Bone, by Jeff Smith

Do comics count as books? Yes. Stop asking stupid questions. 

Jeff Smith’s Bone was an icon of black-and-white indie comics of the 1990s that has since become a best-selling beast thanks to colorful collected re-issues offered by the Scholastic Book Fair people. It’s more popular now than ever. The common review is “Lord of the Rings meets Duck Tales” and that’s pretty much the best way to describe it. It’s adorable. It’s funny. It’s scary. It’s exciting. It’s epic. It’s wacky. 

When I first saw it on comic stands back in the day, I thought the title was Bove. The font makes the N look like a V. And even now that I know it’s Bone, I still sometimes think it’s Bove. Anyone else have this happen? Just me? Cool!

I read a bunch of issues in the 90s, but I read the complete series for the first time this year and enjoyed it quite a bit. That said, the story does run out of steam around the halfway point. The first half is perfect and the second half gets bogged down in dream prophecy nonsense. But, I probably dislike the second half only because the first half is so damn perfect. 

The Bones are a loveable group of three cousins who are on the run and wind up in a quaint little fantasy town. Then the rat creatures attack. There are dragons. There’s a princess. There’s a cow race. And it’s all told with beautiful illustrations. Even when all the silly lore and prophecy gets dull, the art is still stunning. 

This is a great book for all-ages and it’s more creative and fun than any Disney live-action remake crap they’re plopping into theaters these days.

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