"Out from Boneville" is the first volume of Jeff Smith's self-published comic book, "Bone." It tells the story of the Bone family, who are small white creatures that are never really explained, but interact with humans and animals. In volume 1, the protagonist of the story, Fone Bone, and his two cousins, Smiley and Phoney, find themselves run out of the town of Boneville, where they become lost in a strange valley. They soon discover the valley is filled with strange creatures (even stranger than themselves), many of which are hunting them for an unknown reason.

When I saw this in the library, it always looked like a kids' book, so I never gave it much thought until I saw it listed on one of those "Greatest Graphic Novels" lists. Smith has a very intriguing artistic style that can be simple (in the case of the bones and much of the background art), or more complex (as in the case with the character of Thorn and many of the humans). The art may be simple, but the story isn't. It can certainly be enjoyed by those of all ages. Although it contains some humor, the comic centers more on the story, which works well since it involves a fairly complex and rich story that is not overshadowed by the simplicity of the art. Volume 1 doesn't do much more than introduce the main characters and set up some of the future storylines, but it is very well conveyed and the reader gets the sense that this is much more than the traditional comic.

Although originally published in black and white, this version is in color, which I highly recommend over the black and white strip. The coloring by Steve Hamaker really adds a lot to these editions and I would strongly advise people to get these editions over the black and whites. Also, it is advised to read this comic in order, since you won't know what is going on if you start with a later volume. The volumes read very quickly however, and it only takes about an hour to read an entire volume. The rest of the series is as follows:

Bone Volume 2: The Great Cow Race
Bone Volume 3: Eyes of the Storm
Bone Volume 4: The Dragonslayer
Bone Volume 5: Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border
Bone Volume 6: Old Man's Cave
Bone Volume 7: Ghost Circles
Bone Volume 8: Treasure Hunters
Bone Volume 9 Crown of Horns (Bone Series)

Bone: One Volume Edition - If you plan on reading the whole series, get this, which has every volume listed above.

My son says, "Great adventure story." He loves the characters and plans to read all the installments in this series.

Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville

When Jeff Smith created his "Bone" saga, he was doing something right. What is there not to like about the three charming Bone cousins - the resourceful Fone Bone, the greedy Phoney Bone, and the inscrutable Smiley Bone? And how can you not get caught up in their dramatic adventures? But Smith's Bone is more than just a cute comic strip. It shows the evolution of the graphic novel as a viable literary format, with all the hallmarks that we've come to expect from traditional fiction:

1. Characterization - the three Bone characters have endearing and memorable qualities with immediate appeal, and the other characters in their world are equally, outstanding, charming, and unique.
2. Setting - Jeff's Smith world is peopled by a variety of other fantastic creatures and characters (Thorn, Rose Gran'ma Ben, Ted the insect, the Great Red Dragon, the Possum Kids, Stupid Rat Creatures, and others). The Bone-iverse has Tolkiensque overtones, and will be an instant hit with fans of the fantasy genre.
3. Plot - after leaving Boneville and entering a fantasy world of monsters and magic, the Bone cousins quickly get caught up in a compelling and suspenseful adventure story.
4. Style - Smith is a great story-teller, and his narrative has a great deal of wit, humour and charm, although the story becomes more serious and less comic as the story progresses. But once you're hooked, you're in for the ride until the protagonists complete their adventures.

If there is a complaint, it would be that I was disappointed to see several instances where God's Name was misused. One weakness of the original black-and-white edition has been overcome, however, now the Bone adventures have been re-released by Scholastic in full colour, and this colour edition is truly impressive. Those of us who enjoy Smith's unique blend of light-hearted comic and epic fantasy will welcome this re-released colour version only too readily!

Be warned however that the complete tale isn't told in this particular edition, which is the first volume in the series and contains only the first six episodes. It ends on a suspenseful note with further action imminent. Eight volumes were to follow, although all 55 episodes are now available in a one-volume edition of nearly 1300 pages. If you make it to the last page of the first volume, you'll likely want to read them all, although be aware that in the later volumes the story becomes more serious, much like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings advanced beyond the initial charm of The Hobbit. While the later volumes deepen the literary qualities of this work, some readers will find that they lack some of the accessibility and appeal of the entry story.

