Graphic novel Bone pulls the audience’s heart on the first page itself as soon as this graphic novel was published for readers again way back in 1991. Marvelous cartoony illustration and combined rich, involved plot building make this world-yet it somehow feels marvelous and, however terribly so: crossing nine books along green thick forests and mysterious old prophecies along a timespan of thousands years into a final epic conflict of light with darkness.
Simply put, the plot that runs at the heart of Bone concerns three cousins: Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone who happen to be evicted from house and then subsequently driven out in the mystifying valley. More so than Smiley Bone, however, Phoney Bone is an emotional con artist; while the loveable half is Smiley Bone, much of the brothers’ adventures would go nowhere were it not for the fact that Fone Bone, the serious-minded brother, forms the core of this emotional core. Composing the majority of the adventures that the brothers embark upon is the sum of all the meetings they have with phenomenal creatures, mighty forces, and characters harboring secret intent.
Perhaps one of the most spectacular features of Bone is the marriage of superb genre combinations. On its cover, this book seems light and sugar sweet; cartoonish arts give the characters large eyes as well as comical facial expressions accompanied by funny physical features. And as the story unfolds to full realization of danger, political intrigue, even tragedy, then the book emerges wonderfully for terms of humor, fantasy, and epic story narration for readers of all ages.
The location: rich, full of lore, and pretty spectacular in the world-building-from the idyllic little village of Boneville, harmless as it could be, through to the downright creepy, foreboding Valley of the Dragons. It’s all the same with characters and creatures-the mystically magical dragons, thinking rat creatures, and old wise Grandma Ben; all imbued with the sense of a history and with a purpose alive.
The hallmark of the comic is the masterful illustration of the acclaimed Jeff Smith. He says as an artist, he could easily amalgamate cartoonish simplicity with intricacies to bring out a timelessness yet so contemporary thing. Visual storytelling equals the plot; it is through facial expressions, body language, and layouts in the panel that manage to say more in terms of emotion than said in the dialogue.
The series will base its theme on a war of the good forces and evil, which can be best described as that nasty bad guy story of the nasty bad guy, Lord of the Locusts, and how his dark influence wrought havoc on the valley put in jeopardy not only the Bone cousins but the very natural balance of things as well. This can be attributed to the development of characters-how Fone Bone evolves from being just a wanderer to becoming a hero and how the prophecy related to the Bones unfolds, further developing the secondary characters like Thorn, the farm girl, holding the key to the future of the valley-all of which together form a tapestry that would make the reader want to get stuck in there. They make it even tastier by sandwiching between all these two other not-so-impressive books.
It’s a tale about overcoming evil, friendships, family, and their existence in this world. These aspects, interwoven into the epic by Smith, are the reason for it to emotionally and intellectually strike readers with deep affinity.
The Bone series should be read to anyone who never read graphic novels or is just looking for fun and thought-provoking content. It shows perfectly how wonderfully comics can stand as a perfect visual piece besides being highly complex narrative; it is quite a timeless story that will make people happy all through eternity.