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Bone: Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails
Reveals the story of Big Johnson Bone, the discoverer of the Rolling Bone River and the founder of Boneville.
104 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2000
About the author
Jeff Smith
650 books1,446 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville. Against all odds, the small company flourished, building a reputation for quality stories and artwork. Word of mouth, critical acclaim, and a string of major awards helped propel Cartoon Books and BONE to the forefront of the comic book industry.
In 1992, Jeff’s wife Vijaya Iyer joined the company as partner to handle publishing and distribution, licensing, and foreign language publications. In the Spring of 2005, Harry Potter’s U.S. publisher Scholastic Inc. entered the graphic novel market by launching a new imprint, Graphix with a full color version of BONE: Out from Boneville, bringing the underground comic to a new audience and a new generation.
In 2007, DC Comics released Smith’s first non-creator owned work, SHAZAM! Monster Society of Evil, a four-part mini-series recreating a classic serial from comic’s Golden Age. Between projects, Smith spends much of his time on the international guest circuit promoting comics and the art of graphic novels.
Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville. Against all odds, the small company flourished, building a reputation for quality stories and artwork. Word of mouth, critical acclaim, and a string of major awards helped propel Cartoon Books and BONE to the forefront of the comic book industry.
In 1992, Jeff’s wife Vijaya Iyer joined the company as partner to handle publishing and distribution, licensing, and foreign language publications. In the Spring of 2005, Harry Potter’s U.S. publisher Scholastic Inc. entered the graphic novel market by launching a new imprint, Graphix with a full color version of BONE: Out from Boneville, bringing the underground comic to a new audience and a new generation.
In 2007, DC Comics released Smith’s first non-creator owned work, SHAZAM! Monster Society of Evil, a four-part mini-series recreating a classic serial from comic’s Golden Age. Between projects, Smith spends much of his time on the international guest circuit promoting comics and the art of graphic novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 14, 2022
The founder of Boneville, Big Johnson Bone, gets his own miniseries. You've heard him mentioned in Bone now you can see him ride a tornado to the Valley and beat up rat creatures. Oh, and he's the reason rat creatures no longer have tails.
There's also a backup story featuring Riblet. It's in the vein of Bugs Bunny as the young boar messes with the rat creatures who captured him and try to eat him.
There's also a backup story featuring Riblet. It's in the vein of Bugs Bunny as the young boar messes with the rat creatures who captured him and try to eat him.
October 2, 2007
Honestly, I think this is probably the single greatest thing to come out of the Bone series. Absolutely hilarious from page one to the end. Highly recommended, especially for those who have always found tall tales a hoot.
Familiarity with the Bone series helps, but isn't required.
Familiarity with the Bone series helps, but isn't required.
November 24, 2012
I love Jeff Smith's work - his black and white art is exceptionally good. Fine, tapered lines, expressive faces, nicely scaled perspective, believable motion, and a perfect balance of flat black shadows and clean white backdrops. Never cluttered, never fussy. There's detail; fur on hats and carvings on rock, wispy bark texture on trees and ice crystals in snowflakes. But a face can be as simple as a long, wavering eyebrow over an ink-blot eye, and a one-line nose that curves into a mouth.
Everything by Jeff Smith in this collection is five-star quality, as usual. Problem is, not a lot of this 100-page book *is* by Jeff Smith.
The artwork in the first set of stories, 'The Adventure of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero' is pure Smith. Anguished rat creatures, cocky Bone heroes, adorable mice, bears, foxes and turtles, a wacky monkey, a timid dragon - drawn to perfection.
The writing, however, is NOT Smith - the story was penned by Tom Sniegosky and while he does fine, it's not awful, but it's just not... not Smith.
The monkey's wry outbursts are a little too caustic and full of chagrin. Pop culture references to things like "Valley of the Full-Figured Gals" don't hit the right note, and aren't age-appropriate to the general readership for this comic. There were a lot of poop jokes. I'm being overly critical; it was a decent story and wrapped up well, but I've been spoiled by nine heavenly volumes of Bone. They've made me hard to please.
A small thing that drove me crazy about this collection was the lack of page numbering in the first set of stories. Numbers suddenly appear on page 77 and proceed to the end, but are markedly absent for the first three quarters of the book. I know lots of people would read this whole comic in about half an hour, but I like to savor art, and my cat likes to knock books out of my hands while I'm reading, so consistent numbering throughout would have been a boon.
The second story, Riblet, is neither drawn NOR written by Jeff Smith. The tale is again told by Mr. Sniegosky, and the art is by Stan Sakai. While I found the pig - sorry, the boar - to be insanely annoying, I am glad at least that Sniegosky was a proper fanboy and remembered to write the rat creature's peculiar love of quiche into his origin story. Seriously, though, what is up with Riblet's execrable dialogue? "When I am's done wit' you, your own brudda wouldn't recognize ya!... Dere, finished! I tink I outdo'd myself dis time!" Yikes.
