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Comic book series by Jeff Smith

Bone is an American fantasy comic book limited series written and illustrated by Jeff Smith, originally serialized in 55 irregularly released issues from 1991 to 2004. The series is primarily self published by Smith's Cartoon Books; it was also briefly published by Image Comics. The issues were collected into nine volumes, as well as a single omnibus volume. Since 2005, color editions of the volumes are published by Scholastic's Graphix imprint. The series intertwines comedy and dark fantasy. Bone has received numerous awards, among them ten Eisner Awards and eleven Harvey Awards.

Bone follows the eponymous Bone cousins, who appear as white skinned cartoon humanoids: everyman Fone Bone, wealthy and self serving Phoncible P. "Phoney" Bone, and simpleminded Smiley Bone. When Phoney mounts an ill fated campaign for mayor, he is forced out of their hometown of Boneville, with Smiley and a reluctant Fone Bone following him. After the cousins find themselves in a desert, Smiley finds a hand drawn map that they use to navigate their way across the fantasy landscape. The cousins are separated by a swarm of locusts and individually end up in a mysterious valley, a journey made more difficult by the pursuing Rat Creatures. Eventually, they reunite at the Barrelhaven tavern, where they are taken in by a mysterious girl named Thorn and her grandmother, "Gran'ma Ben". Fone Bone instantly develops a crush on Thorn and repeatedly attempts to express his love through poetry. As they stay longer in the Valley, they learn that it is under threat from the Rat Creatures, led by Kingdok; and the Lord of the Locusts. The Bones are gradually drawn into the events around them, compelling them on a hero's journey to help free the Valley.

Bone has been noted for "defying" categorization. Smith claims that the series not originally written for an adolescent audience; however, it is this age group that serves as its largest readership. Throughout its run, Bone shifts from a largely comical series to a more serious tone as the characters and setting develop. It is additionally said to have a "darker subtext about power and evil". Smith made the decision to illustrate Bone in black and white, which critics speculate is so that he could maintain the clear lines that allow for exaggerated characters that contrast their subtle, detailed backgrounds. The story is mainly set in the Valley, though Boneville is mentioned throughout. Boneville is never actually shown, but is implied to be technologically contemporary, while the Valley is depicted as medieval, inasmuch as its citizens employ a barter system, weapons, and modes of transportation similar to those of the Middle Ages, and Phoney persistently refers to the people of the Valley as "yokels".

Smith originated Bone as a sketch he drew as a child, resembling a telephone handset receiver. This original drawing, a frowning character with its mouth wide open, resembled characteristics of who would become the Bone cousins. When Smith was ten, he began creating comics featuring the characters. The comics had many major influences throughout their creation. Smith mostly modeled Bone structurally around Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. He enjoyed how it "start(s) off very simple, almost like children's stories  but as it goes on, it gets a little darker, and the themes become a little more sophisticated and more complex". Smith was also inspired by Carl Barks' character Scrooge McDuck. Smith said that he "always wanted Uncle Scrooge to go on a longer adventure. I thought, 'Man, if you could just get a comic book of that quality, the length of say, War and Peace, or The Odyssey or something, that would be something I would love to read, and even as a kid I looked everywhere for that book, that Uncle Scrooge story that was 1,100 pages long". Other influences in this regard include the original Star Wars trilogy, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and the classic fairy tales and mythologies that inspired those works. Moby Dick, Smith's favorite book, is cited for its multi layered narrative and symbolism, and numerous references to it are placed throughout Bone. While Smith attended the Ohio State University, he created a comic strip titled Thorn for the student newspaper, The Lantern, which included some of the characters who later featured in Bone. After college, Smith and his friends produced animation work on commission in their studio, Character Builders Inc., but Smith eventually decided against an animation career. Seeking instead to develop a comic book series, and convinced by the successes of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Art Spiegelman's Maus that a serious comic book with a beginning, middle and end structure was both artistically and commercially viable, Smith decided to produce Bone. Initially, Smith self published the series, doing all of the work to produce and distribute the series through his business himself; this made it difficult for Smith to focus on writing and drawing the book, and as a result, he fell behind in his production. To solve this, he asked his wife, Vijaya Iyer, to resign from her job at a Silicon Valley startup company and serve as president of Cartoon Books, managing the business related to the series. Smith was able to refocus on his work on Bone, and sales improved. Bone ended with its 55th issue, dated June 2004. The back cover has, in place of the usual comic panel, a black and white photo of Smith in his studio drawing the last page on May 10. In an interview on Attack of the Show, Smith revealed that he drew the last page before working on the first issue.

