Product Description

An American graphic novel first! The complete 1300-page epic adventure from start to finish in one deluxe trade paperback. Three modern cartoon cousins get lost in a pre-technological valley, speanding a year there making new friends and out-running dangerous enemies. Their many adventures include crossing the local people in The Great Cow Race, and meeting a giant mountain lion called RockJaw: Master of the Eastern Border. They learn about sacrifice and hardship in The Ghost Circles and finally discover their own true natures in the climatic journey to The Crown of Horns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2277 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1300 pages

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Mere months after publishing the final installment of the long-running fantasy saga Bone, Smith collects all 13 years' worth of it in a single, massive volume. As many comics fans know, the series chronicles the adventures of the Bone cousins--plucky Fone Bone, scheming Phony Bone, and easygoing Smiley Bone-- who leave their home of Boneville and are swept up in a Tolkienesque epic of royalty, dragons, and unspeakable evil forces out to conquer humankind. The compilation makes it evident how fully formed Smith's vision was from the very beginning--although the early chapters emphasized comedy, as do the final pages, the tale quickly found its dramatic bearings. His remarkably accomplished drawing style, in the manner of such comics masters as Walt Kelly and Carl Barks, was fully formed from the start, too. Libraries that have missed out on individual Bone series titles should seize this opportunity to make up for the fact, and those who have collected the series all along will do well to acquire the collected edition to supplement or supplant those doubtless well-worn volumes. But be prepared for overdues: even the most voracious readers will be hard-pressed to get through this hefty, phone book-like tome before they're supposed to return it. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

HUGE book, worth the read!
This book is simply gorgeous. An adult or child alike will find this book captivating, and awesome.

The black and white version hurts me inside
Bone is an enjoyable comic, and for many in my age bracket it was our first taste of a graphic novel that was not about superheroes. It is a serious yet still fun piece of literature, suitable for both children and adults, but a large part of its appeal is from the crisp visual style and bright colors of the original printings. The setting is beautiful, and the world's inhabitants are lively and fun. The art utilizes lighting effects and background color constantly to set the tone for each scene, and I can think of at least two characters who are hard to tell apart without the benefit of color. Seeing this collection in black and white made me very sad, because I know so many people will miss out on half the charm to the story. When I got this tome as a present, I only made it a few pages in before I had to put it down and go buy the color volumes myself.

The comic is a cartoon, illustrated by a talented artist, and it deserves to be seen as it was intended. Rendering it in black and white for this printing makes it less expensive, but you get what you pay for. Buy color.Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville

One of my favorites
Jeff Smith's Bone series, I can honestly say, is one of those occasions where a comic book series grows out of itself into actual literature (and not to bring up the question of what does the "genre" literature actually consist of, I hope you understand my meaning). It is a grand, sweeping, epic story interspersed with humour, tragedy and love. I have heard it compared in some ways to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and I can see that comparison (I've now described the book as Tolkien, Disney-style). It is a story of good versus evil, where the side of good can only hope to overcome the perils of evil, and yet they find a way. I'd love to be able to recount the entire adventure, but that would take too long.; the series consisted of 51 issues, and the One Volume Edition collects all 1,332 pages of the entire story in one huge tome.

The artwork is beautiful, all rendered in black and white line drawings. It has a cartoony feel to it, but it fits the feel and pace of the story. The dialogue is well written, the characters are fleshed out and believable and the flow of the narrative is perfect. I really can't recommend this more.