Product Description

A grand ridiculous opera of adventure greed mystery and unrequited love. If you like big jokes and fast action hurry in for a good seat at Join the Bone cousins: Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone in their most outrageous adventure ever! is the original tale which won the Eisner award for Best Serialized Story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #396790 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Amazon.com
Part two of the first Bone trilogy has the three Bone cousins further entrenching themselves into their new valley home: Fone Bone is still pining for the lovely Thorn, Phoney Bone is plotting more schemes, and Smiley Bone is still, well, smiling! While it's hard to upstage the hilarity and operatic chaos of the cow race, one of the really special moments of this book is from the first chapter when Fone Bone tries to outdo a beautiful country boy in a battle for Thorn's attention. Bone: The Great Cow Race is funny, joyful, and bittersweet in a way that only the immensely talented Jeff Smith can deliver.

From Booklist
The saga of the Bone cousins picks up steam in the second collection of one of the most acclaimed new comics. Now that the three refugees from Boneville--our hero Fone Bone, scheming Phony Bone, and happy-go-lucky Smiley Bone--are firmly established in the outside world, the Tolkienesque aspects of the tale become more apparent as we see more of the loathsome rat creatures and catch glimpses of the mysterious childhood the Bone cousins' friend Thorn spent among dragons. But the fantasy doesn't come at the expense of the humor and charm always prominent in Smith's work. "Bone" --and comics generally--don't get more uproarious than the pivotal cow race here, in which cantankerous Gran'ma outruns a herd of bovine contestants. Smith's animation-inspired storytelling, with its traces of Walt Kelly and Carl Barks and its impressive balancing of humor and adventure, continues to astound. Smith's neotraditional approach may not be cutting-edge, but as a graphic novel series that appeals to an audience of more than just comics enthusiasts, his is the "Bone" to pick. Gordon Flagg

From the Publisher
Like Pogo BONE has a whimsy best appreciated by adults yet kids can enjoy it too; and like Barks' Disney Duck stories BONE moves from brash humor to gripping adventure in a single panel.

Customer Reviews

Part Two Of A Great Series
"The Great Cow Race" picks up where "Out From Boneville" left off. It is the second volume in the nine volume Bone series. Written and drawn beautifully by Jeff Smith, it is an adventure filled with humor and mystery.

In this section of the story, Phoney Bone is trying to rig the betting on the great cow race by starting rumors about Rose (Thorn's Grandmother who always wins the race) being too old, and about a new incredibly fast mystery cow, which turns out to be Smiley Bone in a homemade cow suit. The main adventure story continues as well, as we learn more about Thorn through her dreams about a time she can't remember, and hints of an unusual past from comments by Rose and Lucius (the bar owner in Barrelhaven who has a long unspoken love for Rose).

This volume is heavier on the humorous stories, and as a result there is very little learned about the overall storyline of the series. For that reason, I rate it slightly lower than the first volume, but it is definitely worth reading.

Comic excellence unsurpassed
Volume #2 of the 'Bone,' graphic novel series collects issues #7-11 originally released in 1992-1993. Those who enjoyed the first volume will surely enjoy this second collection even more, as the characters and storylines introduced in vol. #1 hit their full stride and become further fleshed out in fun and effortless fashion. Reading through the 'Bone,' series is reminiscent of listening to a well-crafted pop song in that there is seemingly little effort taking place to enjoy the work and moments later after you're done digesting it you suddenly realize what a rich and complex work the piece actually is, functioning on several unique layers. 'Bone,' works exactly in such a fashion and trust me when I say that you'll never have more fun while reading through a book and digesting the nuances afterward as you will with this series.

Destined to be a classic series
Jeff Smith's "Bone" series is a critically acclaimed but criminally overlooked epic for a reason. Critics recognize Smith's masterful storytelling abilities and are drawn to his mix of all-ages humor and decidedly adult darkness, but the black and white art and lack of superheroes is anathema to most comic book readers, making it a hit only in the "underground" sense.

Smith combines the kind of classic storytelling perfected by the likes of the legendary Carl Barks and Bill Watterson - gleefully funny cartooning with outrageously expressive faces and gestures - with the epic and engaging plotting of a sweeping fairy tale. "Bone" walks a tightrope and walks it well, managing to be something fans of both Donald Duck and Bilbo Baggins can enjoy.

Timeless is every way, "Bone" is an expansive story about three "bone creatures" (you'd have to see them to understand) that find themselves in a valley peopled with an assortment of crazy and interesting characters. Looming over it all is the menace of a great evil, first glimpsed by the ferocious (and funny) rat creatures, but later revealed to be something much more disturbing.

Thank goodness for trade paperbacks, which have allowed new readers unaccustomed to weekly stops at the comic store to follow this marvelous, epic, enchanting series.

In this second volume (out of nine total), Smith ramps up the humor - the idea of an old lady racing a bunch of cows is hilarious - while slowly, deliberately dropping hints that all is not as it seems with some of the village folk, specifically grandma. "The Great Cow Race" continues to sparkle with humor and retains the light tone of the first volume, "Out From Boneville," while Smith offers us just enough looks at the larger tale to keep us going. A fine effort on his part.

"Bone" is essential reading that no lover of the comic artform should skip. Little doubt people will still be reading "Bone" 50 years from now. Broad in scope yet personal and quaint, this is a charming story in every way that will long outlast 90 percent of other comic works on the shelf.