+Collected volumes of Bone Volume Title Original ed. Colored ed. Issues adapted1Out from Boneville199520051–62The Great Cow Race199520057–11 (+13.5)3Eyes of the Storm1996200612–194The Dragonslayer1997200620–275Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border1998200728–326Old Man's Cave1999200733–377Ghost Circles2001200838–438Treasure Hunters2002200844–499Crown of Horns2004200950–55

The series was initially collected, 6 issues at a time, in three volumes of The Collected Bone Adventures (1993 1995). These went out of print when Smith decided to collect the story arc acts instead. The Bone Reader (1996) was released concurrent with the switch to Image Comics to bring new readers up to speed and to collect issues #13 1/2 and 19 for early adopters. Other books published in the color series but not part of the main storyline are the prequel Rose, illustrated by Charles Vess; the Bone Handbook; and the anthology books Tall Tales and More Tall Tales. Selected excerpts from Bone were reprinted in Disney Adventures, first in 1994 and later in 1997 through 1998. The issues usually consisted of 7–9 pages a month and were colored. The pages were also censored to remove smoking and drinking references and any innuendo involving Thorn and Fone Bone. There was also an exclusive story for Disney Adventures by Smith, featuring Fone and Phoney following a "treasure map"; it was reprinted in The Bone Reader and Tall Tales. The series was split into three story arcs, each having two names, one being the original arc name, the other being the name used in the one volume edition, respectively as follows. The first arc lasted from issues #1–19 (volumes #1–3, June 1991 – August 1995) being named Vernal Equinox, or The Valley. It was the longest running arc (in terms of time) running for four years and one month. The main story in issue #13.5, "Up on the Roof", was reprinted as chapter six in The Great Cow Race collected edition, therefore making it part of Vernal Equinox. The second arc was named Solstice, or Phoney Strikes Back. The arc lasted from issues #20–37 (volumes #4–6, October 1995 – August 1999). It is tied as the longest running arc in issues with the third arc (lasting 19 issues). The third arc, Harvest or Friends & Enemies, lasted from issues #38–55 (volumes #7–9, August 2000 – June 2004).

In 2005, Scholastic, under its newly established Graphix imprint, began reissuing the nine individual volumes in full color by Steve Hamaker. In 2006, HarperCollins began publishing the full color editions for the UK market.

An omnibus edition, compiling all 55 issues in one volume , was released originally by Cartoon Books imprint in a paperback volume. This release was intended to celebrate both the end of the series and the release of the full color editions. First released in 2004 and promoted as only a limited print run being available, this edition has been reprinted several times since. In addition to the paperback release, a signed limited edition hardcover release was issued. The deluxe hardcover featured gold embossed lettering on the cover, gilded edges, and a cloth ribbon bookmark. The end pages are printed with a map of The Valley and it comes with a full color signed and numbered bookplate. This release originally sold for around $125 (USD) and was initially limited to 2,000 copies. The series has been reprinted 13 times, also featuring a signed limited edition of the 13th pressing version sold during November 2009. The collection won the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album Reprint, and was listed at No. 3 in Time magazine's "Best Comix of 2004". Reviewer Andrew Arnold said of the collection, which was published at the conclusion of the monthly series: "As sweeping as the Lord of the Rings cycle, but much funnier  Smith imbues even simple dialogue panels with animation. Now that it's finished Bone should join the ranks of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter in the young adult pantheon".

In November 2011, for its 20th anniversary, a full color, omnibus edition was released. It has a special section in the back with a cover gallery of the original comics, an illustrated timeline of Bone's 20 year history, and an essay by author Smith. A special edition was also released that included the book, a signed print by Jeff Smith, a Phoney Bone gold coin, three pewter bone figures of Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone, a copy of The Cartoonist documentary DVD, and a miniature facsimile of the first issue, all held in a box decorated with an illustration of Fone Bone.

