COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 29 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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2815225005
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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
*1st appearance of Roderick the Raccoon, Possum Kids appearance, one page Riblet preview*
Synopsis
Roque Ja continues to frog march Smiley, Fone Bone, and Bartleby while the Possum Kids join some other animal orphans hoping to find Smiley and co. They devise a plan to distract Roque Ja with the stupid, stupid rat creatures and it surprisingly works.
The Slab
This is among the highest graded examples of #29 and was bought as a universal 9.8 in the 2017 Jolly Comics auction on ComicLink. I had it signed by Jeff at the 2023 Heroes Con and was officially graded on June 18, 2023. Big thanks to Rich Henn for facilitating!
Inside The Comic
Twenty two pages of story, two pages of letters, one preview page for Bone #31, four page review of the Trilogy Tour, two pages of a feature called Bone Mysteries, and a reprint of an article from Comic Book Buyers Guide #1226. The inside front cover has a drawing of Roque Ja from page 9 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 for Lewis Studio. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as President and Dan Stout/Kathleen Glosan as Staff. The back cover’s panel is from page 9 where both Smiley and Fone suspect that Rock Jaw is taking them to the rat creatures.
Ads
The Bone #31 preview is more of a teaser for the Stan Sakai drawn and Tom Sniegoski written Riblet, which shows the pig hanging from a rope on a tree (with dinner being planned by the two mangy rat creatures below). The inside back cover has an ad for The Dragonslayer book (just call 1-800-SMILEY-2 to order by credit card).
Bone-a-Fides
The letters were all from fans and Jeff added a reply to most of them, which hasn’t been typical. The first letter sent an image of the “Donald Duck Pearl” originally published in a Believe It or Not reprint collection book. The shape of it looks remarkably like Fone Bone. Another fan asked for a future adventure between the Bone cousins and the Pogo gang which allowed Jeff to plug the 1997 Pogofest. He and Carolyn Kelly drew the image for a t-shirt showing Fone Bone shaking hands with Pogo in the foreground and Smiley & Albert Alligator smoking cigars in the back.
Trilogy Tour Review
The four page review of the 1997 Trilogy Tour is filled with pictures of the comic creators, the elaborate decorations, and, for the first time, the Cartoon Books staff! Jeff, Charles Vess, and Linda Medley are in nearly every photo along with the giant tree and 3D figurines of Fone Bone and The Great Red Dragon. Garrett Chin, who worked with Jeff while he was in California, made an appearance along with Dan Stout, Vijaya, and the great Kathleen Glosan who’s the director of operations to this day.
Bone Mysteries
This is a reprint of an online forum discussion called a “bulletin board” back in the day. Various contributors gave their thoughts on who The Hooded One actually was with the “nanny” being the prime suspect (one person thought it could be Thorn’s father). They also speculated on who Lucius almost married. Most didn’t think it could have been Gran’ma Ben and thought it may be someone we haven’t seen yet. All in all, online discussions haven’t changed much (lol) and it’s clear that none of the subscribers had read the Thorn comic strip… which was a good thing.
The Red Dragon
The article from the Comic Buyer’s Guide is called “Jeff Smith reveals the origin of The Red Dragon” and was written by Marc Patten. It’s basically an interview with Jeff about how he drew the Bones fighting dragons after he read Heavy Metal in 1978 (art of which can be found in Thorn: The Complete Proto-Bone College Strips) and then included them in the larger narrative. Ultimately, he was more inspired by Eastern depictions of dragons which he combined with the personality of an old dog of his (“very loyal and very laid back”). He didn’t reveal too much about The Great Red Dragon's narrative origin in the Bone saga, but promised it was coming.
Estimated Copies Sold thru Diamond: 25048
Back Cover Collectible
1997 Holiday Card from Cartoon Books
Reflecting Bartleby’s rise in popularity, the 1997 version of CB’s Holiday Card features a very nice illustration of the Possum Kids decorating the rat creature cub for the Christmas season. This is the first card signed by Kathleen Glosan who would eventually become the Mother Hen of all things Cartoon Books to this very day. It was also signed by Jeff, Vijaya, and Josh Bowers, who wouldn’t show up in the official credits until Bone #34 (for Shipping & Archiving).
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