Sakai and Smith have wildly differing aesthetics. Where Smith's brushwork is delicate, sensitive, and free; Sakai's pen is bold, active and uniform. His panels are cluttered with motion lines exuded by cartoony characters with bulging googly eyes and wagging tongues. Lines are an unvarying width, and the rigid use of evenly spaced ruled lines, methodical crosshatching or plain black creates defined areas of shadow.
Sakai's art reminds me of comic strips of yore, from the newspaper funny pages of my youth. His rounded, balloon-edged trees and bushes and implacably consistent line thickness recalls Mort Walker's 'Beetle Bailey' or Dik Browne's 'Hagar the Horrible', while the busy panel structure is a child of the frenzy of Sergio Aragones' 'Groo'.
This was a fun evening read, but even though I adore the rat creatures, I'd rather snuggle up with Bone and have a pure and unadulterated communion with Jeff Smith's own words and images, united.
Everything by Jeff Smith in this collection is five-star quality, as usual. Problem is, not a lot of this 100-page book *is* by Jeff Smith.
The artwork in the first set of stories, 'The Adventure of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero' is pure Smith. Anguished rat creatures, cocky Bone heroes, adorable mice, bears, foxes and turtles, a wacky monkey, a timid dragon - drawn to perfection.
The writing, however, is NOT Smith - the story was penned by Tom Sniegosky and while he does fine, it's not awful, but it's just not... not Smith.
The monkey's wry outbursts are a little too caustic and full of chagrin. Pop culture references to things like "Valley of the Full-Figured Gals" don't hit the right note, and aren't age-appropriate to the general readership for this comic. There were a lot of poop jokes. I'm being overly critical; it was a decent story and wrapped up well, but I've been spoiled by nine heavenly volumes of Bone. They've made me hard to please.
A small thing that drove me crazy about this collection was the lack of page numbering in the first set of stories. Numbers suddenly appear on page 77 and proceed to the end, but are markedly absent for the first three quarters of the book. I know lots of people would read this whole comic in about half an hour, but I like to savor art, and my cat likes to knock books out of my hands while I'm reading, so consistent numbering throughout would have been a boon.
The second story, Riblet, is neither drawn NOR written by Jeff Smith. The tale is again told by Mr. Sniegosky, and the art is by Stan Sakai. While I found the pig - sorry, the boar - to be insanely annoying, I am glad at least that Sniegosky was a proper fanboy and remembered to write the rat creature's peculiar love of quiche into his origin story. Seriously, though, what is up with Riblet's execrable dialogue? "When I am's done wit' you, your own brudda wouldn't recognize ya!... Dere, finished! I tink I outdo'd myself dis time!" Yikes.
Sakai and Smith have wildly differing aesthetics. Where Smith's brushwork is delicate, sensitive, and free; Sakai's pen is bold, active and uniform. His panels are cluttered with motion lines exuded by cartoony characters with bulging googly eyes and wagging tongues. Lines are an unvarying width, and the rigid use of evenly spaced ruled lines, methodical crosshatching or plain black creates defined areas of shadow.
Sakai's art reminds me of comic strips of yore, from the newspaper funny pages of my youth. His rounded, balloon-edged trees and bushes and implacably consistent line thickness recalls Mort Walker's 'Beetle Bailey' or Dik Browne's 'Hagar the Horrible', while the busy panel structure is a child of the frenzy of Sergio Aragones' 'Groo'.
This was a fun evening read, but even though I adore the rat creatures, I'd rather snuggle up with Bone and have a pure and unadulterated communion with Jeff Smith's own words and images, united.
June 17, 2019
Sometimes, I think you can have too much of a good thing.
I loved Bone . I thought that the whole story, especially consumed in the massive omnibus edition I read most of the story in (I had started with the individual collections) was a well plotted tale, on par with such literary classics as The Hobbit. While possibly not necessary, the prequel Rose answered some questions about Rose, Briar and Lucious that had popped up in the main Bone narrative. This volume, however, is completely superfluous.
I think the first issue with this collection is that Jeff Smith has ceded the writing duties to Tom Sniegoski for this collection, whose work I was not previously familiar with. The fact that Smith doesn't handle the writing in this volume indicates that maybe that Smith felt that there really wasn't anything more to say when it came to Bone. The first story involves a character mentioned in Bone but never really expounded on--Big Johnson Bone. Effectively this story serves to explain a detail in Bone that is also mentioned in passing once Bartleby becomes a part of the story. But honestly I really don't give a rat's ass (pun intended) about why the hairy men/rat creatures cut off their tails. If anything, this story just served to point out to me that there may be a plethora of thinly-veiled dick jokes in the pages of Bone. I'm certain I thought of this before, but I ignored it so that we didn't have scrape the bottom of the barrel. No such luck here.
