I remember first picking up Bone in '97 (I know because my Aunt sent it to me with a pack of the trading cards and a calendar from that year) and reading the over-sized comic with my dad. It was the only book I owned that wouldn't fit on the shelf, we had to keep it next to the atlas. We read up to The Dragon Slayer, which was all that was out at the time, but that's as far as we got. A few years back I tried to find my old copies of the book, but it seems my mothers favorite slogan "if in doubt throw it out" finally related itself to something other than lettuce. It was great to finally be able to pick up the series again, I read the series in 2 days.
The art, characters, conversation and the structure are incredible. I really enjoyed it.
pg 249 Art of carrying on a conversation and the stupid rat creature on the left always brings up quiche... again happens on 484, quiche rat is on left
pg 258 it disquieted me that he went on watch and wrote a letter, the way this was inserted was strange but i'm not so sure its a good point.
pg 283 i like how the background functions to portray the mod, and how the dream panels are all the same horizontal shapes.
pg 334 interesting dramatic motivation, but not totally logical, don't understand why, if Grandma Ben was going to walk off, she would have announced herself by opening the door. but still fun
pg387 grandma ben looks like joan of arc.
pg 497, the way the villagers have changed the log into a wall is very Zelda-y actually all of the villager mentality that we overhear feels like walking around Zelda. Also, apparently Zelda is a recognized proper noun in spell check.
pg 754 and 755 i like how the two actions are proceeding in different directions, that plus the rain makes it feel even further out.
pg 916 i like how the scythe is given a back story. Instead of making it just the Grim Reaper icon... or at least to transcend it.
I love the series
Made me cry
I like that the belief system of the bones is more modern and fits us even though we can physically relate to the image of the valley dwellers. Although in Scott McCloud's comics he mentioned that we can more redily relate to more abstracted figures.
I love Bartleby and the Red Dragon.
Points: page155 Tom Looks a little like Rasl
Interesting comments :P
ReplyDeleteI didn't really think of Zelda in comparison to the villagers, but I can sort of see what you mean. And I thought Zelda was a sort-of-normal name? Maybe that's why it's recognized in spellcheck...?
I also liked how the Boneville references made it seem like a contemporary city. All of the trade mark fast food/snacks that Smiley mentions at the end reflect a mass product/consumer society like ours. It would have been cool to actually see Boneville, but I think Smith's decision to leave it a mystery/up to the reader was appropriate as well.
Bartleby is awesome :D
Good catch on the quiche rat creature always being on the left!
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