Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: N/A
Written and Drawn by: Jeff Smith
Colored by: N/A
Lettered by: Not credited
Editor: N/A
Publisher: Cartoon Books
I don’t know how, but this issue snuck up on me. Jeff Smith had promised the last few issues of Bone to ship on a monthly schedule and make it out by the end of 2003. Sadly, as has been the case through most of the run, the series fell behind. Issue #54 was several months late and finally shipped at the end of April. Seeing Bone #55 on Diamond’s ship list for June 9th, left me stunned. It was only a little over a month from the last issue. When I told my girlfriend a gleam came to her eye. This was it! Having only discovered the series towards the end of last year, we were not longtime readers of the book, but we are enormous fans that will long remember this series. The last days of waiting were interminable. Thankfully, we had the wonderful film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to distract us, or the wait would have been far worse. In the end, as with the entire series, the final issue did not disappoint, in fact, it was better than I could have hoped.
With the conclusion finally in the bag, I can now say that Bone is a perfect series that never lost focus. Jeff Smith did not prolong the series beyond the logical conclusion; I would even say that he ended the book too soon. The tale of the three Bone cousins and their adventures far from Boneville in a strange valley feels utterly and totally complete. It would be so easy to go into great detail of the story this month and the series in particular, but that should be for you to discover, if you have not already.
Jeff Smith has crafted the perfect ending to the series. The issue not only resolves the major conflict that has been building up over the course of the story, but it allows the reader to come to terms with the conclusion of the series. Smith pulls us along visiting numerous characters from the run and revisiting locales. The final issue is leisurely paced and jam-packed at 48 pages of story. Actually only 44 pages are brand new material as Jeff Smith resurrects a 4 page story from the early 90s that had been included as pack in from the onetime competitor of Wizard magazine, Hero.
There have been precious few comic book series that have had a near perfect run. Books that work on every storytelling level, one’s that truly seemed planned from beginning to end. Bone may be the best comic book story of all-time. It’s certainly the greatest epic tale that can be enjoyed by young and old. If any comic deserves to be read to your children, grandchildren, or any other child in your life. Bone‘s the one!
For those that haven’t partaken in the wonder that is Bone, Cartoon Books will be releasing a complete volume of the 55 issues, plus all the specials as well. We’re talking in the neighborhood of 1300 pages and its only $40! I already have the whole series, and I’m going to buy it! That’s something to keep for posterity.
