Reception
Michael Arner from PopMatters.com was initially not impressed with the black and white artwork, and at first disappointed at the ending, hoping for a more conclusive dénouement. However, he ultimately praised the depth of the characterizations and Smith's ability to "mix humor and adventure perfectly."
Bob's Comics Review described the work as "Tolkienesque" in its compulsive progression from a simple comic tale to a sprawling epic. Although critical of the earlier issues, the writer came to enjoy the range of writing "from slapstick (the cow race is a classic), to the scary yet hilarious rat creatures, to intimations of high fantasy." Smith's sense of timing was praised as well as the creator's use of the silent panel and "repeated scene with variations of movement or perspective."
In 2004, TIME critic Andrew Arnold called Bone "the best all-ages graphic novel yet published."
In 2010, a Minnesota parent sought to have Bone banned from all elementary school libraries in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District, citing references in the work to smoking, drinking, and gambling. After a hearing, a school district committee voted 10 to 1 to keep the books on the shelves.
Read more about this topic: Bone (comics)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)