On the Coffee Table: Crown of Horns

Title: Bone 9: Crown of Horns
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Barnes & Noble

I have finally reached the end of the brilliant Bone series.  As the story opens, the Pawan army is about to attack Atheia where the Bones, Thorn, Gran'ma Ben and the rest of the good guys are set to make their final stand.  Few big surprises as the story comes to conclusion, though the resolution is satisfying.

Here at the end, it's a good time to reflect on what makes Bone such an outstanding series.  As fantasy tales go, there is nothing especially extraordinary about any of the characters or the story structure.  Presentation is everything.  Smith's artwork is wonderful throughout.  He has a masterful sense of scale.  Towards the end of the story, a sort of uber-dragon is attacked by what we already know to be large dragons indeed.  The smaller dragons look like a swarm of flies in comparison.  Timing is excellent, too - snow comes again in Book 9, again quite suddenly.  Throughout, Smith is able to inject sophisticated humor into what is otherwise quite a dark story.

While the story follows the usual templates for the most part, the relationship between Fone Bone and Thron is a bit out of the ordinary: not exactly romantic but certainly beyond friendship.  Bone is a children's story so it's understandable how the smooching might be kept to a minimum.  But within the PG rating limits, tenderness is apparent and the end is bittersweet.

I don't know if I'll pursue the Bone world much farther, though the idea of starting the series over and reading straight through is appealing.  The books have been a welcome surprise and I'm glad to have read them.

On the Coffee Table: Treasure Hunters

Title: Bone, Volume 8: Treasure Hunters
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Bone Wiki

I'm getting close to the end of the brilliant Bone comic book series with only one more volume to go.  The inhabitants of the valley, including our friends the Bones, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben, have taken shelter in the old capital city of Atheia.  Even on safer ground, Briar seems to be able to reach Thorn, though not quite possess her.  Supported by Fone Bone, her strongest advocate, Thorn is starting to come into her own, standing up to Gran'ma Ben and others overly eager to protect her.  Phoney Bone is up to his old scheming ways but I have a sneaking suspicion he has a reluctant hero role yet to play.

Just in case anyone is left with any doubts of Jeff Smith's genius in the sequential art medium, he executes a perfect visual rendition of the shave-and-a-haircut knock on page 87.

On the Coffee Table: Ghost Circles

Title: Bone, Volume 7: Ghost Circles
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Bone Wiki

The wonderful Bone comic book series continues with Volume 7, collecting issues 40-45.  The Bones, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben are reunited but on the run from the rat creatures.  A massive volcanic eruption has covered their world with ash and the lines between illusion and reality are helplessly blurred.  Thorn carries a part of the Lord of the Locust's soul with her, definitely a mixed blessing as it helps her to find a path to safety but, of course, she's cursed.  We get some important back story for Lucius and Gran'ma Ben in this volume and we see the return of one of my favorites: the baby rat creature, Bartleby. 

I find myself increasingly curious about the story's Melville references.  Fone Bone is obsessed with Moby Dick and carries a copy of the book with him everywhere he goes.  At one point in Ghost Circles, he and his cousin Phoney hallucinate that they are Ishmael and Captain Ahab respectively.  The character name Bartleby, of course, is borrowed from a Melville story, too.  I've read "Bartleby, the Scrivener" but never made much headway with Moby Dick.  I tried once while on vacation in coastal Massachusetts but it didn't take.  I don't know if it would add much to my understanding of Bone but the series has renewed my curiosity.

Two more volumes to go!  Next up is Treasure Hunters.

On the Coffee Table: Old Man's Cave

Title: Bone, Volume 6: Old Man's Cave
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Bone Wiki

The adventures of the Bone cousins continue in this sixth collection, comprising issues 35-39 of the excellent Bone comic book series.   My previous posts on the opus can be found here, here and here.

As the story opens, Fone and Smiley are trying to find their way back to Thorn as she, in turn, sets off in search of them.  Meanwhile, the villagers of Barrelhaven struggle to recover from the recent, devastating attack by the Rat Creatures.  We learn more about the enemies in Old Man's Cave: the Hooded One and the Lord of the Locusts, both of whom are plotting against the Bones, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben.  Trust is the overarching theme in this book.  Can Thorn trust Gran'ma?  Can the villagers trust Phoney Bone?  True to the nature - and the genius - of the series, Volume 6 ends with as many questions as answers.  Needless to say, I'm definitely up for more.