Fone Bone: The hero of the series, Fone Bone is the most courageous of the Bones but also the youngest. He and his cousin Smiley Bone help their other cousin Phoney Bone escape from Boneville after he upset the villagers, and get stuck in the Valley. He is passionate about his favorite book, Moby Dick, and is the most level headed and the smartest of the three Bone cousins. He has an unrequited crush on Thorn Harvestar. Fone Bone is very wary of his cousin Phoney's schemes, and always suspects him of something. The suspicion usually turns out right, and Fone is often angered by Phoney not seeming to care about the Valley (or the people in it), as Phoney constantly tries to leave to return to Boneville. After the Hooded One realizes Phoney Bone is not the person she needs to complete her ritual to revive Mim, the queen of the dragons, and realizes that Thorn is too powerful for her to control, she then seeks Fone, for in Ghost Circles, Vol. 7 of the series, it is revealed that Fone has the Locust inside him too, which likely came from either his encounter in Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border, when he is knocked off a cliff, or in Old Man's Cave, when he rescues Thorn from the locusts by putting the Dragon Necklace on her. It is later taken out in Ghost Circles by Thorn, who takes it herself, because she was told to by her dead mother in a Ghost Circle. Fone remains unaware of this until Crown of Horns, when they try to destroy the locust by touching the sacred Crown of Horns. He saves the day by touching the Crown of Horns while holding Thorn's hand, who is incapacitated on the ground, stuck in Kingdok's jaws, whom she killed. There they are given a choice to live or die (there is a bright light, supposedly the afterlife/heaven); both choose 'live'. Thorn and Fone are both given pieces of the Crown of Horns as teeth which were knocked out in a fight with Tarsil's followers. The teeth apparently cause rapid healing of their injuries. His name is derived from Fonebone, the recurring surname that Don Martin gave to many of the characters that appeared in his Mad magazine strips. Wizard magazine ranked Fone Bone as the 28th greatest comic book character of all time. IGN also ranked Fone Bone as the 60th greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that "his good nature and his unrequited love for his ally Thorn make Fone the heart and soul of this fantastical book." Phoncible P. "Phoney" Bone: Manipulative and greedy, Phoney Bone is the eldest and least courageous of the Bones and he will do anything to get rich. Run out of Boneville by an angry mob of villagers after trying to run for mayor of Boneville, his greediness and selfishness make an enemy of anyone who crosses him in the Valley. Referred to by the Hooded One as "The One Who Bears The Star" (due to the star on the T shirt he wears), Phoney is sought after by the Rat Creature army though he does not know why (later it is revealed that the Hooded One erroneously believed a giant balloon of Phoney used in his campaign for mayor of Boneville that fell in her lair to be an omen that Phoney could be used to fulfill her agenda, as the balloon, which originally featured the words “Phoney Bone will get your vote” and became “Phoney Bone will get you”.). Though he is selfish, he is very protective of his cousins when he needs to be and shows he really cares about them. For example, when he is approached by The Hooded One who proceeds to threaten Fone Bone, Phoncible becomes angry and warns The Hooded One to stay away from Fone. A monologue he delivers late in the series reveals that his greed and selfishness are the result of his having been forced to raise Fone and Smiley after they were orphaned, forcing him to resort to dirty schemes to provide for them. At the end of the series he finally displays a courageous side, as he fought the Pawans and the Rat Creatures along with Grand'ma Ben and her army, and he appeared to retreat from the final battle only to return with armed reinforcements; though they arrive too late he still claims to be a hero. Smiley Bone: The tallest of the Bones, the middle cousin and arguably the least intelligent, he plays a one string instrument resembling a lute (but variously referred to throughout the series as a "banjo" or "guitar"). Smiley is often seen smoking a cigar, and often irritates characters with his simple mindedness, even when seeking to help people, as when Lucius refers to Smiley's help as "torture” in The Great Cow Race. He takes kindly to a Rat Creature cub, whom he names Bartleby, and through his nurturing of Bartleby, depth of maturity is revealed in his character. When he and his cousins were children, Phoney made him steal pies off windowsills, because he was the tallest, and apparently they were poor to the point where they could not afford food. Phoney mentions that when he became rich, Smiley made him pay everyone back. Phoney Bone always employs Smiley in his scams, like in the cow race (The Great Cow Race). Sometimes Smiley shows a penchant for intelligence, as when, in Vol. 9 Crown of Horns, he devises a plan during the siege of Atheia. The plan is to feed the two stupid Rat Creatures (whom Smiley captured as they tried to infiltrate the city) quiche, then let them go "accidentally", so the Rat Creatures would tell their leaders that Atheia could withstand the siege, under the logic that if they could feed their prisoners quiche, they presumably have enough food to feed themselves making a siege hopeless. Later, he had aided Phoney in bringing armed reinforcements, though they arrived too late as the actions of the dragons ended the war. Though Smiley has his joyful and happy go lucky personality throughout the series, he also has his serious and sorrow moments while he had grown more mature when he first took care of Bartleby. At the later half of the series after Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border, Smiley had shown more concern about the reality of the war in the Valley, as he maintained cautiousness for his friends in times of danger. Smiley is also fiercely protective of Bartleby; he refused to leave the cub behind despite Gran'ma Ben's strict orders and he went as far as to tackle a Venu guard to help Bartleby escape from an angry mob following an accidental exposure. Smiley later mourned Lucius and expressed sadness at leaving the Valley and saying goodbye to his friends and allies.