The second story involves the woodland creatures of the valley and one in particular called Riblet that has an interaction with the rat creatures (perhaps the two that serve as mainly comic relief in Bone.) The nice part is that this story is drawn by Usagi Yojimbo's Stan Sakai. But unlike the employment of Charles Vess for Rose this just seems like an attempt to say "look who I got to draw something Bone related." The story is cute, but it doesn't add anything to the Bone story.
I'm sure that this volume came about because Sniegoski came to Jeff Smith with an idea for some Bone related stories and he convinced Smith to draw the Big Johnson Bone story to maintain the look and feel of the Boneville residents. But there's just no real reason for these stories to exist and unfortunately, for me, that detracts from the enjoyment of the volume.
I loved Bone . I thought that the whole story, especially consumed in the massive omnibus edition I read most of the story in (I had started with the individual collections) was a well plotted tale, on par with such literary classics as The Hobbit. While possibly not necessary, the prequel Rose answered some questions about Rose, Briar and Lucious that had popped up in the main Bone narrative. This volume, however, is completely superfluous.
I think the first issue with this collection is that Jeff Smith has ceded the writing duties to Tom Sniegoski for this collection, whose work I was not previously familiar with. The fact that Smith doesn't handle the writing in this volume indicates that maybe that Smith felt that there really wasn't anything more to say when it came to Bone. The first story involves a character mentioned in Bone but never really expounded on--Big Johnson Bone. Effectively this story serves to explain a detail in Bone that is also mentioned in passing once Bartleby becomes a part of the story. But honestly I really don't give a rat's ass (pun intended) about why the hairy men/rat creatures cut off their tails. If anything, this story just served to point out to me that there may be a plethora of thinly-veiled dick jokes in the pages of Bone. I'm certain I thought of this before, but I ignored it so that we didn't have scrape the bottom of the barrel. No such luck here.
The second story involves the woodland creatures of the valley and one in particular called Riblet that has an interaction with the rat creatures (perhaps the two that serve as mainly comic relief in Bone.) The nice part is that this story is drawn by Usagi Yojimbo's Stan Sakai. But unlike the employment of Charles Vess for Rose this just seems like an attempt to say "look who I got to draw something Bone related." The story is cute, but it doesn't add anything to the Bone story.
I'm sure that this volume came about because Sniegoski came to Jeff Smith with an idea for some Bone related stories and he convinced Smith to draw the Big Johnson Bone story to maintain the look and feel of the Boneville residents. But there's just no real reason for these stories to exist and unfortunately, for me, that detracts from the enjoyment of the volume.
March 20, 2018
Subtitles The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero, Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails is a quick-witted cross between two interesting styles - frontier-hero tall tale glory and the funny-animal book that some people dismiss Bone (as well as Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo) as being.
You can't help but get caught up in the glorious madness of Big Johnson Bone's hootenanny inside a monster's belly, or his attempt to ride a tornado, or his claim that monsters have tails so that Big Johnson Bone would have a handle to grab onto! Sniegoski's sharp script gives plenty of easy laughs, via the sardonic monkey Mr. Pip, the comic interplay between the two stupid rat creatures, or Queen Maud's desperate vanity.
Smith and Sakai are master cartoonists, and they bring Sniegoski's work to life with astonishing clarify, exciting action, and a true storyteller's eye.
You can't help but get caught up in the glorious madness of Big Johnson Bone's hootenanny inside a monster's belly, or his attempt to ride a tornado, or his claim that monsters have tails so that Big Johnson Bone would have a handle to grab onto! Sniegoski's sharp script gives plenty of easy laughs, via the sardonic monkey Mr. Pip, the comic interplay between the two stupid rat creatures, or Queen Maud's desperate vanity.
Smith and Sakai are master cartoonists, and they bring Sniegoski's work to life with astonishing clarify, exciting action, and a true storyteller's eye.
November 4, 2021
The first half of this book is about the first time a Bone encounters the rat creatures and tells how the rat creatures got some of their features.
Big Johnson Bone is an explorer who is like an amalgam of Phone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone. He has the bravery and adventurous spirit of Phone, the wileyness and trickster nature of Phoney, and the good nature and exaggerated story telling of Smiley.
This half feels very much like full Jeff Smith Bone.
The second half is illustrated by Stan Sakai and seems very much inspired by O. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief. I like Sakai (and have followed his Usagi Yojimbo for decades now) but I don't know that his art style is a good match for the Bone-iverse, and the story seems very loosely connected if at all. If it weren't for the appearance of rat creatures, you wouldn't know this was a Bone-iverse tale at all.
Big Johnson Bone is an explorer who is like an amalgam of Phone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone. He has the bravery and adventurous spirit of Phone, the wileyness and trickster nature of Phoney, and the good nature and exaggerated story telling of Smiley.
