Story, Characters Fun In ‘Bone Adventures’
There’s a new graphic novel out (by that I mean book in comic-book form), and it runs rings around every other of its kind. It’s “The Complete Bone Adventures,” by Jeff Smith.
This is the story of the Bone cousins - Fone, the do-gooder; Phoney, the con artist; and Smiley, who’s …well, dumb. These are actual bones, but with fascinating emotions. Those emotions are used with Gran’ma Ben, her friend Lucius and her granddaughter, Thorn.
It’s impossible to describe the professionalism of this book. Jeff Smith leaves no little point missed. This book is only Volume Two, but both the mysteries of what happened before and what will happen next are exciting.
The cousins are on the run from some delightful, hairy, red-eyed beasts known as rat creatures (keep an eye out for Kingdok and the one obsessed with quiche).
The cousins are also guarded by a mysterious dragon, who shares a past with Thorn.
In Volume Two, Phoney Bone is trying to con some village folk out of their valuables. The Great Cow Race is about to happen and Gran’ma Ben (a human) is the odds-on-favorite until Phoney puts Smiley in a cow suit (as the mystery cow) and names HIM as the favorite.
Phoney’s plan is to have everyone bet on the mystery cow, who will in turn lose to Gran’ma Ben. That way, Phoney walks away with all the goods. But Lucius has other ideas. He gets people interested in Gran’ma Ben again by opening a bar (sounds confusing, but trust me here). Throw in about a hundred rat creatures and you have a hysterical race.
Jeff Smith puts time, energy and creativity never seen ANYWHERE in his book. You can tell a master is at work.