The Phenomenal World Of 'Bone': A Retrospective On The 2000s Classic
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Bone. Saying that word likely brings to mind all sorts of images, some grisly, some beautiful, some simple or factual. But for some, saying that name surely brings to mind a vast cast of characters and a wonderful world they all inhabit. This is the Bone franchise, which has sold millions of copies of its graphic novels over the years since their original publication, and has spun off into side-stories and continuations of the main plot after the core nine graphic novels released, from 2005 to 2009.
Repackaging earlier black and white comics that began publication in the 1990s and ended in 2004, Bone’s world is truly a marvelous, thoughtful example of medieval worldbuilding worthy of remembrance, especially when repeated efforts to adapt and spread the franchise’s reach have failed.
The comic had many earlier iterations, from creator Jeff Smith’s younger years, to during his time on his college’s student newspaper. But in the early 1990s, the first black and white versions of Bone as a final product began to be released, and would follow a winding path of publication from various sources as the years wore on.
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The original story in the world of Bone follows the adventures of the three Bone cousins, Fone, Phoncible P. "Phoney", and Smiley, after they are run out of town due to Phoney’s failed efforts to become mayor of Boneville. All Bones (the entire population shares the same surname) are white, humanoid, cartoon-esque beings who appear to exist at a roughly late-1800s, early-1900s level of technology, and also have access to literature familiar to us in the real world. For example, Fone is a big fan of Herman Melville and frequently reads from Moby-Dick.
Forced into a vast desert at the edge of their people’s civilization, the trio get separated by a sudden swarm of locusts after crossing the expansive dunes, and fall into The Valley, a lush wooded region populated by humans at a medieval level of technology, and Rat Creatures, large hairy humanoids with big eyes and flexible ears. Fone soon encounters a young woman called Thorn living with her aged grandmother, nicknamed Ben, and spends the winter with them. His cousins, meanwhile, fall into the care of the hardworking Lucius Down, who runs the local tavern and has the Bone cousins work to pay off their debt after their paper money is deemed worthless in an economy that relies mostly on trading produce.
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From this simple beginning, came a complex, layered story that steadily deepened the mythology of this strange world, one where dragons serve as creators, destroyers, and protectors, where dreams have real power, where the Rat Creatures are not the simple, animalistic villains they initially appear to be, and where prophecy proves to be doom and salvation to different groups.
The graphic novels added color to what was originally a black and white story, and it was that colorized format this writer first engaged with them years ago. The original Bone series is truly a marvelous work in the comic medium and has received numerous accolades attesting to that fact. Each of its primary and secondary characters is well-rounded, well-realized, and rendered in a beautiful art style that reflects the exaggerated realism mixed with cartoonish qualities fitting to the setting, while beautiful or haunting vistas and architecture are displayed in incredible detail. CultureSlate cannot recommend it enough for those who haven’t read the series before, and for those who have, we definitely encourage you to go back and try to reread the original comics. We won’t spoil the story’s twists and turns, but it is well worth the investment or reinvestment of everyone’s time.
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As was mentioned at the start of this article, the Bone series isn’t just the original comic series, collected into nine graphic novels, but now features two collections of short stories, a prequel comic, and a sequel book series aimed at younger readers, with a new cast of characters interacting with familiar faces. But further expansion into the realm of games or animation has seen less success. Telltale Games originally released point-and-click narrative adaptations of the first two graphic novels, but did not proceed further with the project, and both installments were delisted following that company’s closure. Efforts to create an animated project, meanwhile, have been ongoing since the 1990s, and the most recent round seemed promising. Netflix Animation acquired the rights and produced a style of animation extremely faithful to the original comics, but the project was cancelled after Netflix Animation was reorganized in 2022.
Despite this, Netflix still apparently holds the rights to make a Bone series, and this whole situation saw comment from Jeff Smith in the form of a comic making light of the repeated setbacks to adaptation efforts. Here's hoping that either Netflix gives up those rights since they have no intention to follow through with the project, or they get back to the drawing board and finish what they started over half a decade ago. Bone could be so much more well-known than it is now; it could be very big in an era of media that is on the hunt for new franchises. Bone is a marvelous world full of interesting characters and ideas just waiting to be brought to life in other media, but if all we have are the comics and novels, those are more than enough to delight readers young and old.
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Source(s): Wikipedia
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