Bone #5

History

Jeff Smith launched Cartoon Books in 1991 specifically to self-publish Bone, after years honing the characters as a comic strip in Ohio State University's student newspaper, The Lantern. By the time issue #5 shipped in June 1992, Smith had been joined at Cartoon Books by his wife Vijaya Iyer, who came aboard as publishing and distribution partner that same year, bringing organizational infrastructure to what had been a solo operation. Issue #5 was part of the original black-and-white run that Smith wrote, drew, lettered, and published himself — a one-cartoonist production that made the consistent quality of its storytelling and cartooning all the more striking to its early readership. The issue would eventually see multiple reprints under Cartoon Books and later one printing under Image Comics (released May 1996, during the period Bone temporarily migrated to that publisher), before being folded into numerous collected editions.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published June 1, 1992 by Cartoon Books; written, drawn, and lettered entirely by Jeff Smith.
• First appearance of Lucius Down — the proprietor of the Barrelhaven Tavern and one of the series' most important supporting characters — as well as the first appearance of Barrelhaven and the Barrelhaven Tavern as locations.
• Constitutes Part 5 of 6 of the 'Out from Boneville' story arc, which was later collected as the first trade paperback volume (Bone Vol. 1: Out from Boneville, Cartoon Books, 1995; Scholastic/Graphix color edition, 2005).
• Key plot events: Gran'ma Ben's farm is besieged by a mass wave of Rat Creatures; she fights them off single-handedly while Thorn and Fone Bone flee; the Great Red Dragon rescues the pair; Phoney Bone arrives in Barrelhaven and is reunited with Smiley Bone.
• The issue saw at least six printings under Cartoon Books and one additional printing under Image Comics (May 1996), reflecting strong sustained demand during the series' early years.
• The issue's story content has been collected in: The Complete Bone Adventures Vol. 1 (Cartoon Books, 1993); the Cartoon Books Out from Boneville trade (1995/1996); the Scholastic Out from Boneville trade paperback and hardcover color editions (2005); the Bone: One Volume Edition omnibus (Cartoon Books, 2004); and multiple foreign-language editions.
• A twelve-page excerpt from early Bone issues — including content from this arc — was previewed in Cerebus #161 (Aardvark-Vanaheim, August 1992), reflecting Dave Sim's early championing of the series among the small-press community.
• The series this issue belongs to was later adapted into a Telltale Games episodic video game (Bone: Out from Boneville, 2005), and Netflix acquired rights to the property in 2019, though that adaptation was discontinued in 2022.

Full credits

Key issues in Bone

Variants (2)