Bone: One Volume Edition

Normally, I wouldn’t include something like this in my “Now Reading” section. But Bone: One Volume Edition is kind of special. It’s the marvelous collection of the entire 13 year run of Bone comics, all between two covers. I started to read the Bone books way back in the day and they struck me as charming and fascinating. The titular Bone cousins looked like something out of a Walt Disney doodle with their simple lines, exaggerated expressions, and one-note personalities, but they were thrown into a high fantasy setting with much more verisimilitude and things got interesting quickly.

Unfortunately, the author’s inconsistent publication schedule meant that I never knew when to expect new issues and the comic shops I went to often quickly sold out of them when they did come out. That, coupled with my general waning interest in comics, meant that I never followed the saga through more than about a third of the way. Thankfully, the artist decided to release this huge volume containing every issue of the book’s 13 year run.

An American graphic novel first! The complete 1300-page epic adventure from start to finish in one deluxe trade paperback. Three modern cartoon cousins get lost in a pre-technological valley, speanding a year there making new friends and out-running dangerous enemies. Their many adventures include crossing the local people in The Great Cow Race, and meeting a giant mountain lion called RockJaw: Master of the Eastern Border. They learn about sacrifice and hardship in The Ghost Circles and finally discover their own true natures in the climatic journey to The Crown of Horns.

It’s a brick at over 1,300 pages long, but I’m loving it and I’m glad I got to see what ever happened to the Bones, Thorn, Grandma, Lucius, and all the others. Like so many of my favorite books, I can’t wait to share it with Sam.