Dojo Classics - Rose!

Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess is a prequel to Smith's sprawling comic book epic Bone. It tells of the early life of "Grandma Ben", a pivotal character in the sprawling saga. Though a sequel, it's best that this story be read after the larger Bone, because alas some key secrets are revealed here.

But as a story on its own merits, it's a winner. Rose and her sister Briar, both princesses of the land Atheia are summoned to Old Man's Cave where they are to study to become better stewards of their land. But things get complicated when a rogue river dragon named Balsaad escapes and threatens the Valley in which they live. Rose is torn between her duties and her obligations as she must deal with the threat of the dragon and the threat of the Lord of Locusts who is behind everything. Also along for the ride is the mysterious Red Dragon and the Rat Creatures from Bone lore.

It's best not to say too much, because this is a riveting little story, which gives us greater insight into the world which the Bones will discover a few generations later. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this story is the magnificent artwork by Charles Vess. His gentle illustrations are absolutely ideal for this somber fairy tale. The book is an outstanding entertainment and highly recommend.

Here are some the covers which graced the original three-part limited series from Cartoon Books. The two dogs by the way are named Euclid and Cleo.

And this is the cover for the later  hardback edition.

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Dojo Classics - Bone!

It's quite possible with all the attention that Image, Valiant, and other comic book companies got during the hotly hyped halcyon days of 1990's that the best comic book to emerge from that era was Jeff Smith's Bone.

I followed Bone almost from the beginning, but gave it up fairly soon into the saga as I gave up all independent work for mostly financial reasons. But a few years back I was able to get a copy of the mammoth but still highly readable black and white single-volume edition of the whole shebang. It's been sitting on my stacks for quite some time waiting for its chance to be read.

I read it.

It's great!

It's clear enough that Smith's technique improves somewhat as the early stages of the story develop, but soon enough his style stabilizes and what we are presented with is a sprawling fantasy tale told with precision and wit by a guy who is fully able to use the comic book tools to best effect.

Smiley, Fone, Phoney and Thorn

The story presents us with the Bones, a trio of Pogo-esque cousins (Fone, Smiley, and Phoney) who are run out of Boneville and find their way across a desert into The Valley where they encounter friends and enemies, and love and death. Fone Bone, our hero meets Thorn, a lovely girl with a mysterious history who seems to dream of all sorts of things including dragons, which it turns out are quite real and quite powerful. The story begins quite small, with equal parts humor and adventure, but begins to shift gears as the adventure overwhelms the characters with the danger steadily increasing right to the very end.

Hooded One and Rat Creatures

Don't kid yourself, this is a long story by comic book standards. The volume clocks in at well over 1300 pages and took Smith years to complete. But it reads quite seamlessly as details and hints from the beginning of the saga pay off in the finale. Smith's pacing is immaculate. It's a most satisfying read indeed.

Bone has proven quite successful and is available in multiple editions, not including the original comic books. It's been colored and presented through Scholastic Books as fundamental children's literature, which it certainly qualifies for, though I suspect some of the snide humor might be a tad adult for most kids.

I recommend the black and white though, as Smith's storytelling is not reliant on color hardly at all, and his charming line work shines best in this distilled form.

It's been compared to Tolkien's works, and that's hardly fair. It's got the depth of The Hobbit perhaps, but nothing so dense and detailed as The Lord of the Rings. It's a rock solid fantasy, worthy of inclusion on the shelves of any fantasy devotee, a true graphic novel.

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The Destiny War - Untimely Heroes!

"The Destiny War" in Avengers Forever #3 rages as the Avengers (see the previous installment for who they and where they come from) become acquainted with one another, though Yellowjacket still seems to not realize another Hank Pym is in the room. Immortus invades Chronopolis and defeats Kang's armies. The Avengers flee with Libra and Immortus converts the timeless city into a great gem called "The Forever Crystal". It will become a tool for him to use to prune the disparate timelines which worry him.

Jeff Smith

In Avengers Forever #4 (which came with an assortment of alternate covers), the Assemblers escape in Kang's Sphinx-like time ship and and safely outside of time gather their wits and scheme up a plan to counter Immortus. The identify different points in the time where it seems that Immortus might be up to no good and divide the team to head to some of those to discover the problem and solve it if possible.

Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino

Captain America and Giant-Man find an alternate world where "The Avengers" are the Black Panther, Thundra, Jocasta, The Crimson Dynamo, the Living Lightning, and most strikingly Killraven. These Avengers are among what's left of mankind and battle ferociously against the minions of the invaders from Mars.T'Challa recognizes Cap and Giant-Man and realizes they are part of the Destiny War.

John Buscema and Tom Palmer

Meanwhile Songbird, Yellowjacket and Hawkeye head to Earth's Old West and discover dinosaurs are roaming the vintage western streets. They disguise themselves to blend in, but it has minimal success. Hawkeye realizes they are in the middle of another time traveling adventure which involved Kang and Thor and the Marvel Western heroes Rawide Kid, Kid Colt, and Two-Gun Kid among others. The team head into the hills so as to not interfere.

Frank Quitely

Wasp and Captain Marvel end up in the 1950's at a California carnival. They too disguise themselves to blend in but are quickly detected by the heroes of the day, Marvel Boy, Venus, Human Robot, Gorilla Man, and 3-D Man. These heroes call themselves "Avengers" too.

