering a fantasy world of monsters and magic, the Bone cousins quickly get caught up in a compelling and suspenseful adventure story.
4. Style - Smith is a great story-teller, and his narrative has a great deal of wit, humour and charm, although the story becomes more serious and less comic as the story progresses. But once you're hooked, you're in for the ride until the protagonists complete their adventures.

If there is a complaint, it would be that I was disappointed to see several instances where God's Name was misused. One weakness of the original black-and-white edition has been overcome, however, now the Bone adventures have been re-released by Scholastic in full colour, and this colour edition is truly impressive. Those of us who enjoy Smith's unique blend of light-hearted comic and epic fantasy will welcome this re-released colour version only too readily!

Be warned however that the complete tale isn't told in this particular edition, which is the first volume in the series and contains only the first six episodes. It ends on a suspenseful note with further action imminent. Eight volumes were to follow, although all 55 episodes are now available in a one-volume edition of nearly 1300 pages. If you make it to the last page of the first volume, you'll likely want to read them all, although be aware that in the later volumes the story becomes more serious, much like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings advanced beyond the initial charm of The Hobbit. While the later volumes deepen the literary qualities of this work, some readers will find that they lack some of the accessibility and appeal of the entry story.

A comparison with the usually incomparable Lord of the Rings might seem ridiculous, but I can appreciate why many have even dared suggest it. Smith himself credits his interest in mythology and his sense of mystery to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Unlike these, the Bone saga is naturally much more light-hearted, at least in its inception, and won't quite attain the impact or depth of more serious graphic novels, although it shares with LOTR and Star Wars an epic scope. As a blend of light hearted comedy, slapstick humor, adventure, and epic fantasy, Bone is a comic for all ages, and for the ages. GODLY GADFLY (2007)

If I had the choice I would give this 4 and a half stars but I don't think its a 5 since its mostly light fare with only few foreshadowings of the epic fantasy adventure to come.

Bone Vol. 1 is the start of the adventures of Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone. They are cousins kicked out of Boneville for Phoneys wrong doings and left in the great unknown. This is where there journey begins. They soon get split up and the comic is mostly about there finding each other and just setting up the story for the volumes to come.

I highly recommend it to fans of books, comics books, cartoons or anything fun/cute. Don't judge it by its cover, there's a deep and slightly dark fantasy story to be had which only begins to bloom in this first volume.

****1/2

Over the years, I'd picked up single issues of Bone now and again, and was quite enchanted with the quality of artwork and story telling. But was a bit let down that they were published in black and white, which didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the graphic look of the books.

Finally, they have been colorized! The color treatment here is superb. Smith seems to be mining the Carl Barks and Walt Kelly territory, but he's got him own special gifts to display here, in this collection of reprints enjoyable for youngsters and their parents. Highly Recommended for all ages.

Set your expectations properly and you'll find a fair story here. They're simple characters in simple, kid-safe adventures. There's Smiley, the tall guy with a very short brain, Phoney with his inane get-rich schemes, and Fone Bone, the protagonist, an all-around nice guy trying to do the right thing for everyone. We also have bold dragons, ineptly evil rat-beings (but I like rats!), a beautiful maiden for chaste and silly romance, and other characters that are easy to identify and to identify with. Then, behind them all, there's the mysterious bad guy, plotting against ...

Well, just see for yourself. The plot and characters work well for unsophisticated readers. Still, the text doesn't talk down to a young reader with an artificially stripped-down vocabulary. If you or yours are in the target demographic, it could be a good bit of fun.

-- wiredweird