On the Coffee Table: Rock Jaw

Title: Bone, Volume 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Wikipedia

I have written about this wonderful series previously both here and here.

The story picks up with Fone and Smiley Bone venturing off to return their new friend, an orphaned baby rat creature, to the wild.  The critter has a name now: Bartleby, one of the frequent homages to Melville in Bone.  Rock Jaw is the mountain lion whose territory they must traverse.

Bone makes excellent use of the serialized narrative format, always leaving the reader curious about unanswered questions.  Recently, Drama Guy and I have been talking about cliffhangers in regards to The Walking Dead - he knows the TV show, I know the comic books.  He doesn't like the cliffhangers.  It occurs to me that most television programs don't make much use of serialization.  Most episodes are one-shot deals.  There are exceptions, of course.  The Battlestar Galactica reboot was serialized, as are daytime soaps.  For comic books, I'm okay with an issue being a complete, independent story but I still want to be left curious about the next issue.  Otherwise, why bother reading it?

One of the best ways Bone keeps the reader going from one issue to the next is the presence of morally ambiguous characters.  Both Bartleby and Rock Jaw are wonderfully nuanced.  One knows intuitively they have roles to play in the tale to come, but how?

On the Coffee Table: The Dragonslayer

Title: Bone, Volume 4: The Dragonslayer
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Examiner.com

We got Volume 4 of the Bone series for Christmas.  Well, it was technically a gift for my daughter but I got to read it after she did.  My thoughts on the first three books can be found here. 

The story is gradually getting darker.  Fone Bone, Thorn and Gran'ma have all abandoned the farm for the safety of the inn at Barrelhaven.  Meanwhile, at the inn, Phoney Bone is playing on the townspeople's fear of dragons as part of a broader scheme to get out of debt, then out of town with riches aplenty.  More is revealed about Thorn and her special powers, though it is apparent that she still has much to learn about them.

As I wrote in my previous post, the strength of the story lies in its balance between lighter and darker elements.  The most endearing light element in Volume 4 is the appearance of an adorable rat creature cub in town.  The cub takes a shine to Fone who hides it in the barn.  When Fone reveals it to Thorn, though, she threatens to kill it - there's that balance.  Rat creatures killed her family so she wants revenge.  Fone, however, manages to protect the cub.

Looking forward to Volume 5: Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border.

On the Coffee Table: Bone

Title: Bone, Volumes 1-3
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Thrash Lab

I would imagine that just about anyone who works in an American elementary school is aware of the Bone books - seemingly required on classroom bookshelves.  During standardized testing week (groan...), I occasionally find myself proctoring for a bit while the classroom teacher takes his/her prep period or steps out for a bathroom break.  After the kids finish the test, they're allowed to read and the Bone series is the go-to for many of them, especially the boys.  I never gave a thought to reading them myself until I learned more about their stature within the broader comic book world.  While children are certainly the target audience, I discovered more and more adult readers (including my blogger friend Andrew Leon) who have read and enjoyed them.  So, we got Volume 1 for Our Girl for her birthday.  I figured if she liked it, I'd give it a try, too.

via Goodreads

She definitely liked it, buying the next two books herself not long afterward.  I, however, was not initially convinced.  The first volume (Out from Boneville) is good, mind you, but it didn't do quite enough to hook me.  The next two (The Great Cow Race and Eyes of the Storm) sold me.

via Goodreads

The story so far:  the Bone cousins - Fone, Phoney and Smiley - are driven out of Boneville when one of Phoney's schemes goes wrong.  After they are separated by a storm of locusts, the story follows Bone, the most personable of the three.  He meets and falls in love with Thorn, a human girl.  He essentially moves in with Thorn and her grandmother.  Eventually the cousins are reunited, each having experienced adventures soon to be intertwined.  Meanwhile, a dragon seems to be protecting Fone, though the reason why is as yet unclear.

There's more, of course, but them's the basics.  The first book doesn't get far beyond the basic story of the Bone cousins but the next two delve into the broader context of the dragons, the rat creatures who are essentially hunting the Bones, and Thorn and her grandmother's connection to all of the above.  The strength of the story is the mix of lighter, comic elements with the dark realities challenging the characters.  I'm invested now and definitely up for more.