So I finally had the opportunity to read the first Bone graphic novel. Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo of Time Magazine selected the Bone graphic novels as one of the top ten graphic novels of all-time. They are insanely popular with my students in the library. Time’s magazine captures the essence of the book better than I ever could when they write, ”Bone combines the humor and look of early Disney movies with the scope of the Lord of the Rings cycle.”

Out of Boneville begins with three cousins wandering through the desert: Phoney Bone, Fone Bone, and Smiley Bone. Phoney Bone, the formerly richest bone in boneville as he likes to inform us at every second, was run out of town for some scheme to make more money. His two cousins follow him. A swarm of locust separates them in the desert after they get lost. Foney finds himself in a strange valley with talking animals and a beautiful human girl named Thorn. He stays with her and her grandmother, until he can locate his two cousins, except giant rat monsters led by a mysterious death-like figure are searching for Phoney Bone as well.

So far I haven’t found the graphic novel to be particularly profound in the vein of Alan Moore’s work (read: Watchmen). Nevertheless, for what it lacks in profundity (at least in this first issue), the book makes up with its sense of humor. The reoccurring gag-reels–such as Fone Bone trying to tell everyone about his favorite novel, Moby Dick, only to put them to sleep–work quite well. It is a rare and difficult feat to achieve in any artistic medium to create a work that appeals to young and old. I am positive I would’ve enjoyed it just as much as when I was little as I do now that I’m an adult. Perhaps then that’s the bottom line: this work is simply a lot of fun to read.

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