My library at home contains four bookshelves bursting to over full with graphic novels, I've got 30+ boxes of comics and I pick up a pretty decent amount of graphic novels every month. I say this to emphasize how rare it is for me to sacrifice space for the same series in more than one format, and so the fact that I already have the Bone saga in nine hardcovers (plus one for Rose) means that I really don't need a new printing, even in color. However, these new color digests are gorgeous, both in terms of Hamaker's wonderfully subtle coloring job and in the design, and it really does read like a slightly different story in this format. Where the hardcover is an uncertain journey of an indy talent, the color edition is a beautiful reproduction of a classic aimed more squarely at the color-loving younger audience that Bone is perfect for.
I picked up the color edition of Bone Volume One in part because of my love of great color and great design, but I didn't regret my decision for a minute once I had immersed myself once again in Smith's storytelling. Because the last couple volumes of Bone had become fairly serious, action-oriented and even a little complicated, I had forgotten that at the beginning, Bone was mostly a charming comedy with mere portents of a larger story to come. At this early stage, it reads more like Charles Schulz and Walt Kelly than J.R.R. Tolkien, and there were several laugh-out-loud moments for me as I re-acquainted myself with the first appearance of the Bone cousins, the Red Dragon, Ted the bug, Gran'ma Ben, Thorn and more.
The first volume of Bone is all about establishing characters and the mysterious valley that the Bone cousins have found themselves in. Smith immediately establishes the personalities of the three Bone cousins, and spends a decent amount of time fleshing out both Fone Bone (our protagonist) and Phoney Bone (our antagonist, at least some of the time and certainly in this issue). Smiley Bone doesn't get as much development, but that's because his simple yet sweet nature doesn't really need much explanation, and what moments he gets, such as his easy acceptance of his new job and circumstances, are wonderful. Phoney Bone is also at his best this early on, a scheming loudmouth who you can't help but hate a little bit, even as he's not quite wicked enough to be the villain. Then there's Fone Bone, whose main traits so far are a sweet nature, a streak of courage that appears when called upon and of course some of the most hilariously smitten effects seen in comics when he falls for Thorn.
I still remember the first laugh that I got out of Bone, the first time I witnessed the rat creatures pursue Fone Bone onto a branch that wouldn't hold their weight. It was slapstick comedy at its best. I had forgotten, however, that Smith had a variety of this kind of humor sprinkled throughout. The Dragon's playful torment of Fone Bone and casual display of strength to scare off the rat creatures makes him a capricious and yet benevolent creature, and the lovestruck antics of Fone Bone when he meets Thorn are hilarious as well. There are also some great moments with the larger-than-life Gran'ma Ben, before we see the tragedies that really defined her life up to this point.
While the first volume of Bone is very funny, even at this stage it was clear that Smith was setting the stage for something larger. The sheer size of the rat creature raiding parties, as well as the sense that they are everywhere in the forest, is truly spooky, and there's some really creepy, foreboding moments with the Hooded One as well, especially when "he" approaches Phoney washing dishes. The sense that good and evil of a larger nature are always lurking around the Bone cousins is felt in this first issue, and the sense that they've gotten involved in something really big is there as well.
Everything I've said, from the comic timing to the foreboding atmosphere to the characterization, can be put down to the art as much as to the writing, but I should say some specific things about the art on this volume. First of all, the color, which was no small part of why I'm buying this story again. I'm a follower of colorists' work in comics, and I'm very picky about what I consider great color, but Steve Hamaker's work is great color. Bright and lively without being garish, exceptionally subtle (check out the shadings of embarrassment or anger on the Bone cousins' faces), Hamaker does more than just "colorize" Bone, he adds life and dimension to the work that wasn't there in black and white. And given that Smith is a master storyteller whose influences include any number of classic cartoonists, that's saying a lot.
Bone is a true accomplishment in independent comics, and now that the story is finished, I'm really pleased to see the book getting a variety of reprints. The one volume edition was a marvel of printing technology, and there's something kind of cool about spending $40 to get an entire saga in one giant book (or $125 if you can afford to shell out for the hardcover), but I'm also really glad that Scholastic is doing these color volumes at an affordable $10 a pop, putting the book into even more hands. If you've never read this book, now is the time to try it out, either by sampling this volume (if you're a diehard for color, which many comic readers are) or going for the big one volume edition (if you have a fondness for black and white art or just a lack of tolerance for a long wait to find out where the story goes). Either way, Bone Volume One color edition is a great reminder of just why this story should be in every serious comic fan's library. 10/10
