COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails 1 Signature
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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2236225004
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Owner:
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DocGo
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Label Notes
Tom Sniegoski story, Jeff Smith cover and art; 1st appearance of Big Johnson Bone
Synopsis
Thus begins the story of Big Johnson Bone and his legendary excursion into the land of the rat creatures.
The Slab
Currently the highest graded SS! My raw copy signed and sketched (Big Johnson Bone) by Jeff at the 2009 Baltimore Diamond Retailer’s summit. Facilitated by GOTHAMCENTRAL (with help from Joel Elad). Prior to getting signed, it was professionally pressed by Classics Incorporated.
Update: Signed by writer Tom Sniegoski at the 2014 Boston Comic Con. Big thanks to dscott! Officially graded by CGC on October 6, 2014.
Inside The Comic
Twenty two pages of story, three pages of letters, one page for an ad, and two three-page short stories by Mark Crilley. The inside front cover has a drawing of Big Johnson Bone carrying Mr. Pip and Blossom on his shoulders from page 9 with the black & white “coloring” reversed. A longer prologue than in the regular series is on the top left and the credits are as follows: Written by Tom Sniegoski, Drawn by Jeff Smith, Cover Color by Elizabeth Lewis with Acknowledgements: “Abnug and the Gope Fish” and “Customs” Written and Drawn by Mark Crilley. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as President, Jeff Smith as Series Editor, Lopa Mukherjee for Marketing and Public Relations, Kathleen Glosan as Administrative Assistant and Kevin Spain for Shipping and Archiving. The back cover has an ad for www.boneville.com which had a vibrant message board back in the day. It also featured a General Store, industry news, and Bone e-cards that could be sent to your friends. The background drawing is the same as the inside back cover of #37.
Bone-a-Fides
The Bone-a-Fides in this issue featured letters for Bone #37 (Lopa says that the second issue will have letters for #1 and so on). Everyone was very impressed by the big “one who bears the star” revelation. In fact, one fan called Jeff “truly, truly evil” for producing such a great issue and then making everyone wait “GOD KNOWS HOW LONG” for #38 (turned out to be exactly a year with Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails #1-3 and one issue of Rose in-between). Someone asked about the name for Act III and Lopa revealed that it would be called Harvest, after Vernal Equinox for Act I and Solstice for Act II.
Ads
The short stories by Mark Crilley were told from the perspective of characters from his Akiko comic and are pretty cute. The one ad for Bonestuff features the 2000 Bone Calendar, the Thorn statue, the Bone Act II Slipcase Edition, and the Bone Holiday Greeting Card Set. The inside back cover has a preview for Rat Tails #2 with a black & white image of the cover.
Estimated Copies Sold thru Diamond: 18,200
Back Cover Collectible
1999 Holiday Card from Cartoon Books
This is the last greeting card that went out to subscribers and comic shops from the CB crew. I think these were both a celebration of the holiday season as well as a thank you to their loyal followers and I’m sure everyone appreciated them. It was signed by everyone in the credits above: Jeff Smith, Vijaya Iyer, Lopa Mukherjee, Kathleen Glosan, and Kevin Spain.
*At the moment, I can’t recall where this illustration was first published. It’s not particularly holiday-themed so it could be anywhere. It definitely wasn’t one of the drawings used for the greeting card set in 1998. If you find it before me, please let me know.*
As far as the cast goes, this was Lopa’s last issue for Cartoon Books and Kevin’s would be #46. The rest are still going strong, of course, and releasing new material every year thru Kickstarter and other venues. Here’s hoping this lasts forever! It really is a joy :-)
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