The funny pages

Comics have only sporadically appealed to me, mostly vicariously through my younger sister, who used to wheedle my mother into buying Mad Magazine and Archie in the supermarket check-out lines. Archie seemed cheesy, even to my unsophisticated ten-year old eyes, and I spent inordinate amounts of time drawing huge penises on poor Mr. Weatherbee.

I do credit my sister with getting me into Bone Comics, by Jeff Smith. His simple style is funny, and his dialogue is sharp. In the first volume, Out from Boneville (tee-hee!), you're introduced to Phone Bone, the series' hero, Phoney Bone, the manipulative and greedy bone, and Smiley, the least intelligent of the lot, but with his own simplistic wisdom. After being run out of Boneville (giggle), and crossing a desert, they find themselves in a new Valley, populated with wicked rat-creatures, led by Kingdok. There are many available now in second-hand bookstores, many of which are phallus-free!

http://www.boneville.com/