In 1991, writer and artist Jeff Smith began his ambitious comic book series, Bone, and self-published the title through most of its existence until he finished his story in 2004. Bone could have faded away at that point, but Scholastic picked up the rights to reprint it in color in 2005 and it won over a legion of young comic book fans.
According to a new interview with Smith at ComicBook.com, he revealed that his fan-favorite characters are making a brief comeback. This summer, Smith will release a brand new Bone graphic novel called Bone: Coda, which will act as an epilogue for the 55 issue series as the Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone head back to their home in Boneville with their Rat creature, Bartleby.
“About a year and a half ago, I sat down to write an entirely different story and [Coda] just came out,” explained Smith. “I think I was in a hotel somewhere and I just bashed it out. [Coda] was just sitting there and the 25th anniversary came up and I thought ‘I’ll just actually do this story up.’ It was kind of fun.”
The Coda story will only take up 32 pages in the 120 page Bone graphic novel. The rest of it will be a reprint of Stephen Weiner’s The Bone Companion with new illustrations and behind-the-scenes photos from the life of the series.
Smith also stated that while he has no intention of fully diving back into the world of Bone, he’s still very fond of his creations and he didn’t rule out another new story down the line.
“I’m always looking for an excuse to draw the Bone cousins,” admitted Smith. And that’s fine, because we’re always looking for an excuse to reread Bone!
Bone: Coda will be published by Cartoon Books in July.
