Jeff Smith’s bestselling fantasy epic, Bone, is being adapted into an animated kids series on Netflix. 

“I’ve waited a long time for this, Netflix is the perfect home for Bone. Fans of the books know that the story develops chapter by chapter and book by book. An animated series is exactly the way to do this! The team at Netflix understands Bone and is committed to doing something special – this is good news for kids and cartoon lovers all over the world,” Smith said, following the streaming service’s acquisition. 

Bone was originally published from 1991 to 2004 in 55 comic book issues, before being adapted into a graphic novel format for Scholastic’s Graphix Books line. Smith’s opus was recolored and reprinted over the next five years selling 8 million copies in North America alone. The series later claimed a spot on Time Magazine’s “10 best graphic novels of all-time,” along with claiming over 40 national and international publishing awards.

The whimsical fantasy epic follows the misadventures of the Bone cousins – fearless Fone, crafty Phoney, and the ever-friendly Smiley. After Phoney’s campaign for mayor went awry, the trio became separated in the desert and found themselves pulled into the mystifying and exciting world of the Valley. 

Several unsuccessful attempts to translate the project into animation have occurred over the years, with Mark Osborne most recently tapped to develop a trilogy of Bone films for Warner Bros.