BROWN, CHESTER 71
Even as the quest element takes over and the series enters ever-darker territory,
it never completely does away with humorous aspects, introducing elements such
as Smiley Bone’s friendship with a rat creature cub named Bartleby. Th ese scenes
and others retain the feel of the earlier sections of the narrative, providing a stylistic
through-line.
Th e series was published on an irregular schedule. Ostensibly it was released
bi-monthly, but some issues followed a gap of three or more months, while others were
released monthly. Th is pattern continued for the series’ entire run. During 1999 and
2000, Smith took a full year off from the series to concentrate on putting together a
pitch for the fi rst attempt at an animated movie version of the series. When he returned,
the next new issue (#38) featured covers by Alex Ross and Frank Miller.
Portions of Bone were printed (in color for the fi rst time) in the comics section of
Disney Adventures magazine, fi rst in 1994 and again in 1997–98. Most of these were
excerpts from issues of the comic book. In some cases, the reprinted material was edited
to remove instances of smoking and drinking. One issue featured a completely original
eight-page story, involving Phoney and Smiley Bone searching for a “buried treasure”
when they are supposed to be doing Th orn’s laundry. It has never been reprinted.
Following its initial run as a comic book, Bone has been collected into several diff er-
ent formats. Th e fi rst collections consisted of nine volumes from Cartoon Books. Th ese
were in black-and-white, just like the original issues. In 2004, Scholastic Books began
printing colorized volumes, with new coloring done by Steve Hamaker and approved by
Smith. Also in 2004, the entire series was collected into a single 1,332-page one-volume
edition. In addition to the paperback version, the one-volume edition was also issued in
a limited edition hardcover with a run of 2,000 copies.
During its run, the series spawned two prequel miniseries. Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails ,
published in 1999, told the story of Big Johnson Bone, an ancestor of the cousins and
the founder of Boneville. Th e three-issue series was drawn by Smith and written by
Tom Sniegoski. Rose , published in 2002, focuses on Rose (the future Gran’ma Ben) and
Briar as teenagers. It was written by Smith and painted by Charles Vess.
A few attempts have been made to translate Bone to other media. In the late 1990s,
Smith and Nickelodeon attempted to produce an animated movie. However, Nickel-
odeon wanted the Bones to be played by child actors, with pop songs on the soundtrack.
Th e deal fell apart. In 2008, Warner Bros. signed a deal to do a CGI adaptation with
Smith’s full cooperation. Additionally, Telltale Games has released two games based
on the series. Th e fi rst, Out from Boneville , was released in 2005. Th e second game, Th e
Great Cow Race , followed in 2006. Th ey were both released for Windows, and the fi rst
was also released for Mac. Bone has won more than 40 awards, including 11 Eisner
Awa rd s and 14 Harvey Awards.
Anthony Strand
BROWN, CHESTER (1960–). Chester Brown was born in Montreal and spent his child-
hood in one of its suburbs. He dropped out of art school in 1978 and moved to Toronto
