"Bone" is an epic story about three "bone creatures" and their adventures in a valley peopled with an assortment of crazy and interesting characters. Looming over it all is the menace of a great evil, revealed slowly over the course of nine volumes, intent on unleashing itself over the world. The series starts off lighthearted, but grows less so as the story unravels itself, as is evident with "Ghost Circles."

In "Ghost Circles," despair rules over all. It begins with the death of a supporting character, leads into suffering for all, and sees the main characters trudge through hopelessness before leaving the reader lingering with the hope that maybe, just maybe, a good end will come for the good guys.

Here, several story threads move ahead independent of each other, the characters separated by a great calamity in the valley. Throughout the volume, the threads appear to be drawing together - even as evil grows. When finishing this, you'll reach for the next volume right away.

Smith combines the kind of classic storytelling perfected by the likes of the legendary Carl Barks (Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge) and Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) - pure cartooning with outrageous and expressive faces and gestures - with the epic and engaging plotting of a sweeping fairy tale. "Bone" manages to balance the two well enough to be something fans of both Donald Duck and Frodo Baggins can enjoy.

Jeff Smith's "Bone" series may be critically acclaimed, but it is also criminally overlooked. And that's too bad, because this deserves to be read.

And in the long run, it will be.

There is no doubt people will still be reading "Bone" 50 years from now. Broad and epic in scope yet personal and quaint, this is a charming story in every way that will surely outlast most other comic works on the shelf.


Pogo characters and a Disney heroine lost on another planet.   March 16, 2004
 2 out of 28 found this review helpful

Sure, sure, the art and the storytelling are great as usual (even spellbounding at times), but I'm still not comfortable with the fact those Bone creatures were superimposed over well-known characters from an ancient comic strip, so that's why I still hate the series so much I no longer buy the books anymore and instead check them out at a local library.

And the plot itself is nothing new, either; a pubescent young princess-disguised-as-a-human-mortal discovers her own magical powers to go on a perilous quest and save the world. It's been done a billion times before in countless Disney movies and many manga books for the girlie audience. So why the eternal fascination with budding females of the royal status? No wonder Di never got a moment's peace.


Ghost Circles Review   November 28, 2002
 1 out of 6 found this review helpful

The dilagoue is very exotic damped in the usual supense. I admired the well crafted drawings in ink text. Perhaps the ending leaves you lingering for a settled outcome and not held in high climax action. A well balanced adwantage to the epic saga is the modern humor clashing with the medival views.

Jeff Smith has mastered this comic with another inspiring idea of his imagination. He clung to some of the old traits he devloped in his pervious books. However,this is forgiven and I wish for you to read this. Get some hands on experince by reading the whole printed script collection first.


the pivotal volume   February 19, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

BONE volume seven is one of the greatest stories of BONE. Even though the first five are less grim, this graphic novel is an addition to the BONE series that the other books could not do without.

I tried reading volume eight: Treasure Hunters before this, mainly because my hold on Ghost Circles arrived after volume eight. I couldn't wait for volume seven, so I dove right into Treasure Hunters. To make a long story short, it was awful. After my hold arrived, I decided to reread them in order. Sure enough, volume eight made much more sense after having read volume seven, and now both have been added to my favorites list, along with The Great Cow Race and The Dragonslayer.


Very Grim . . .   July 12, 2006
I loved this book just as well as the others, and the grimness just made it better. It starts off with the death of a supporting character, and has the characters eking out an existence in a valley where they believe everyone is dead, leaving you hoping at the end that a glimmer of hope may appear. However, it does have some sweet moments, like Fone and Smiley's little talk by the fireside and Phoney and Fone turning into Ishmael and Captain Ahab. All in all, you'll love this and all the other BONE books, whether you love Mickey Mouse or The Lord of the Rings (BONE is quite Tolkienesque.)