New To You Comics #121: All-Ages Adventures In ‘Bone V1: Out From Boneville’

Everyone has different tastes in comics. Here at New To You Comics, we explore that as Tony and Tom dive into comics that, well, it’s right there in the column title. This week, we look at one of the indie greats of the nineties. 

Jeff Smith should be a household name and really, he’s pretty close. His Bone is one of the most lauded and successful creator owned comics of the last fifty years. The series has been reprinted in multiple formats, colorized and serialized, as it spread across libraries and bookshelves everywhere. 

When a trio of cousins- Fone, Phoney and Smiley Bone- are driven from their home in Boneville, they think they’re just fighting for survival. As they come to a lush green valley, they soon come to realize there’s so much more to their new lives. But a greater threat is around the corner with the arrival of the vicious, monstrous rat creatures. 

Tony Thornley: I just did a feature over at ComicsXF about how important all ages comics are. Good all ages books are a gateway for young readers and the parents reading to them. I don’t think there is any all ages book more important than Bone. I think this is the comic that defined that all ages could be smart, bold and complex without losing anything by writing it with a younger audience in mind. 

Tom Smithyman: I’ve seen Jeff Smith at conventions in the past, but have never had the opportunity to talk to him. And since I largely stopped reading comics in the 90s, I missed out on Bone altogether. 

I’m all for comics that bring in younger readers. I think that’s part of the issue with today’s choices. With very few exceptions, young kids can’t pick up Avengers or Batman like we did many years ago because the stories are so adult. It really takes the Marvel movies or some other non-comic medium to introduce them to the characters. In some ways, that’s a real shame. 

Tony: Yes, exactly! In my mind, DC and Marvel should have an all-ages Batman and Spider-Man title at all times. DC actually does pretty good at this (The Batman/Scooby-Doo Mysteries is running right now, for example), but man does Marvel fall behind on it. Thankfully, there’s books like this out there.

Smith is fantastic at introducing and building characters. The story basically starts en media res- there are years worth of stories before this featuring the cousins in Boneville that we don’t see. But Fone, Phoney and Smiley give us just enough in dialogue to understand their predicament and their personalities. It also helps that they’re clearly based on another trio of archetypes that we know. These three share archetypes with Mickey, Donald and Goofy and because of that we can relate to them very quickly. 

Then from that introduction, it builds quickly. The cousins get separated. We follow Fone, as he ends up in the Valley, encounters the rat creatures and soon meets Thorn. And I love how that progression bonds us as readers to him. We’re cheering for him all along the way. 

Tom:  I’ll be honest, since I’ve never read Bone, I was concerned that I was missing something when I started looking through the volume. But after a page or two, I realized that it really didn’t matter. The material and situations weren’t hard to gather from the clues that Smith left for his readers. Though I still don’t know what to make of the characters. Are they ghosts? Literal bones? That is me being too adult, I think!

Tony: You know, I don’t think the story ever answers that and I’ve never thought of it. I guess I’ve just assumed they were cartoon characters that crossed into a fantasy world.

It’s not until later stories that we really get much with Phoney and Smiley but we don’t need it in this first volume. Fone is the hero, and Thorn is a clear focal point for the whole story. We need time with them to invest us in their adventure to come. 

Tom: And we do spend a lot of time with him. He kind of reminds me of the leaf in Forrest Gump. He’s just out there and these amazing and fantastical things happen to him. And he rolls with each punch.

I enjoyed the humor that Smith injects into the tales. Like the some of the best stories for kids, there’s always a wink and a nod to the adult audience as well.

Tony: Oh definitely. It kind of goes back to the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comparison- all those old Disney Comics adventures stories were full of humor. Smith clearly drew inspiration from there without it being a pastiche. I still love the leaf bug interactions in the first issue as a great example of that.

Smith’s art is fantastic. The cousins are unusual but relatable enough that they’re striking on the page but not distracting. The rat creatures are still such a scary design and I love how he depicts Thorn and her Gran’ma Ben. Add that with great storytelling sense on the page and it’s such a fantastic book visually. 

Tom: Smith does a good job of differentiating the characters. While I didn’t know who the cousins were at first, it’s very clear visually that they are different. 

I also appreciate the variety. At first the drawings with the cousins are pretty simplistic. Then we see some monsters. And all of a sudden there are some fully realized humans. It’s an interesting juxtaposition – and one I wasn’t at all expecting. It really shows off Smith’s talents as an illustrator.

Tony: Now did you read the colorized version? I think that’s the one from Comixology Unlimited. 

Tom: Yes, the version I read was colored by Steve Hamaker. With the comic-strip like feel to the stories, I can understand why it was originally black and white. But realistically, I think the color is needed to grab the youth audience. I can’t imagine a black-and-white comic capturing the attention of an audience brought up on YouTube and TikTok. 

Tony: I agree. I love the black and white version, and I think I always will. Hamaker’s colors elevate it quite a bit though. He adds a lot of complexity to Smith’s cartooning, which shows adding it was a good call. But hey, I completely get Smith starting with it in black and white- when you’re doing it all yourself, you’re the only person you have to pay. Makes it easier to get started and come back later to colorize it after it’s profitable.

Tom: So overall, I think this is a good set of stories for kids. I had a difficult time getting into it as an adult, but I know a lot of my peers adore Smith and these tales. I’m not quite sure if it’s the quality of the storytelling or the nostalgia factor that keeps them coming back.

Tony: Yeah, that’s something Brendan and I ran into a bunch previously- basically “this is good but not for me.” And that’s totally fair. Thanks Tom!

Come back next week as Tony is joined by Scott Redmond to take a look at the just-concluded Robin by Joshua WIlliamson and Gleb Melkinov, and then Tom returns in time for Christmas as we wish you a Scary Christmas!