Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume

Home-schooI mom here. Bought this for my son as a youngster and he was often heard laughing out loud as he devoured the 1000+ pages of this massive graphic novel! An epic saga and complete delight! My other son and daughter loved it too, and though grown, they have fond memories of this wonderful story! I bought another copy to have on hand in case of grandchildren. Oh, and I love it too!

I'm not really in to graphic novels, but when my Dad bought the one-volune edition of Bone for me I read it in one day. I loved it! It's one of my favorite series now. And the color editions? Well, I read part of the first one and found that I didn't like the colored ones. This is probably because I read the black and white edition and imagined all the colors, so when I found they were completely different it just made my eyes feel weird. I already have almost all of the Bone action figures and I made a little shelf on my bookcase in honor of this awesome series. I will reccomend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, even if they don't like graphic novels!

I hadn't read a single panel of Bone until I picked up this book, and I finnished the book in 4 days. Considering the book is 1332 pages long, that's saying something. Somewhere between Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, this book tells it's tale of war, power, secret pasts, and secret pacts while never forgetting the air of fun that the book is filled with fron the first page. This book is an unbelievable accomplishment. 13 years in the making, Bone holds reader interest and remains compelling and page-turning from beginning to end. There are no boring parts to be found. Granted, the book was originally published chapter-by-chapter in comic-book form, a fact that greatly contributes to the always-moving-forward feeling of the book, but it is still an incredible accomplishment. Buy it. Read it. Then read it again.

If Lord of the Rings were much funnier and pervaded with humor, it would be very much like Bone. Not that Bone isn't a serious work, because it is in every way - It's probably one of the comic book masterpieces of our time. Only that the story sometimes twists and turns on laugh out loud plot devices. Many of the characters are funny (Phoney Bone, the stupid stupid rat creatures, Smiley Bone, Bartelby, Gran'ma) but also have a downright serious side (Gran'ma has one VERY serious side; don't mess with her and definitely don't mess with her cows). The story itself is even funny in ways, but it amazingly maintains tension with some horror and shock mixed in. It's adventure, comedy, horror, and fantasy wrapped in a shell of great comic artwork. Hidden beneath the adventures, jokes, and great artwork also lies some social commentary. When Phoney Bone convinces the townsfolk that dragons are an immediate threat to their safety and, since he's a dragonslayer, they should give him absolute control over the town, this hits almost a little too close to home. Phoney represents greed on steroids. Other innocents get pulled into his plans for money and power (he doesn't seem too concerned with glory or the well being of society in general). Nonetheless, the entire story turns on Phoney's schemes, and they play a vital role in the plot. Other highlights include: the Great Cow Races; Fone Bone's infatuation with Thorn; Ted the Bug (what an amazing character); the two stupid rat creature's travails with Kingdok (one of them loves quiche); the slow uncovering of Gran'ma and Thorn's true identities; Smiley Bone's pet rat creature; Fone Bone's run ins with The Great Red Dragon; the Giant Bees ("Gimmee dat Cigar!"); Phoney Bone's first very creepy run in with The Hooded One. There's plenty more. These some 1300 pages are crammed with highlights. Bone was originally released in numerous comic books (from 1991 to 2004) which were then collected into 9 larger books, and now all nine books are compiled into this one chunky volume. This book is slightly smaller in physical size than the other books, so some of the extreme detail of the art is lost (but most people won't care). Nonetheless, here's the entire story in one big volume for one much smaller price. It's a quick and tumultuous read, and represents ten years very well spent.

This book contains all nine books in Jeff Smith's epic series Bone. It's a real bargain, since you get the complete story at a fraction of the price you would pay if you bought all the individual books. But aside from the price, this is simply a great comic book. I hadn't read Bone at all before I bought this book, and now it is one of my favorite comics. It's 1300 pages long, but once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop. I don't want to give away much of the plot, because part of the enjoyment comes from experiencing the many twists and turns that the story takes. But I will mention that the book is a fantasy adventure with a lot of humor. The "Bone" title comes from the characters of the Bone cousins; big hearted Fone Bone, greedy Phoney Bone and goofy Smiley Bone. As the book opens, the Bones have been run out of their hometown of Boneville. The end up in the Valley, and have the adventure of their lives. And that's all I am going to say. I highly recommend this book.