Customer Reviews

Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

i have already bought the bones series volume by volume and love its take on mixing fantasy, humor and pogo-like characters. i would wholeheartedly recommend getting the series.

my only problem is with the ONE VOLUME EDITION, and that is only if you are INTERESTED IN THE ART. the volume is smaller in size but even that isn't a real issue. the problem is with the THINNESS OF THE PAGES, the artwork from the other side shows through (kind of like the wording shows through on many bibles). this hurts smith's beautiful black and white inked drawings (to me at least), and since graphics are what makes it a graphic novel, it might be an issue for someone that doesn't get to flip through the pages before buying it.

but it is a GREAT DEAL FOR THE PRICE. and i would still prefer the cheap volume over not having it at all. (BTW, i had to have the last 2 volumes ordered through a bookstore and they came in hardback instead of softcover and they are beautiful with a map on the interior binding, a gold-inked illustration on the front cover, a wrap-around book cover with the softcover art over that, and is worth the $5 or so extra if you are going to buy volume by volume).

This is buy no means a review of the series itself, my review here is regarding the quality of the pages that this is printed on.

You will be very disappointed by how THIN the pages are. You can see the artwork on the next page! It is extremely distracting to try to read this book when you can see what is happening on the next page. It's cool to have this in it's original black and white incarnation, but do yourself a favor and buy the colored versions from Scholastic. The paper quality on the scholastic versions is now graphic novel thick almost semi gloss paper. The colors pop off the pages, they look amazing. The color adds even more depth to the story.
So please don't order this...order the more expensive but totally worth it color versions.

TIP: If your kids bring home those Scholastic book flyers from their school, they are selling the complete 9 books for $50!

Hope this helps anyone on the fence...

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.

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.

The black and white Bone: One Volume Edition is being re-printed in September 2006. So if you really want it, avoid the price gouging and wait. (Just do a search on Amazon in September since it might be a different product page that you would be buying from).

I just heard of this book a few months ago, and I'm already hooked. And since it's one of the best books, both of comic and literature, it really deserves a review that really shows how good it is.

So far I'm up to Old Man's Cave, I'd be finished if I didn't own it yet. Every Friday me and my dad go over to Borders and I rip it out, and, if there's few people around, I read it aloud. I think I do a great voice with all the characters. We stay from 8 PM to 11, the closing time. Anyways, enough about that.

The story of Bone starts right to the chase, with no knowledge of why the Bones have been run out of their homeland, Boneville. With no professionally made map of the outskirts of town, stuck with a 5-year old's map, they end up seperated, in the mysterious land of Barrelhaven, where leaf-looking bugs, stupid, stupid rat creatures, and heroic dragons reside.

The Bone Trio consists of, "Fone Bone", the geek and hero of the group, a lover of Moby Dick (great for teaching rat creatures how to take a nap), who is nearly no good at love poetry, and the favored dish of Rat Creatures. He's desperately in love with Thorn Harvestar. (More on her later.)

Then comes, "Smiley Bone", the happy go lucky sort of person, no money to speak of, uneducated, unintelligable, and unbelievable. He's sort of the Goofy of the group, skinny, stupid, and dinky-hat wearing. He usually accompanies Phoney Bone on his gigantic get-rich schemes, and he just adores "Hard-Stuffed Bread Thingies", and he's actually pretty good at making them as well.

Finally, last but not least, "Phoncible P. Bone", or more shortly, "Phoney Bone". A meglomaniac craving all cash, power, and food available, with no care for anyone else but him, all Rat Creatures, and a mysterious Hooded One seem to be looking for him, calling him, "The One With The Star". A fine cook, former richest man from Boneville, you'll never guess what he'll come up with with his crazy schemes!

Thorn Harvestar, the heir to the Atheia throne, is dealing with the fact her Grandmother has lied on everything in her life, and she can't go back to the innocent times of her life, with no troubles, and no worries, now that she has her responsibilities and duties, now knowing her role in the world. She also loves Fone Bone, maybe not as much Fone himself, but still.

Grandma Ben, Thorn's Grandmother and one of the original rulers of Atheia, has been protecting Thorn by hiding every memory of royalty and dragons for many years, leaving Atheia and keeping themselves safe in Barrelhaven. But now, all that is a memory now that the rat creatures, and the Hooded One is on their tails. She seems to have a long gone sister, Briar... however, she DOES seem to be alive, in some odd way or another.

The Bones face many odd twists and turns, involving a small Rat Creature stray named Bartleby, and the trials of bringing him back to his own kind, Roque Ja, the master of Barrelhaven, with 2 sides of himself and 2 sides of the land. Hey, there's even a great cow race in this thing!

I don't get how someone can hate how sometimes the book gets too serious, and the humor goes poof. I guess when you only read it book by book, instead in one volume, you aren't as satisfied with the serious parts. But I think that when you have a mix, a variety of emotions, it's even better!

It's a masterpiece, I hope this brings out how good it is.

10/10!

5/5!

pi/pi!

... I'm sure everyone is impressed by how intelligible this is for a kid's review. And how.. untypo'd it is. Buh-bye!

What could beat a story of a royal family destroyed by evil, an ancient menace thought to be only exist in children's stories, and a battle of humans, monsters, furry woodland creatures, and...Bones?

So the story goes of the kindhearted Fone Bone and the greed and idiocy of his cousins which got them run out of town, no thanks to bad prunes. Separated by a mysterious cloud of locust, each Bone finds himself in a mysterious and magical valley where they are assisted by dragons, guided by a tiny green bug with an attitude, or chased by rat creatures who want to make them into baked meat pastries.

Magic and comedy run amuk for Fone Bone, always topped with his crush on the sweet, beautiful human girl Thorn who has the strength and tenacity of a bull...and seems to be sharing fearful dreams with Bone about the horrors of the past- all of which may be the only way to save the future of the valley. And often the biggest trial in reaching their amazing fate...is trying to put up with comic cow costumes, the attitude of a little old lady, or finding themselves dressed as characters from Moby Dick.

If you love epic adventures but want to skip the boring details of the scenery to instead visually see an amazing story unfold, and if you have a single funny bone in you, Bone will never disappoint. I first read the beginning of the story when I was still a child and fell in love, but like Shrek this tale has elements of humour for all ages, whether you love watching idiot characters get strangled or find yourself laughing at the greediest dictator in the story as he discovers he's been thrown into an economy run by livestock trade. I may have grown up since first discovering the world of Bone, but when I read in a nationally acclaimed magazine that this full compiling of the story had been created a smile filled my face and I rushed to get one for myself. You're never too old for fairy tales.

Bone is one of the most consistently good and satifying fantasy's I have ever read. The build up and pay off to this series is brilliant. There are no low spots in this book, and nothing that seems forced or out of character. It is good throughout, with an ending that has impact and emotion. Unlike many other stories told in serial parts over long periods, it feels like one big story with a consitent narrative and voice. I highly recommend this book. It is a classic, epic fantasy that should be remembered for years to come. I almost didn't pick this one up because it looked (upon first glance,) like a funny animal book -- but I'm glad I gave it further inspection. I may even buy the limited edition hardcover when it comes out later in the year. Oh, and Jeff Smith is also a brilliant artist who draws expressions and chase scenes as well as anyone I've ever seen.