COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 35 Signature
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Grade:
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9.6
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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2719535008
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Owner:
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DocGo
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Label Notes
Jeff Smith story, cover, and art
*Riblet Part 5*
Synopsis
The Hooded One makes a deal with Roque Ja to capture the Bone cousins…and kill Thorn. Back at Old Man’s cave, Phoney learns about Queen Mim & the Lord of the Locusts and the possible plan to release them from their prison of stone. But we’re still left to wonder what Phoney has to do with any of this and who exactly The Hooded One is. The final chapter of the Riblet story follows the Bone-a-Fides.
The Slab
Highest graded Signature Series book! My raw book signed by Jeff at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con. Big thanks to Rich Henn for facilitating! Needs a spot pressing to hit 9.8 but, unfortunately, pressers outside of CGC can’t retain the yellow label. Hoping they change this policy back to the old days. Graded on December 1, 2022.
Inside The Comic
Twenty two pages of story, two pages of letters, five pages of Riblet, two pages of ads and a pinup by Mark Crilley. The inside front cover has a drawing of Roque Ja and The Hooded One from page 11 with the black & white “coloring” reversed. The brief prologue is on the top left and the credits are as follows: Written and Drawn by Jeff Smith, Cover Color by Elizabeth Lewis. Riblet Story: Writer Tom Sniegoski, Artist Stan Sakai. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as President, Lopa Mukherjee for Marketing and Public Relations, Kathleen Glosan as Administrative Assistant and Josh Bowers for Shipping and Archiving. The back cover has a panel from page 3 showing the Fone Bone, Smiley, and Thorn discussing a possible trip to Old Man’s Cave.
Bone-a-Fides
Again, Lopa opened the Bone-a-Fides with various bits of Bone news. Jeff received the Yellow Kid award at the end of 1998 which is a prestigious cartoonist honor from Italy (previous American winners include Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman and Bill Watterson). The Cartoon Books crew had recently attended the Mid-Ohio Con where they auctioned off a giant mural that was drawn and colored by the host creators (benefitting the CBLDF).
The big announcement was what was coming in #37: the final revelation of why everyone sought “the one who bears the star”. It would also be the final book of the second act which would complete the Solstice story arc. Jeff was designing a special cover that Lopa described as a “fantasy tableau” for all of Bone’s story elements. It would be so jam-packed that it would not include the Bone logo for the first time ever. SPOILER ALERT…#37 delivers on all fronts!
The letters themselves were filled with questions from seemingly younger readers. They included: why is Thorn in such a fit? What did Gran’ma do in the woods all this time? How come the rat creatures think Fone Bone killed Kingdok? Are we gonna see Bartleby again? How did The Hooded One become aware of Phoney? And, what is Phoney’s place in the Dreaming? Lopa did her best without revealing too much.
Another fan asked a slew of production questions: What does it mean when an issue is in print? Do you only reprint certain issues or do you reprint all issues in the order that they originally appeared? What issues are still available? Are there any trade paperbacks available? Do you have any advice on how to self-publish a book without going into debt? To the last question Jeff responded: “…it’s not that hard. I did it.”
But seriously: “Publishing and selling a comic book is a business and you should be preparing a business plan. After all, it’s not just your money on the line, it’s the money of the store owner and the customer as well. The least you can do is prove that your business venture is sound.”
Ads
The first ad had the cover for #37 and said it would ship in May 1999 (somewhat close to true). The next page was the pinup by Mark Crilley which showed Akiko riding a rat creature in front of a frustrated Fone Bone: “Akiko, you’re s’posed to be scared of these guys!!” Lines were very well done by Mr. Crilley. The last ad was the same as the inside cover from #34 showing the Fone Bone and Ted action figures (cut out the coupon and get yours today for $10). The inside back cover has an ad for the Series 1 action figures by ReSaurus showing Fone Bone, Smiley, Thorn (with Miz Possum), a Rat Creature, and Phoney as Ahab.
Estimated Copies Sold thru Diamond: 21010
Back Cover Collectible
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