A comparison with the usually incomparable Lord of the Rings might seem ridiculous, but I can appreciate why many have even dared suggest it. Smith himself credits his interest in mythology and his sense of mystery to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Unlike these, the Bone saga is naturally much more light-hearted, at least in its inception, and won't quite attain the impact or depth of more serious graphic novels, although it shares with LOTR and Star Wars an epic scope. As a blend of light hearted comedy, slapstick humor, adventure, and epic fantasy, Bone is a comic for all ages, and for the ages. GODLY GADFLY (2007)

If I had the choice I would give this 4 and a half stars but I don't think its a 5 since its mostly light fare with only few foreshadowings of the epic fantasy adventure to come.

Bone Vol. 1 is the start of the adventures of Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone. They are cousins kicked out of Boneville for Phoneys wrong doings and left in the great unknown. This is where there journey begins. They soon get split up and the comic is mostly about there finding each other and just setting up the story for the volumes to come.

I highly recommend it to fans of books, comics books, cartoons or anything fun/cute. Don't judge it by its cover, there's a deep and slightly dark fantasy story to be had which only begins to bloom in this first volume.

****1/2

Over the years, I'd picked up single issues of Bone now and again, and was quite enchanted with the quality of artwork and story telling. But was a bit let down that they were published in black and white, which didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the graphic look of the books.

Finally, they have been colorized! The color treatment here is superb. Smith seems to be mining the Carl Barks and Walt Kelly territory, but he's got him own special gifts to display here, in this collection of reprints enjoyable for youngsters and their parents. Highly Recommended for all ages.

Set your expectations properly and you'll find a fair story here. They're simple characters in simple, kid-safe adventures. There's Smiley, the tall guy with a very short brain, Phoney with his inane get-rich schemes, and Fone Bone, the protagonist, an all-around nice guy trying to do the right thing for everyone. We also have bold dragons, ineptly evil rat-beings (but I like rats!), a beautiful maiden for chaste and silly romance, and other characters that are easy to identify and to identify with. Then, behind them all, there's the mysterious bad guy, plotting against ...

Well, just see for yourself. The plot and characters work well for unsophisticated readers. Still, the text doesn't talk down to a young reader with an artificially stripped-down vocabulary. If you or yours are in the target demographic, it could be a good bit of fun.

-- wiredweird

I'm kindof rediscovering graphic novels again after many years, and I definitely am glad that I came across this first volume of the Bone series. The characters are very fun, the plot interesting and engaging, and the artwork is visually captivating. It makes good fantasy adventure reading.

The graphics, paper quality, and general presentation of this book are all excellent. The author is a skilled artist. However I eventually got bored with it after a while. It was funny at the beginning, but the same humor was all the way through.

The book Bone - Out of Boneville is about three cousins that get chased out of town by a mob of bones (bones are little creatures that look like ghosts). The cousins get separated in the woods and try to find there way back to each other.

The book is laid out like a comic book. It has colorful pictures and very detailed graphics which make it fun to read.

My favorite part of the book was when the Locusts attacked and they all fell down into a canyon and bumped their heads. It made me laugh to think of them rolling down and down.

I think that other kids my age would like this book because it was fun to read and I can't wait to continue with the series to see what other kind of trouble the cousins get into.

The book Bone - Out of Boneville is about three cousins that get chased out of town by a mob of bones (bones are little creatures that look like ghosts). The cousins get separated in the woods and try to find there way back to each other.

The book is laid out like a comic book. It has colorful pictures and very detailed graphics which make it fun to read.

My favorite part of the book was when the Locusts attacked and they all fell down into a canyon and bumped their heads. It made me laugh to think of them rolling down and down.

I think that other kids my age would like this book because it was fun to read and I can't wait to continue with the series to see what other kind of trouble the cousins get into.

Jeff Smith is a wonderful writer/artist and spins tales of adventure like no other. His stories are filled with action, humor, love, sorrow and every other emotion while keeping the stories simple and easy to follow.

His artwork is wonderful and he draws his characters emotions beautifully. He doesn't bog the series down with unusual or hard to follow camera shifts as is common with many comics these days.

I highly recommend any of the books in the Bone series. They are interesting enough for the older readers and fun enough for the little ones. If you are a fan of comics/cartoons at all - or even any type of adventure - give these books a shot. You won't be disappointed!

Jeff Smith, I'd like to congradulate you in person on creating one of the best and most well-written comic I've ever read in my life! The story, the characters, the plot; everything is great! And the fact that this edition was colored made it even better for me! I *can't wait* to get the rest of your series and see how it ends!

