Word: bone
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...cartooning talents. As attested by his numerous Harvey and Eisner awards for "Best Cartoonist" and "Best Writer/Artist," Smith draws panels that put more energy into a single line than many comics put into entire books. The action sequences, like the one where two dim-witted rat creatures chase the Bones through a precarious rock face, leave you near breathless with their dynamism. Even simple dialogue sequences stay visually interesting thanks to the expressiveness that Smith, a former animator, puts into his work. This key aspect of Smith's work makes "Bone" much more accessible to kids at a beginning reading...
Though the title sounds grim it actually refers to the stars of the series, cousins Fone Bone, Smiley Bone and Phoney Bone, who couldn't be less threatening. Like the Hobbits, the Bones are a peculiar-looking, diminutive race. They are pure cartoon - cute and pantsless, with four fingers on each hand and smooth, rounded, sexless bodies. At first their personalities are similarly simple. Fone, the dreamy one, must constantly get out of the scrapes created by Phoney, the avaricious schemer, and Smiley, a goofball comic foil whose tongue hangs out like a friendly dog's. Over the book...
...home, they find themselves trapped in a secret valley full of dragons, talking animals and scary rat creatures. Humans live here too, including Thorn, a pretty farm girl whose parents have died, leaving her in the care of her apple-cheeked yet oddly strong Gran'ma Ben. As the Bone's lives become more entwined with Thorn's it becomes clear that she has a secret past that her Gran'ma has been keeping from her. Meanwhile an evil, unseen entity known as the Lord of the Locusts has been gathering armies, including the rat creatures, with plans to take...
...Smiley and Fone Bone make an escape in Jeff Smith's "Bone...
...pieces, such as the Great Cow Race, where Phoney introduces a "mystery cow" - actually Smiley in a costume - convincing the locals to go for this sucker bet over the favorite: Gran'ma Ben(!). The final race turns into a raucously funny slapstick worthy of a classic Chuck Jones cartoon. "Bone" keeps the comic in comix, without being juvenile, in a smart but universally funny way that has become all too rare in the form...