Jeff Smith
Bone

"Bone" by Jeff Smith (U.S.A.). Independent series in 55 episodes published (under the label "CB-Cartoon Books"), with an irregular cadence (on average quarterly), in the U.S.A. between 1991 and 2004. Issues between 20 and 28 were published by Image Comics. The single volume (subject of the review) was first published in the U.S.A. in 2004. The Italian version published by "BAO Publishing," translated by Michele Foschini, is from 2011. Here is the complete chronology of the Italian publications of the series.

Somewhere there is a city called Boneville (which you will never see) and its inhabitants are bones: anthropomorphic, white/ashen, and of bizarre smooth and "rounded" shapes. 

Elsewhere, beyond a desert, there is a mysterious valley (lush in summer and freezing in winter) inhabited by humans, strange ancestral spirits, dragons, talking animals endowed with "intelligence" (except for the cows), and strange, dangerous furry beings called "rat creatures/creature rat" ("rattodonti" in the first Italian version).

For reasons you'll discover only by reading, three bones will change the life and history of the mysterious valley.

There are precisely 1,348 pages (including those occupied by the afterword of Neil Gaiman: being an "afterword" it is, indeed, to be read last as it contains abundant "spoilers") that were needed to gather this small, great saga suspended between action, fantasy, and humor.

Small because "Bone" is drawn like a classic humorous comic (Kelly, Barks, Schulz, Sim are the most important references, not only graphically) in a "black and white fundamentalist" style (although there are colored versions and spin-offs which we will not cover) and great because the "high" references are incisive (well beyond the inevitable comparisons with Tolkien's powerful epic).

Obviously, having mentioned Kelly and Tolkien in the same paragraph, for example, if I stated that "Bone" is one of the most innovative comics ever, the list (impressive and in many different nations) of awards it has received would not be enough to prevent you from preparing a wicker man ready to welcome me just before the bonfire.

Well, in an era that seems to have lived and seen everything, I do not fear being burned alive in finding "innovation" in a comic where (to mention just a few peculiarities):

Rapid dialogues (which explode into irresistible gags) coexist with an epic and for long stretches dramatic narrative and (without excess, with an unusual elegance for many American cartoonists) violent.

Characters that seem to have been taken from the Disney universe fight with or against others who could comfortably reside in the most classic Fantasy novel.

The fantastic narrative never exceeds in the usual "frills"; instead, it often gives way to the "rigor" of expedients (even directly cited) in the style of Melville, if not, hear, hear, Dickens.

Between the lines, a large part of recent American history appears clear.

I'll stop here because "Bone" needs to be discovered little by little without too many anticipations, so you'll be amazed by the strange narrative structure set up by Smith: a construction that, in due course, might leave you puzzled but once you reach the end appears crystalline and impressive (even forgiving the 35 euros investment).

C.G. (Girlanachronism)

"Stupid, stupid Rat Creatures" (J. Smith)