What do you get when you combine the sweeping landscapes of The Lord of the Rings with the lighthearted antics of Donald Duck and his nephews? Jeff Smith’s internationally bestselling fantasy series, Bone, of course.
The fanciful series revolved around the three Bone cousins – the intrepid Phoncible P. “Phoney” Bone, the goofy Smiley Bone, and the fearless Fone Bone. The story opens with these cousins run out of their hometown of Boneville following Phoney’s misguided campaign for mayor. After crossing a desert, the cousins are separated and find themselves in the midst of the mysterious, fantasy landscape known as the Valley. The trio later reunited at the local tavern called Barrelhaven where they meet Thorn and her enigmatic grandmother. The longer they remain in the Valley the more the Bone cousins encounter whimsical creatures and the dark entity, the Lord of the Locusts. Gradually they are pulled into a hero’s journey to help free the Valley residents of tormentors.
Originally serialized in 55 irregularly released issues from 1991 to 2004, Bone was later adapted into a graphic novel format for Scholastic’s Graphix Books line. Over the next five years, Scholastic recolored and reprinted the series to sell 8 million copies in North America alone. Along with claiming a spot on Time Magazine’s “10 best graphic novels of all-time,” Bone has also received numerous awards, including 10 Eisner and 11 Harvey Awards. Outside of the main series, several prequels and sequels have also been published.
The Bone cousins have also made their way to the world of video games via Telltale Games, along with gracing shelves in a wave of figures released by the toy manufacturer Resaurus. Smith has often expressed interest in adapting the franchise into other media as well. Nickelodeon Movies and Warner Bros. are among the companies who have previously made attempts to translate the project into animation.
But did you know that the fantasy epic is now making its way to Netflix? That’s right, Phoney, Smiley, and Fone are heading to the streaming platform to be adapted into an animated kids series. Currently, no release date has been announced for the upcoming project.