From his vantage point inside the time Sphinx Rick Jones watches his comrades across time. He sees Giant-Man and Captain America help the freedom fighters battle against the Martian forces. It's a deadly and bloody battle. The 1950's Avengers meanwhile capture Wasp and Captain Marvel until thanks to the loving power of Venus they cool down long enough to realize that something is wrong with Richard Nixon, not the usual stuff but he's a Skrull. The Western team of Hawkeye, Songbird, and Yellowjacket find themselves trapped in a cave but escape and are confronted by the heroes Reno Jones, Kid Cassidy and the Black Rider. But Hawkeye soon tips to the fact these latest heroes are in actuality Space Phantoms, the servants of Immortus. Likewise Wasp and Genis-Vell discover the FBI of the 1950's has been infiltrated by Phantoms too. Though they do succeed in unmasking the Skrull-Nixon, the arrival of Immortus forces them to withdraw as the timeline of the 1950's Avengers is washed away by the Forever Crystal and so might Wasp and Captain Marvel be if they don't move quickly.

Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid and Night Rider make the scene.

The debut of T'Challa of Wakanda, the Black Panther.

The debut of the Femizon Thundra.

The debut of Killraven and his desperate war against the Martian invaders.

Debut of the Living Lightning, briefly a member of the Avengers.

Jocasta, the bride of Ultron.

The 1950's Avengers, a clever notion that became The Agents of Atlas.

These stories are everything I love about time travel stories, a rocking adventures with all kinds of misdirection. The heroes in these kinds of stories have to live by their wits more than their brawn and think their way out of the threats they discover. It was really cool to see some familiar timelines such as the Old West haunted by Kang, the 1950's Avengers, one of the greatest What If? adventures as well as a new way of thinking about Killraven's battle against the Martians from H.G. Well's novel. There are hints of other stories untold (Jocasta is pregnant for instance) and call backs to some of the best of what Marvel offered over the years. Big time fun indeed.

More to come next time.

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Sweet Rose!

Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess is a prequel to Smith's sprawling comic book epic Bone. It tells of the early life of "Grandma Ben", a pivotal character in the sprawling saga. Though a sequel, it's best that this story be read after the larger Bone, because alas some key secrets are revealed here.

But as a story on its own merits, it's a winner. Rose and her sister Briar, both princesses of the land Atheia are summoned to Old Man's Cave where they are to study to become better stewards of their land. But things get complicated when a rogue river dragon named Balsaad escapes and threatens the Valley in which they live. Rose is torn between her duties and her obligations as she must deal with the threat of the dragon and the threat of the Lord of Locusts who is behind everything. Also along for the ride is the mysterious Red Dragon and the Rat Creatures from Bone lore.

It's best not to say too much, because this is a riveting little story, which gives us greater insight into the world which the Bones will discover a few generations later. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this story is the magnificent artwork by Charles Vess. His gentle illustrations are absolutely ideal for this somber fairy tale. The book is an outstanding entertainment and highly recommend.

Here are some the covers which graced the original three-part limited series from Cartoon Books. The two dogs by the way are named Euclid and Cleo.

And this is the cover for the later  hardback edition.

Rip Off

Good To The Bone!

It's quite possible with all the attention that Image, Valiant, and other comic book companies got during the hotly hyped halcyon days of 1990's that the best comic book to emerge from that era was Jeff Smith's Bone.

I followed Bone almost from the beginning, but gave it up fairly soon into the saga as I gave up all independent work for mostly financial reasons. But a few years back I was able to get a copy of the mammoth but still highly readable black and white single-volume edition of the whole shebang. It's been sitting on my stacks for quite some time waiting for its chance to be read.

I read it.

It's great!

It's clear enough that Smith's technique improves somewhat as the early stages of the story develop, but soon enough his style stabilizes and what we are presented with is a sprawling fantasy tale told with precision and wit by a guy who is fully able to use the comic book tools to best effect.

Smiley, Fone, Phoney and Thorn

The story presents us with the Bones, a trio of Pogo-esque cousins (Fone, Smiley, and Phoney) who are run out of Boneville and find their way across a desert into The Valley where they encounter friends and enemies, and love and death. Fone Bone, our hero meets Thorn, a lovely girl with a mysterious history who seems to dream of all sorts of things including dragons, which it turns out are quite real and quite powerful. The story begins quite small, with equal parts humor and adventure, but begins to shift gears as the adventure overwhelms the characters with the danger steadily increasing right to the very end.

Hooded One and Rat Creatures

Don't kid yourself, this is a long story by comic book standards. The volume clocks in at well over 1300 pages and took Smith years to complete. But it reads quite seamlessly as details and hints from the beginning of the saga pay off in the finale. Smith's pacing is immaculate. It's a most satisfying read indeed.

Bone has proven quite successful and is available in multiple editions, not including the original comic books. It's been colored and presented through Scholastic Books as fundamental children's literature, which it certainly qualifies for, though I suspect some of the snide humor might be a tad adult for most kids.

I recommend the black and white though, as Smith's storytelling is not reliant on color hardly at all, and his charming line work shines best in this distilled form.

It's been compared to Tolkien's works, and that's hardly fair. It's got the depth of The Hobbit perhaps, but nothing so dense and detailed as The Lord of the Rings. It's a rock solid fantasy, worthy of inclusion on the shelves of any fantasy devotee, a true graphic novel.

Rip Off