Bone Comic Book Archive
Bone 48
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COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Bone 48 Signature
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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1368199006
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Owner:
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DocGo
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Label Notes
Jeff Smith story, cover, and art
*1st Appearance of Lord Tarsil*
Synopsis
Phoney hatches a plan to snatch and secure Atheia's treasure while Lord Tarsil learns of Thorn's presence in the city, along with the Bones.
The Slab
Highest grade for Signature Series! My raw book signed by Jeff at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. I wanted it signed in silver but there was an unfortunate mixup with one of my facilitator’s helpers. Thankfully, it doesn’t look horrible and Doug Peters was able to make it up to me. Officially graded by CGC on August 29, 2016.
Inside The Comic
Twenty four pages of story, zero pages of letters, and zero pages of ads. The inside front cover has a drawing of Thorn inside her room from page 4 with the black & white “coloring” reversed. The brief prologue is on the top left and the credits are as follows: Written and Drawn by Jeff Smith, Cover Color by Steve Hamaker. For Cartoon Books: Vijaya Iyer as Publisher and Kathleen Glosan as Production Manager. The back cover has a panel from page 23 with a pensive Gran’ma Ben standing over Fone Bone.
Conversation with Jeff Smith
There are no Bone-a-Fides in this issue which occurred in #43 as well. It looks like Jeff needed every page for the story and the only room that was left was the inside back cover. Most of it contains an interview that Jeff did with Previews to celebrate the upcoming 50th issue (cover image of Fone Bone appears in the upper left corner). The first question is what fifty issues means to him and Jeff admitted that he was nostalgic for anniversary issues such as Fantastic Four #25 and Detective Comics #400. He also mentions that all the Bone characters would be gathered in one place (Atheia) and a massive battle would begin with the Rat Creature horde. He says it will be the largest action sequence he’s ever drawn which has him a bit scared…but excited.
They next asks about #50’s tagline, “The Final Story Arc. Who knew Armageddon would be so funny?”, and if he knew when Bone would end. Jeff said the last issue would be #55 and he was both happy & sad that it would be ending. He had worked with the characters for so long and he’d naturally miss the daily grind with them, but he’d also be happy that people can sit down with the entire story and read it in a weekend…rather than waiting twelve long years ;-)
The last question is about future plans. He figured he’d still draw the Bones every now & then but he was most interested in doing projects like Rose, where he collaborated with the great Charles Vess. He said that he had discussed a sequel with Charles but nothing had been decided yet. He did have one project that he was excited about which he may announce at the upcoming 2002 San Diego Comic Con (would become the Captain Marvel miniseries Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil).
Estimated Copies Sold thru Diamond: 15600
Back Cover Collectible
Bone One Volume Limited Edition Hardcover AP/2000
You saw my numbered edition in Bone #43 so here’s an Artist Proof. I’ve seen maybe 5 of these in total since I started keeping track in the mid-2000s. I’ll guess that Jeff did at least 10 and perhaps as many as 20 (just an educated estimate from what I’ve seen in the past). Jeff gave this one to Charles Brownstein who was the CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) Executive Director at the time. Jeff has been a long time supporter of the CBLDF and has donated plenty to the initiative. It includes a very nice sketch of Smiley holding the American flag with the following personalization: “To Charles, Fight th’ Good Fight” with a peace symbol above Jeff’s artist sig. The book itself is not in great condition and has several notable scuffs & and the indentation/tear on the front cover. It’s FN- at best.
I have to mention that Charles was accused of sexual harassment by at least two former associates and resigned from the organization in 2020. Certainly, Jeff did not know about this when he signed & sketched this copy in 2004. I won it in an eBay auction directly from Mr. Brownstein and even I didn’t know what had happened at the time. I first looked up his name when I saw the return address and educated myself. Charles was never formally charged for any of these incidents but I believe Taki Soma’s account.
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