COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 37 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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0962807008
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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
Synopsis
The 37th issue is the final chapter of Act 2 in the Bone saga as well as the last story of the Old Man’s Cave volume. Fone Bone, Smiley, and Gran'ma Ben come face to face with The Hooded One, aka Briar Harvestar, to save Phoney from a ritual sacrifice. The reason behind the moniker “the one who bears the star” is finally revealed in hilarious fashion. One of my top five covers from the series (#1, 8, 27, 37, #9 Image).
The Slab
Highest graded Signature Series book! My raw comic autographed by Jeff Smith at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. Big thanks to Joel Elad for facilitating! Prior to getting signed, it was professionally pressed by Classics Incorporated (Matt Nelson). Graded by CGC on August 13, 2009.
Inside The Comic
Twenty six pages of story, two pages of letters, and four pages of ads. The inside front cover has a space for a sketch but it’s all black instead. 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, Back Cover Art by Mark Crilley. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as President, Lopa Mukherjee for Marketing and Public Relations, Kathleen Glosan as Administrative Assistant and Kevin Spain for Shipping and Archiving. For the first time in series history, the back cover didn’t have an interior panel. It’s a nicely colored pinup by Mark Crilley featuring Gran’ma Ben and Phoney sitting in front of a fire while looking out towards a full moon and stars (from the confines of Old Man’s Cave).
Bone-a-Fides
Lopa opened the Bone-a-Fides with the news that the gigantic 19-foot Trilogy Tour tree, which was a staple during two cross-country tours, was officially retired. No word on where it went but she did say that no one will miss “hauling that big boy around”.
The first letter expressed shock at the Briar revelation, as I’m sure every reader did at the time. “The Lord of the Locusts is Gran’ma’s SISTER? How can she still be so young? Gran’ma Ben’s sister? Is she the one Lucius loved once? THE Gran’ma Ben? What does she want in her grandniece’s dreams? The Gran’ma Ben who won the COW RACE???” Another asked how long Jeff had been working on the story, which should be known by most long-time readers of the comic by now (Lopa said since his college days). However, only readers of the original comic strip knew that most of the major plot points had already been drawn. Not as well or as fleshed out as the comic, but still…
A big fan wondered why Bone hadn’t transitioned to color with its increased popularity (admitting that black & white kept costs down in the beginning) and whether or not Jeff would have used color if he had the budget. Lopa revealed that Jeff was heavily influenced by black & white comic strips (Pogo, Dick Tracy, among others) and this was how he had always envisioned the story.
Sigbjorn Starbursvik, the Norwegian publisher of Bone, wrote in to say that Bone had “won the national Sproing award for being the best foreign comic published in Norway in 1998”. Lopa added that Bone had also won two cartooning awards in Spain and that 1998 Trilogy II Tour Book and the 6-foot Phoney inflatable were nominated for Eisners in 1999.
In closing, Lopa previewed a 3-issue miniseries called Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails: The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero written by Tom Sniegoski of Riblet fame, and Rose, of course, painted by Charles Vess. These would act as an intermission of sorts between the second and third acts of the Bone saga. She’ll talk to everyone again in Rat Tails #1!
Ads
The first ad was for the 1999 Bonestuff Catalog which featured a Book Standee with flashing red LED lights, the inflatable Dragon head, the Thorn statue, and magnetic Bone Love Poems. The second and third ads had previews of Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails and Rose with images of the covers for each of their first issues. The final ad had the Old Man’s Cave soft and hard covers shipping in August 1999.
The inside back cover previewed a facelift for Boneville.com saying that it would be “An E-Village for folks who love cartoons”. The drawing shows some blackened Victorian buildings and trees up against a purple-tinted sky.
***NOTE: For continuity’s sake, go to Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails #1 followed by #2 and #3 before going to Bone #38.
Estimated Copies Sold thru Diamond: 18663
Back Cover Collectible
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