Bone had only six issues published when it was selected for "Palmer's Picks" by Tom Palmer, Jr., who commented that "Smith's artwork is deceptively simple. He doesn't use much flash, yet he is a master of conveying gesture and body language for both humorous and dramatic effect". He also noted that "the series has only recently begun, yet it has been met with enormous amounts of critical praise from people ranging from Will Eisner to Peter David". Michael Arner from PopMatters. com was initially not impressed with the black and white artwork, and at first disappointed at the ending, hoping for a more conclusive dénouement. However, he ultimately praised the depth of the characterizations and Smith's ability to mix humor and adventure as perfect. Bob's Comics Review described the work as "Tolkienesque" in its compulsive progression from a simple comic tale to a sprawling epic. Although critical of the earlier issues, the writer came to enjoy the range of writing "from slapstick (the cow race is a classic), to the scary yet hilarious rat creatures, to intimations of high fantasy". Smith's sense of timing was praised as well as the creator's use of the silent panel and "repeated scene with variations of movement or perspective". In 2004, Time critic Andrew Arnold called Bone "the best all ages graphic novel yet published". In 2011, IGN ranked Bone 60th in the Top 100 comic book heroes.

In 2010, a Minnesota parent sought to have Bone banned from all elementary school libraries in the Rosemount Apple Valley Eagan School District, citing references in the work to smoking, drinking, and gambling. After a hearing, a school district committee voted 10 to 1 to keep the books on the shelves. Other challenges and controversies that cite racism and political viewpoint as main problems have led to Bone's placement on the 2013 ALA Banned Books List. Smith remarked himself that "Bone was not originally created with children in mind, so I never worried about the fact that children might read them". This being said, the comics are regarded by critics as applicable to any age group.

Numerous attempts have been made to adapt the books, all of which have failed to come to fruition. In the late 1990s, an attempt was made by Nickelodeon Movies to produce a film adaptation of Bone. Jeff Smith said in a 2003 interview that Nickelodeon wanted the Bone cousins to be voiced by child actors, and wanted the film's soundtrack to include pop songs by the likes of NSYNC; Smith was critical of this proposal. In March 2008, Warner Bros. Pictures bought the film rights to the series. Smith's website confirmed on March 13 that he had made a deal with Warner Bros. to adapt the Bone saga into a film series. Further information was given in July 2011, citing that "two scripts have already been written and rejected—a third is currently in the works and will most likely yield three separate, computer animated, 3 D films". In January 2012, Patrick Sean Smith, the creator of TV series Greek, was hired to write an adaptation, and that P. J. Hogan was attached to direct the feature, to be produced by Lin Pictures and Animal Logic. In November 2016, Mark Osborne had been hired to direct the animated adaptation for Warner Animation Group. Osborne, along with Adam Kline, were set to write the film, which would have been the first in a planned trilogy. In October 2019, the project was picked up by Netflix for an animated series after Warner's turnaround of the project. However, in April 2022, production on the series was canceled during a reorganization of Netflix Animation. As of February 2023, Smith attempts to approach the animation studios to continue working on the animated series.

In 1996, the toy manufacturer Resaurus released Series One of a Bone action figure line, featuring: Fone Bone with Rat Cub, Thorn, Smiley Bone, and Rat Creature. Five years later, a second line was released with Gran'ma Ben, Phoney Bone, The Hooded One, and a deluxe boxed set of Kingdok. Two exclusive figures were released through the toy and comic magazine Previews: Hooded One (glow in the dark), and Phoney Bone as Ahab. Most recently, in 2007, "Dark Horse Comics Presents" released a statue of Fone Bone, which is limited to 750 pieces and to be sold through Wizard magazine.

In 2005, video game studio Telltale Games developed an episodic adventure game series based on the comic. While five episodes were planned, only two were ultimately released. The first episode, Bone: Out from Boneville, was released on September 15, 2005, and the second, The Great Cow Race, on April 12, 2006. Both were available in downloaded or boxed form on Telltale's website for Windows based PCs. The games were also available via Steam, but were delisted following Telltale's closure.