Treasure Hunters: A Graphic Novel (Bone #8): Volume 8

My kids, 10 and 12 years old, are not avid book or comic book readers, but the devaoured the 9 volumes in a couple of weekends. The quality of the book was flawless. Even I enjoyed it.

Back in the early '90s, Bone became the little book that could. Written, drawn and independently published by Jeff Smith over the course of 12 years, Bone told an epic fantasy with wit and humor and not a small amount of suspense. Some thought it couldn't be done. The comics market wasn't healthy for such small ventures, and publishing and distributing a comic out of a garage --- as Smith did --- was risky at best. But it worked. In fact, it became a phenomenon. It begins with three cousins --- Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone --- being unceremoniously thrown out of Boneville because of the scheming ways of Phoney, the richest (and most deceptive) man in town. Almost immediately, the three become separated, and Fone, the hero of the tale, sets out to find them. He first meets the charming and beautiful Thorn, who brings him back to stay with her Gran'ma Ben, a rough-and-tumble fighter who races cows and doesn't take backtalk from anyone. Good-hearted Fone befriends a dragon, bugs, other assorted creatures, falls head over heels for Thorn, and becomes the target of deadly rat creatures, who want to capture him and bring him to their evil master. And so begins an epic journey wherein our hero is unsuspecting of the dangers that face him as he reaches levels of greatness he had no idea were in store for him. Bone's long tale unfolded in glorious black-and-white in its original form, but Scholastic has begun reprinting the series in color. Bone purists may have a hard time accepting this, but they needn't fear. These reprinted collections use color splendidly, actually giving Bone a new feel. And it may help this wonderful series reach a new audience. (One other side effect of the added color: The rat creatures look twice as terrifying as before, with beady red eyes filled with evil intentions.) Something these reprinted collections would benefit immensely from, however, is a foreword or brief primer to fill new readers in on what has gone before. Bone is not easy to jump into this far into the series --- the eighth installment is the penultimate book in the tale --- and someone attempting to start here may be a bit thrown. Even new readers would be hard-pressed to avoid being drawn into this charming world, though. Bone has a way of combining sweeping action with hilarious dialogue without ever descending into camp. Even better, Smith takes his work seriously, even when he's being seriously funny --- or when he's being downright frightening, as TREASURE HUNTERS often is. This far into his story, Smith has upped the stakes, and the action is fast and furious. As Fone, Thorn, Gran'ma Ben and the other characters get nearer to reaching their goal, answers begin to unfold with satisfying results, and the danger they're in escalates. Bone is a special kind of graphic novel, a work that is as enjoyable for adults as it is for kids (and manages to tell its story without insulting the sensibilities of either group). It's in the grand tradition of

My son cannot wait to get the newest version. Great graphic novel for 10-13 year olds.

And so with "Treasure Hunters," we take the final step before the end of the "Bone" series. In this, the eighth of nine volumes, we see a return to the humor that has run through much of the series ("Ghost Circles" was grim indeed)."Bone" is an huge story about three "bone creatures" and their adventures in a quaint valley of peasants, hidden princesses, dragons and creatures. Like a dark cloud looming over it all is the menace of a great evil intent on taking over the world. The series starts off lighthearted, but grows to become an epic story rooted in fantasy, without the Tolkienesque elves and dwarves.This installment bring us into a city rather than the valley that has been at the center of the series. The forward progression for the grand tale is small indeed here. Instead, Smith begins to position all of the pieces of the puzzle for the final climax, while unexpectedly adding a few new pieces - a religious tyrant and an underground rebellion - to make the climax all that much more frantic.Most of the action in "Treasure Hunters" takes place in the city. Few side plots or diversions outside of the city show up. The result is one of the faster reads of the "Bone" series.This is the kind of comic tale that will appeal to a wide demographic. Smith combines the classic storytelling perfected by the likes of Carl Barks (Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge) and Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) - characters with outrageous and expressive faces and gestures - with the epic plotting of a sweeping fairy tale. "Bone" manages to balance the two well enough to be something fans of both Donald Duck and Frodo Baggins can enjoy.There is no doubt people will still be reading "Bone" 50 years from now. Broad and epic in scope yet personal and quaint, this is a charming story in every way that will surely outlast most other comic works on the shelf.

This is the eighth installment of the Bone series. It continues to follow the adventures of the Bones and Thorn. The big change in this story is that it moves from the outdoors to the city. Nearly all of the action takes place in the city of Atheia. Thorn comes closer to understanding her role in the world.Generally speaking, I love the Bone series, and I have rated all of the previous books with five stars. However there are some weak points in this book which prevent me from giving it five stars. One point is that the shift from the outdoors to the city gives this book a rather cramped feel. I believe that Jeff Smith has a certain talent for drawing outdoor scenes, and that talent doesn't seem to be in use in this book. Another point is that a lot of new characters are introduced, which takes away page space from the characters we already know and love, and what is worse, the new characters are not in the least bit interesting. They are all stock types. Also I cringed to see the appearance of dwarfs and gnomes in the city. One of the points I liked about the Bone series is the freedom it had from the typical swords and sorcery fantasy, but I guess he ran out of ideas.Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad book. It's just not as good as the others. Of course if you're following the Bone story, you have to get this. Let's just hope that Smith regains his touch in the next book. Oh, and no more gnomes please.