This book is extravigent, vivid, and bright, but it is cliffhanger too. It is about 3 bones Smiley, Phoney, and FoneBone (he is talked about a lot) are chased from their hometown Boneville and stuck in the mountains. They are seperated in a swarm of locuses. FoneBone manages to get thro life in the woods but not Phoney. Fone is chased by these rat creatures but is saved. The rest you will have to read but listen to me...It Is Halarious!
C.C.

The reason I like this book because the comedy, the pictures and the characters.I like books like these because they get boring in the beginning and,in the middle it gets interesting .The reason that i like bone is because in other books people get bored but with bones they dont but I just love bone so much and,the characters are so funny.You inspire me so that I want to write my own book.The reason I gave this book 5 stars because it is creative hot, slamin, and funky. From; Marva, Nick

The first Graphic novel I ever read was some Pokemon one from Japan not the best to start out with...But kept seeing Bone: Out From Boneville and eventually bought it. It's a delightful tale about the wonderfully cartoony "Bone" Cousins who are dragged into a more serious and entricately drawn world filled with Rat Creatures and a "Hooded One." The main charcter Fone Bone is usually nude except for his cloak. He is seperated from his cousins in the desert while running from rioting villagers and locusts and soon finds himself in a mysterious valley with the help of a Map. He must survive the winter from Rat Creatures with his friend the dragon to find the Mysterious "Thorn." The other 'Bones' included are Phony Bone who wears a shirt with a black star and is a spoiled rich Scrooge without the Christmas bashing and Smiley who is just like Goofy from Mickey Mouse. The trio lead seperate adventures eventually crossing paths outwitting rat monsters (Stupid, Stupid Rat Monsters!), pulling cow racing scams at the local tavern and trying to get too Boneville desperately. I would recommend this to those of all ages, Graphic Novel fans and those interested in the art of it. This series is off to a good start.

At long last! Jeff Smith's epic high fantasy comic masterpiece is being produced in color.

Fans of Bone will be pleased with Steve Hamaker's crisp coloration, which frequently adds shadow and texture without overloading the panels and really brings out the details of the art. Numerous atmospheric effects have also been added, as is evidenced by the first panel, in which Smith's starkly shadowed mountains have been faded to a rich purple with a haloed sun glowing overhead. Fans familiar with the one-volume addition will also be glad to see additional artwork filling the space between chapters, including some illustrations from the original black and white nine-volume series.

This first volume suffers a few drawbacks, though the quality is much higher in Volume 2: The Great Cow Race. It's obvious the color was done by computer, and some of the panels are not as crisply digitized as others, and so some of the black outlines are pixelated. The inconsistency of quality is curious; perhaps some of the original artwork for the first volume had gone missing. Some of the computer effects are excessive. For example, a snow flurry has been added to an early action sequence. At first attractive, it becomes distracting clutter after a few panels. Most of the other visual effects are more natural. Also, this is the second time this comic has been shrunk. The one-volume edition was smaller than the original nine volumes and the new color volumes have been shrunk again. Surprisingly little detail is lost, considering the intricacy of Smith's art, though Thorn's eyes are occasionally crowded.

It's good to see Bone in color, and in such sharp color, too! Don't let the pixelation dishearten you; the sequel is much better.

My family loves the Bone books and we just downloaded the Bone game. It was great, but it also encouraged the kids to go back and read the book again for themselves. Great to see the kids so engaged in reading

I have been trying to find something new for my 8-year-old son that really grabs him. I found this book by accident and could not be happier. I have found him reading after bed time under his covers to find out what happens next after our nighttime reading ends. He has put all the remaining volumes on his Christmas list.

For those who find the arena known as Comics to be a
field of endless narrative possibilities, Jeff Smith's
BONE is a wonderful adventure. Filled with sobering
peril and merciless laughter, the saga of three cousins
lost in a strange land offers rich characterization
and many an ethical turn with each page. For those
who still regard Comics as a hopelessly unworthy
field, fit only to encourage ignorance and delinquency,
I submit that one good read of this first chapter,
OUT FROM BONEVILLE, will alter your perceptions on
this matter, forever.
Since its debut in 1991, Smith's saga of camaraderie,
hi-jinks, and deeper responsibility has set high marks
for Fantasy literature, and stunned the world of the
Sequential Arts. A prodigious epic which spans nine
volumes (and an illustrious prequel, ROSE), BONE is
a captivating read; alluring in its charm and immediacy,
and warming in its ability to be genuinely cute without
succumbing to the artifice of cutesiness.
That Smith achieves this in a tale of dragons, lost
princesses, sibling rivalry and prickly innocence
marks BONE as an exceptional masterpiece for all
ages to enjoy.

