READ: No bones to pick...

2009/10/23

RIZAL SOLOMON

Writer-artist Jeff Smith’s classic graphic novels are out in reprints and they’re marvellous, writes RIZAL SOLOMON.

Rose Scholastic Press SCHOLASTIC Press is doing a great job of re-colouring writer-artist Jeff Smith’s masterpiece — Bone, and its prequel Rose.

Now, it’s a little difficult to talk about Rose, being a prequel to Bone, without giving away some major spoilers in the Bone saga.

Bone was originally published as a series of black and white comics. Somewhere along the line, Smith got together with artist Charles Vess and produced a prequel graphic novel called Rose.

Bone remains one of the greatest works in comics ever. It tells the story of three strange-looking cousins who end up in a foreign land and get mixed up in an amazing adventure. The Bone cousins are cartoony-looking creatures that are jarringly out of place in the new land they find themselves in.

Now, the idea of protagonists finding themselves in new and magical lands and ending up playing a pivotal role in the good versus evil battle isn’t something new. What makes Bone so special is how the story is told and the depth of the characterisation. Plus, Smith’s art is simple gorgeous and his skill at using the sequential art medium to tell a story is on another level completely. In Bone, Phoncible P. “Phoney” Bone, the goofy cigar-smoking Smiley Bone and the heroic Fone Bone end up in a mysterious valley populated by strange characters, including a likable young woman named Thorn and her grandmother Grandma Ben.

We learn that there is more to Thorn and her grandmother than meets the eye and that a great evil called the Lord of Locusts has some nasty plans for the valley and its inhabitants.

The Lord of Locusts remains an elusive figure for much of the series. His commands are executed by his powerful vassal — The Hooded One — who commands an army of terrifying beings called The Rat Creatures. There’s a lot going on, with Rat Creatures, Dragons, an ancient warrior order and an ultimate evil running around.

It’s amazing how, even though the series starts off small and intimate in a village and later expands to events that affect an entire kingdom, Smith never loses focus on the characters even as he’s creating this impressive and complete mythology.

The series builds up to an emotional and wild finale, where a huge battle is fought.

To say more would be giving away the twists and turns of one of the greatest fantasy works out there. Seriously, Bone rivals Lord of the Rings in scope and emotional depth. Now, the prequel Rose turns the clock back a few years to tell the story of Princess Rose Harvestar and her sister Briar.

Rose has to face a dragon who has been possessed by the Lord of the Locusts and the trails she will undergo will test her to the limit along with forcing her to make a terrible sacrifice.

The graphic novel is much darker than Bone, but it needs to be. The Lord of the Locusts is a terrifying entity, and here that point is driven home in the harrowing encounter that Rose is faced with. The graphic novel does a fantastic job of laying the foundations for the story to follow that involves the three Bone cousins, their friend Thorn and her grandmother.

Both Bone and Rose are highly recommended.