Bone

Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are run out of their hometown of Boneville and find themselves hopelessly lost in an uncharted desert. What starts as a silly fish-out-of-water comedy slowly reveals itself as one of the most ambitious fantasy epics in comics history — a 1,300-page saga of dragon queens, rat creature armies, ancient magic, and a love story between a simple-minded Bone and a mysterious young woman named Thorn.

Time magazine called it “the best all-ages graphic novel yet published.” Entertainment Weekly said it’s “storytelling at its best.” And millions of readers across 30 countries have made Jeff Smith’s Bone one of the best-selling independent comics of all time.

The Story

After being banished from Boneville, the three Bone cousins stumble into a valley that seems lifted from a fairy tale. Fone Bone — the earnest, romantic heart of the group — falls instantly in love with Thorn, a farmer’s granddaughter with a hidden past. Phoney Bone — the greedy, scheming cousin — immediately starts looking for ways to get rich. And Smiley Bone — the happy-go-lucky simpleton — just wants everyone to get along.

But the valley holds secrets. The rat creatures — hulking, snaggle-toothed monsters with a taste for Bone cousins — patrol the woods. A Great Red Dragon watches from the mountains. And the valley’s past is tangled up with a cosmic evil called the Lord of the Locusts, a sleeping dragon queen named Mim, and a war that’s been brewing for generations.

What follows is a journey that takes the Bones from a cow race gone hilariously wrong to a final confrontation with the forces of darkness — blending slapstick comedy, high fantasy, and genuine emotional depth in a way that few comics have ever matched.

Publication History

Smith self-published Bone through his own Cartoon Books from 1991 to 2004, producing 55 issues in black and white. The series was initially distributed through the direct market comic shop network. After critical breakout and mounting awards, the series found a massive new audience when Scholastic’s Graphix imprint launched in 2005 with a full-color edition of Bone: Out from Boneville, colored by Steve Hamaker. The color editions turned Bone into a classroom and library staple, sitting alongside Harry Potter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid in children’s reading lists nationwide.

The complete series is available in:

• Nine-volume color series (Graphix/Scholastic)
• One-volume black-and-white omnibus (Cartoon Books)
• Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume (the 1,300-page black-and-white edition)
• Deluxe slipcase editions (Kickstarter special editions)

Awards and Recognition

Bone has won or been nominated for more awards than any independent comic in history:

• 10 Eisner Awards, including Best Humor Publication, Best Continuing Series, Best Writer/Artist, Best Graphic Album Reprint
• 11 Harvey Awards, including Best Cartoonist (nine consecutive years)
• National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book (1995, 1996)
• Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer (1993)
• Named one of Time magazine’s “Ten Best Graphic Novels of All Time”
• Translated into 13 languages

Spinoffs and Related Works

The Bone universe expanded through several related works:

• Rose — a prequel illustrated by Charles Vess
• Bone: Tall Tales and More Tall Tales — campfire stories by Smith and Tom Sniegoski
• Bone: Quest for the Spark — a prose novel trilogy by Tom Sniegoski
• Thorn: The Complete Proto-BONE Strips — collecting Smith’s college newspaper strip

Perfect for fans of Jeff Smith’s Rose, The Lord of the Rings, Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi, Mouse Guard by David Petersen, and classic Disney animation.