Bone
Just finished this 1,332 page “book” up yesterday. (It’s a monster; nearly 5 pounds, I think.) I don’t quite understand the distinction between a comic book and a graphic novel, but I’ve been told by reliable sources that the Bone series falls into the later category.
It’s a lot of fun, whatever it is. Jeff Smith, the creator, was a large Star Wars and Lord of the Rings FAN - which comes as no surprise. It’s a bit more “tongue-in-cheek” than Tolkien, and quite a bit more fantasy-oriented than Lucas. And even though it seems a bit silly to use the word “epic” when talking about a comic book that features a Snoopy-wannabe, I’m going to use it anyway. (I suppose the 1,300+ pages might play into that a bit.)
It’s occasionally unfocused, always sprawling, alternates between puerile and poetic, and manages to tug at the heart-strings a fair bit. Great fun.
(For some reason, I appear to have a real fascination with graphic novels and comic books. I’m not exactly sure why, but I suspect it’s because they seem like a conglomeration of literature and cinema: two of my favorite things. The combination of mediums brings Bone and similar works in right after brown-paper packages.)
