Review Bone: Part One

I finished the Bone one volume edition a couple of nights ago and couldn’t be happier. I read it over the course of about six months and it will now hold a very special place on my bookshelf representing a significant portion of my life.

I fell in love with Bone even before I read it. Over the years I remember walking into comic shops and having a strong interest in the cuddly little character. However at the time I was young and narrow minded. Also, I was probably hesitant because I believed this to be a kid’s book. In truth, it’s no more kiddy than guys wearing tights. So, despite the connection I felt with the character, I would just walk on over to the X-Men books and not know what I was missing. It’s probably for the better though. Because, I’m sure that when I was younger I would not have been able to give it the appreciation it deserves.

Once I got to college I started to take comics more seriously and expand my library, by trying to read the best of everything out there. I started with books like Watchmen, but eventually got to reading things outside of the superhero genre. Bone was on many of the best-of list I looked at. So after I knocked out some of the more famous supper hero stories and saw –with books like Fables-- that hardcore fantasy could work in comics; I decided I would finally go ahead and give Bone a shot. In all honesty the book is far and above anything else I have ever read from any genre or any medium.

When I went to Sand Diego Comic Con last year with a list of a handful of trades and graphic novels I wanted to pick up, Bone was at the top of the list. Ironically Jeff’s booth was one of the first ones I came across. In addition to promoting some of his more recent works (Rasl), Jeff was there selling signed copies of the Bone One Volume Edition. So, I had the pleasure of meeting with him briefly on opening night when things were still relatively quite (for San Diego). I told him how interested I was and that I had read some of the story and wanted to finish the whole thing. I still remember what he told me “well, it’s all right there”.

Think about those words for a second, “It’s all right there”. The one volume edition is a thirteen hundred page epic with a $40 price tag. That’s about the same it would cost to read one sixth of something like The Sandman. There is no question that you will not find a better deal than this on almost any graphic novel and that you’ll probably enjoy it much more. Recently, Scholastic has started printing each chapter individually in color. However, I’ve looked at the books and trust me you’re better off taking the one volume, black and white route. The book was initially published in back and white and that is where much of the fun lies. The beauty of the art is the clean simplicity of it. Jeff’s mastery of drawing and inking the characters is what brings them to life without color. The only possible downside to the one volume edition is its size. As I said the book is over 1,300 pages long so it weighs over a pound. But again, this is just part of the fun. The size of the book helps you realize the depth of the story.

It is so deep, I will have to save the actual review for later. I probably would have been better off reviewing each chapter individually and some things may slip my mind, but luckily, the characters and events in the book will stay with me forever. I will try to finish with this shortly.