COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 46 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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0938005001
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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
Phoney finally hits the Atheia marketplace with "Get Rich" schemes swimming in his head while the town elders try desperately to keep Thorn awake.
The Slab
Tied for the highest grade on a Signature Series book! My raw copy signed with a beautiful sketch of Phoney by Jeff. It was also signed by colorist Steve Hamaker at the 2009 Heroes Con. Witnessed and facilitated by the great GOTHAMCENTRAL. Graded by CGC on November 16, 2009. This is definitely one of my favorite Signature Series books!
Inside The Comic
Sixteen pages of story, two pages of letters, a three page preview for the 2002 Alternative Press Expo (APE), and three pages of ads. The inside front cover has a drawing of Fone Bone and Phoney 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 Steve Hamaker. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as Publisher, Kathleen Glosan as Production Manager, Steve Hamaker as Product Designer and Kevin Spain for Shipping and Archiving. The back cover has a panel from page 15 with Fone telling Phoney that the people of Atheia don’t have a king.
Bone-a-Fides
Jeff opened the Bone-a-Fides with another list of places he and Vijaya visited over the last year, along with the comic creators they met at each (e.g. Frank Miller & Lynn Varley in New York after the attacks, Hermann Huppen in Munich, and Lise Myrhe in Bergen among others). He specifically mentioned his visit to Kathmandu in February 2001 where he made reference material to use in creating Atheia. Much of the imagery in the past three issues were from these notes that were gathered while “walking down tiny streets past smokey cooking fires, temples, and shrines”. He said he wanted the “flavor of an old mystical city”. A large picture of one of these temples was included on the first page of the Bone-A-Fides.
Conveniently, the first letter was from a fan who had recently visited Nepal. He recognized similar shapes and symbols in the art of Atheia and wondered if Jeff had used inspiration from Eastern/Asian philosophies. He also asked about possible influence from early Disney books as well as The Lord of the Rings, which Jeff has answered in the affirmative many times before. Two other letters mentioned The Lord of the Rings movie (The Fellowship of the Ring came out about a month before #46) and one hoped that Hollywood would see the potential of Bone to equal its success.
Jeff closed with some of his upcoming appearances, including at the walled medieval city of Angoulême, France for the world’s largest gathering of comics and cartoon aficionados (250k usually attended the Angoulême International Comics Festival).
2000 Alternative Press Expo
The three page preview of the 2002 APE includes an origin story of the con and how Jeff attended the first three editions while living in California in the mid-90s. This would be his first time back and he shows an interview that would be included in this year’s program guide. He answered questions about the origins of Bone along with some of the research he did for the various environments. There are two pictures on pages 2 & 3 that show a market in Kathmandu and Jeff on the steps of Vishnu Temple with an artist named Psang. He also broke down some of the difficulties of self-publishing and a few of the indy creators he was currently enjoying (Paul Pope, James Kochalka, and Colleen Doran to name a few).
Ads
The first ad is for the 2002 APE in the same design as the last issue as is the second ad for Phoney’s Big Bone Hunt (just not in color). The last ad page shows the seven completed collections through Ghost Circles available at your local comic book shop. The inside front cover has a color ad for Rose with a drawing of The Hooded One, Gran’ma Ben, and Lucius above Vess’ paintings of the three characters in the Rose story. The hardcover would be available in the spring of 2002.
Estimated Copies Sold thru Diamond: 15900
Back Cover Collectible
Thorn: The Complete Proto-Bone College Strips 1982-1986
For the first time ever, the ENTIRE run of Thorn comic strips were finally published in an all-encompassing hardcover. The first publication of the strips occurred in 1983 with Thorn: Tales from the Lantern and had a little over 140 strips total. Before Bone came in 2008 and had 65. The Complete Thorn…333 total strips drawn by Jeff plus the 13-panel single page comic from the Sundial in 1986. It reprinted essays by Lucy Caswell and Jim Kammerud (originally published in Before Bone) and has a lengthy introduction by Jeff which helps to put the strips in historical context. The endnotes are also great in this regard in case the pop culture references can’t be understood. My favorite part is a mix of sketches from the 60s to the late 80s which chronicles both the evolution of the Bone saga and Jeff as an artist. It truly is a remarkable book and I highly recommend a read!
Jeff and the Cartoon Books crew brought the book to fruition through a fantastic Kickstarter campaign (which also marked the 40th anniversary of Thorn: Tales from the Lantern). The rewards for backers included the hardcover along with prints of the #38 covers, three complete mini-comics drawn by Jeff in the late 60s and early 70s, prints of the Evolution of Thorn, Evolution of Bone, and Ted Exposed, a 4-piece coaster set, and a laser-etched wooden bookmark. My favorites in the package are the signed Evolution of Bone print (colored differently than the stretch goal) and the enamel pin set with Thorn, Fone Bone, Phoney & Red Dragon in their comic strip styling. Hopefully I did them justice in the images.
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