With the time-honored Scholastic Press currently
issuing the 9-volume saga in color, the tale now
becomes available to a whole new audience. With
direct distribution into schools and libraries,
as well as other institutions which an independent
press (such as Smith's own Cartoon Books) might be
harder-pressed to reach, the opportunities for
BONE are more auspicious than ever before.

Those familiar with the Sequential field, as well
as those older newspaper strip readers, will see
Smith's immense mastery of the idiom. BONE's
blend of ticklish escapades and tense relationships
will call to mind both the cunning wit of Walt
Kelly's POGO and the flesh-n-blood nobility of
Harold Foster' PRINCE VALIANT.
Others who love the bright pugnacity of POPEYE's
E. C. Segar will delight in the rolling action
which frequently takes place here. Lovers of
J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock will be
enthralled by Smith's thought-provoking forays
into the issues of Balance and Excess, and
how each character comes face-to-face with
the choices to be made.

Bottom line, however, is that Smith is very
much his own man, and BONE is very much his
hallmark upon the annals of great literature.
As humble in its presentation as it is majestic
in its unfurling, the tale of Fone Bone and
Thorn is a story which packs one thrilling,
thematic wallop.
Count on Jeff Smith's BONE to keep you
enthusiastically involved with each turn
of every page, from start to finish
throughout this volume, as well
as throughout the many chapters
to come......

This is one of the best comic books of all time. Read it and you will be undoubtably amazed by this funny and unforgetable tale of the three bone cousins. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and buy it.

Bone, by Jeff Smith, is an adventurous book about a lost trio that got split up in a dessert. Fone Bone has to find his friends before two furry monsters eat him! If you like funny comics and strange adventures this is your book! 138 pages of eye-pulling comics are a hysterical way to start your day. If you like this book you will LOVE Jeff Smith's others. Matt Groening (The creator of the Simpsons) says Bone is a great read! Heads up Garfield, you've got a rival!

Jeff's Smith's Bone is an introduction book, a start with no finish. It sets up the situation and sends the reader into an unpredictable fantasy world, with characters both classic and ridiculous. Driven from their home, three bone creatures related by blood are lost in the desert and pushed off a cliff by a swarm of angry locusts and into a valley of mystery, danger, and even love.

Their diverse characters have all the markings of a standard comedy team. There is a care-free Smiley Bone, who casually points out impending doom and continues to smoke his cigar. Then there is the scheming and crafty Phoney Bone who causes all the trouble and ultimately gets his hand caught in every cookie jar he comes across. Finally you have the "hero" of the tale, Fone Bone, a veritable straight-man if there ever was one. His charming and honest nature sets the overall tone in the book, and it is his unerring moral compass that keeps the three of them bound by the same fate, both in and out, of hot water.
Separated from each other, the plight of his three varied and lovable "bone cousins" follows Fone as he struggles to reunite them as the story begins to unfold. Smith then uses picturesque, highly predictable behavior patterns and exaggerated reactions in and from the cousin's to draw the reader into to their characters. It is Fone's giving nature combined with Phoney's opportunism and Smiley's nonchalance that does this. It has the effect of giving the reader the sympathetic urge to smack Phoney, give Smiley a high five, and reassure Fone that everything will be OK in the end. To trap the reader in the tale, he uses a secondary group of characters ranging from a cigarette smoking red dragon to a muscle bound grandma, to a dainty, young vixen in a hot spring. With their animated qualities, the supporting cast leaves the reader wondering about the next event or laughing in amazement.

Unfortunately the ending has no resolution. It finishes on a cliffhanger, cunningly trying to draw you in to buy the next episode. The long and short of it: Don't buy this book for your 8-13 year old if you think you'll be able to get away with only getting him or her this one. Otherwise it's a funny, entertaining trip from the world of reality.

Reviewed by Mike Dorsey for Flamingnet Book Reviews

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