COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 23
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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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1151475004
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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 Bartleby.
*Pin-ups by Dave Sim and Gerhard*
Synopsis
Thorn & Fone Bone return to Barrelhaven and find Phoney & Smiley living large as the “dragonslayers”. Later, Fone Bone discovers an abandoned baby rat creature rummaging in the trash who Thorn threatens to kill.
The Slab
Highest grade Signature Series book! My raw book signed by Jeff at a Chicago Comics appearance on 10/5/2013. Thanks to mschmidt for facilitating! Graded by CGC on November 19, 2013.
Inside The Comic
Twenty two pages of story, two pages of letters, two Bone pin-ups, and six pages of ads. The inside front cover has a drawing of Smiley with a cigar and Phoney with a turkey leg from page 11. The brief prologue is on the top left and the credits are the same as last issue: Written and Drawn by Jeff Smith, Cover Color by Elizabeth Lewis for Extreme Color. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as President, Karen Root as Assistant Publisher, and Andries Mulder as Archivist. For Image Comics: Larry Marder as Executive Director and 5 additional names for staff positions. The back cover has a panel from page 11 showing Fone saying that he’s staying in the Valley.
Pin-Ups
Both pin-ups were drawn by Dave Sim and Gerhard of Cerebus fame and they are both beautiful. One has Thorn sleeping on a bed by candlelight with the Moby Dick novel partially opened (signed by Sim). The second page has two panels: Gran’ma Ben’s house, illuminated by the moon with rat creatures on approach, and an interior scene with Thorn and Fone Bone in shadow before a roaring fire in the kitchen, discussing something of importance (signed by Gerhard).
Ads
The first ad has the cover for Bone #24 with “War!” scrolled on the top (on sale in April 1996). The second ad has various Bone stuff including t-shirts and 13 different pins. The third ad is a ballot for the 1996 Comics Buyer’s Guide Fan Awards. The fourth ad is for Ballistic Action by Michael Turner & Top Cow and the fifth is for five different comics being released in April by Image (including Bone and The Maxx). The last ad is for a Bone poster with Fone Bone walking thru the Dragon’s Stair with a shadowed Great Red Dragon behind him (cover for Image’s Bone #1). The inside back cover has an ad for the third and final Bone card series, Dragonslayer, with scenes from Bone #17-22 and 500 autographed cards.
Bone-a-Fides
The Bone-a-Fides has a new section called Olav’s Corner… with an outline around Olav’s fourth letter to the Bone series. He runs down the story from #22 and asks about the mysterious new project that Jeff alluded to in the previous issue. There’s no reply from Jeff. Unfortunately, this is the only time Olav’s Corner appeared but it was fun while it lasted.
The next fan mentions first reading Bone in the Disney Adventures magazine and being turned onto other independent work like The Tick and Cerebus thanks to Jeff. He also asked about the ads that Jeff has to run and he says that part of the deal of being on the Image imprint includes running at least two ads from other Image properties. He gets to pick them at least, so he hopes they won’t clash too much with the Bone genre. Jeff also made light of his “brilliant decision” to end subscriptions after #21 was released…to announce the glorious return of subscriptions! Just send a check or money order for $18 to Cartoon Books today for a full year of Bone!
A letter from France confirmed that Bone was being distributed to the French by a publisher named Delcourt. An Australian wrote in as well and told everyone that not only was the Dreaming inspired by the Aboriginal Australians but that the island continent also had an annual cow race (since 1974). In the final comment from Jeff, he promised that more pin-ups would come from other Image artists.
Estimated Copies Sold: 48800
Back Cover Collectible
Bone Dragonslayer Autographed Card
This is 1 of 500 autographed cards from the third Bone card series by Comic Images, called Dragonslayer. The series was released in 1996 while the Bone comics were under the Image Comics banner. As you can see, my card isn’t in the greatest of conditions on the edges but at least there aren’t any creases. I did not find this in a pack. The only packs I remember buying were from the first series (desperately wanted to find a sketch card). I bought this second hand on eBay.
I still haven’t figured out which page Jeff is holding in the image. If you got any ideas, please let me know!
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