COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 4
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Grade:
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9.9
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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1108099001
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Owner:
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DocGo
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Label Notes
Jeff Smith story and art; 1st appearance of Kingdok and The Hooded One (these now appear on CGC labels)
*1st time Gran’ma Ben gets the gitchy feelin’*
Synopsis
The dark undercurrent surrounding the valley is finally revealed with the first appearance of Kingdok and the mysterious Hooded One. But why are they looking for Phoney? Meanwhile, Thorn, Fone Bone, and Gran’ma plan to travel in-town for the Spring Festival but Phoney decides to make the trip early for nefarious reasons.
The Slab
Single highest graded copy! Bought off eBay as an old label 9.6. Received Grader's Notes that mentioned slight stress lines on the front cover. Had it pressed by Matt Nelson of Classics Incorporated and came back as a 9.9. Currently (3/2026) this is the only MINT comic of the regular series graded by CGC (9.9 or 10). Officially graded on October 23, 2012.
Inside The Comic
Twenty two pages of story and two full pages of letters. The inside front cover has a drawing of an angry Fone Bone from page 5 along with the credits: By Jeff Smith at the top and Cover Airbrush by David Reed on the bottom. A caption appears for the first time saying “After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins are separated and lost in a vast, uncharted desert. One by one they find their way into a deep, forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures…” This prologue would be a staple for all future issues in the series. The back cover has a panel from page 5 where Phoney reveals to Fone that he nailed Gran’ma Ben’s bloomers to the side of the barn.
Bone-a-Fides
The Bone-a-Fides include entries from such luminaries as Frank Gladstone from Disney Animation, Stan Sakai, and Chuck Dixon (who declared himself a BONE-A-PHILE). There was also a letter from a 22 year-old Shane Glines who would go onto work for DC Comics among others. Jeff said that his samples were stunning and he “had no doubt you were going to make it in this field!”
Many of the other letters compared Jeff’s art to Walt Kelly as well as Bill Watterson and everyone seemed to enjoy the diversity of characters. One guy, who went to Ohio State but never spared the $2 for Thorn: Tales from the Lantern, asked for a second chance at the book. Jeff flatly refused to give up any of his copies. He smartly said that some of the upcoming story would be ruined.
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The inside back cover has a black & white preview for the cover to #5 as well as a back issue order form (#1 on its second printing).
Estimated Copies Sold: ????
Back Cover Collectible
Thorn: Tales from the Lantern
For years, I avoided buying one of these. I’d seen samples of the comic strip here & there and thought they were terrible. Combined with the fact that the book was merely a reprint of the original newspaper strips and contained slightly less than half the total amount, I was happy sitting on the sidelines. The prices they were getting on eBay were out of whack to me and most of the examples were in terrible condition anyway. Some of the comments I made on the CGC boards along these lines are downright embarrassing today ;-)
The historical significance of this book didn’t dawn on me until decades later when I finally sat down and read every strip Jeff produced (via The Lantern archives). I came to two conclusions: (1) Thorn was a college comic strip by a creator experimenting with the form AND (2) Thorn: Tales from the Lantern was Jeff & Vijaya’s first foray into the publishing world…with an idea that would become one of the greatest comic book series of all-time. I was too hung up on the content of the strips themselves and how the primary story was constantly interrupted by either gags or an irrelevant character. They should be enjoyed for being products of their time and the seeds of something greater.
One day when randomly perusing YouTube, I came upon a video called HOLY GRAIL! Super Rare Bone Comic from 1983 FOUND in a Thrift Store for $4! Unbelievable! from Cartoonist Kayfabe. A Columbus-based artist named Bryan Moss actually did find a copy in a local thrift store for the $3.95 cover price and didn’t know its history before making the purchase. He obviously learned more before helping with the video and provided some good insights into the content.
Being the comic nerd that I am, I watched the entire video as they went through the book page by page. They didn’t appear to harm it in any way (lol) and the condition was truly remarkable (VF/NM was my initial estimation). Bryan made mention of his Patreon account at the end of the video and I quickly subscribed to send him a message about purchasing the book. He was a very nice guy and sent me a bunch of pictures to help me determine its condition. We came to a compromise on the price and it was in my hands about a week later.
The overall condition is great but there was something that couldn’t be seen: a crease on the top edge of the front cover. I don’t think Bryan was an expert on grading and didn’t think he was trying to hide it. I can now see the hint of a crease in the video so it definitely wasn’t the result of poor shipping or handling. It was simply my own fault for not noticing. My revised grade is VF+ (8.5) at best but probably VF (8.0). The color strike on the Thorn title is still impressive as are the quality of the pages.
A couple months later, I actually sent this to CGC for encapsulation only to find out that they didn’t grade them anymore (officially stopped in 9/2021). The thickness of the book allows it to move around too much in the slab which could cause damage in extreme conditions (primarily when shipping). The famous 9.8 that sold at Heritage was an apparent victim of this problem as it was regraded as a 9.2 about a year after its purchase. You can see my rejection stamp in the pics ;-)
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