COMIC DETAILS
|
Comic Description:
|
Bone 22
|
|
Grade:
|
9.8
|
|
Page Quality:
|
WHITE
|
|
Certification #:
|
1151475003
|
|
Owner:
|
DocGo
|
SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Label Notes
Jeff Smith story, cover, and art.
This was mislabeled as the first appearance of Bartleby. CGC corrected the error on 3/2023
Synopsis
The stupid, stupid rat creatures stop the bleeding where Kingdok’s arm used to be but decide to flee for fear of being blamed for his defeat by The Hooded One. Meanwhile, Gran’ma Ben tells Thorn about the Dreaming and how she may be able to manipulate this power. However, she suspects that The Hooded One is in league with the Lord of Locusts who could use this power against her. Pissed off at the endless string of revelations, Thorn splits from Gran’ma and heads to Barrelhaven with Fone Bone.
The Slab
Highest grade Signature Series book! My raw book signed by Jeff at a Chicago Comics appearance on 10/5/2013. Thanks to mschmidt for facilitating. Officially graded by CGC on November 22, 2013.
Inside The Comic
Twenty pages of story, two pages of letters and two pages of ads. The inside front cover has a drawing of the two rat creatures running away from Kingdok’s broken body on page 4. The brief prologue is on the top left and the credits are nearly the same as last issue: Written and Drawn by Jeff Smith, Cover Color by Elizabeth Lewis for Extreme Color (changed from “and” to “for”). For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as President, Karen Root as Assistant Publisher, and Andries Mulder as Archivist. For Image Comics: Larry Marder as Executive Director and 6 additional names for staff positions. The back cover has a panel from page 8 showing Thorn, Fone Bone, and Gran’ma Ben discussing the dreaming.
Bone-a-Fides
The Bone-a-Fides section is all fans once again. The first letter asks about the move to Image which the fan was in support of. Jeff had a long reply and addressed some of the assumptions made by the low information comic readers who proclaimed that Jeff had sold out. Jeff mentioned that he had turned down numerous offers for “movies, toys, stuffed animals, pajamas, POGS, TV shows, and even phone cards [these were used by people to make expensive long distance calls back in the day]. He reminds everyone that Bone #1 was released the same week as Spider-Man #1 back in 1991 and that self-publishing is NOT easy. He retains all of his rights and has complete artistic freedom with Image. He goes on to say that self-publishing itself isn’t an aesthetic and it’s the content that makes these books popular, which is all true.
Olav Beemer makes his 3rd appearance in the letters section with all compliments this time around (was critical of the Rose and Thorn revelations in #19’s Bone-a-Fides). He said the action and story blended together quite well which was a theme among the other messages. Just about everyone mentioned Image Comics but were confident that nothing would change. The last letter asked about future comics after Bone was finished and Jeff said that he had already committed to his next project (which wouldn’t be Bone-related). However, he had only completed the first act of Bone with two more to follow.
Ads
The first ad is for the Bone #4 reprint from Image Comics, showcasing the new cover by Jeff Smith (on sale in February 1996). The next is for 21 #2 from Top Cow (Marc Silvestri) which I honestly don’t remember at all. The inside back cover has an ad for the WildC.A.T.S. Animated Adventures appearing on the USA Network on Saturdays and Sundays.
Estimated Copies Sold: 47300
Back Cover Collectible
Image Comics Bone #4
As mentioned in the ads above, this is the reprint for #4 with new cover art by Jeff. It’s difficult to top the original cover but I still dig it. I honestly don’t know what I missed on this copy to keep it from 9.8. Jeff signed it at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con and the slab was facilitated by the fantastic Rich Henn. Graded on 7/23/22.
|
|
|