This half feels very much like full Jeff Smith Bone.
The second half is illustrated by Stan Sakai and seems very much inspired by O. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief. I like Sakai (and have followed his Usagi Yojimbo for decades now) but I don't know that his art style is a good match for the Bone-iverse, and the story seems very loosely connected if at all. If it weren't for the appearance of rat creatures, you wouldn't know this was a Bone-iverse tale at all.
November 3, 2025
This was cute. Y'all know I love Bone. So when I found a Bone book that I didn't have, I had to snatch it up! This told us two stories, the main one being about Big Johnson Bone! Telling us all about how he beat the Rat Creatures and why they look the way they do now. It was hilarious and full of adventure. It felt very much like the main series. Even making a few jokes about things that happened in the main storyline. The other was just a goofy short story about messing with rat creatures. If you've read through Bone and want even more, this is a fantastic addition to the series. Highly recommend.
August 4, 2024
A tall tale about Big Johnson Bone, told by the character himself. It seems like a yarn and is probably a yarn. Perhaps it’s because Sniegoski isn’t as skilled a storyteller as Jeff Smith, or perhaps it’s because this story is entirely unrelated to the main storyline, but it isn’t as captivating. Big Johnson is simply a bit tiresome. Moreover, the numerous rat creatures, especially the queen and her son, are rather unpleasant. While Smith’s artwork is commendable, overall, this story is quite forgettable, unlike the main Bone series.
May 18, 2021
4.5 Esta precuela es muy divertida. Maneja más el humor y el absurdo. Nos presenta al ancestro de Fone, Phoney y Smiley: Big Johnson Bone, quien también es el fundador de Boneville. Este personaje fue el primero en llegar al valle y enfrentarse a las temibles mostrorrastas, quienes tienen una abominable reina.
August 3, 2017
Una simpática historieta con muchísimo sentido del humor en el peculiar universo de Bone. No hace falta haber leído la serie principal para disfrutarla pero viene bien. El simple y eficaz estilo de dibujo y el desenfadado mundo que describe fluye con naturalidad en este cómic.
September 10, 2018
This is... slight. The main story is just fine - cute, good gags, in the spirit of Bone - but you won't miss anything if you skip it. The backup story, Riblet, wasn't to my taste, feeling more like a woody woodpecker cartoon than anything else.
July 7, 2018
This is a really cool Bone right here
November 11, 2018
Interesting story about Rat-Tails
September 16, 2021
Big Johnson Bone is as charming as the other Bones. Rating informed by how much my 9 year old enjoyed reading it with me.
November 11, 2022
A fairly lightweight, but very enjoyable, prequel to the Bone series. Needed a bit more rat creatures though!
September 18, 2014
Having loved Jeff Smith's Bone series (especially the oh, so funny fearsome Rat Creatures), I looked forward to an enjoyable evening reading Bone: Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails. I was not disappointed. The Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails portion of the comic, written by Tom Sniegoski and drawn by Jeff Smith, contains tall tales about the adventures of one of Bone's ancestors, the legendary Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero & the founder of Boneville (and also includes a fable about why the Rat Creatures from the Bone series wear their tails short).
Equally enjoyable is Riblet, written by Tom Sniegoski and drawn by Stan Sakai, a hilarious story about a baby boar stolen away by some fearsome Rat Creatures. Quiche anyone . . . ?
Highly recommended, especially for Bone fans!
Equally enjoyable is Riblet, written by Tom Sniegoski and drawn by Stan Sakai, a hilarious story about a baby boar stolen away by some fearsome Rat Creatures. Quiche anyone . . . ?
Highly recommended, especially for Bone fans!
February 6, 2015
I love the Bone series and decided to read this little spin-off. But, upon reading it, I found out I had already read this story of Big Johnson Bone - It was in the Tall Tales book! The difference with that book is that Smiley and Bartleby appear. In that book Smiley and Bartleby are taking the Bone Scouts out camping, and while camping, Smiley decides to tell them about Big Johnson Bone.
The story was enjoyable to read again. I really liked reading it in Tall Tales as well.
This book also has another story about two rat creatures trying to find their dinner. It doesn't turn out so well when dinner wants to play with them.
I liked that story, too. It was funny. I know the rat creatures are some of the bad guys in the series, but I find them hilarious.
The story was enjoyable to read again. I really liked reading it in Tall Tales as well.
This book also has another story about two rat creatures trying to find their dinner. It doesn't turn out so well when dinner wants to play with them.
I liked that story, too. It was funny. I know the rat creatures are some of the bad guys in the series, but I find them hilarious.
December 5, 2015
Jeff Smith's Bone was a graphic novel for kids that had writing confident and sophisticated enough for adults to appreciate. Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails is a spin-off for kids that lacks this quality, and it's pretty forgettable because of it. The main character is an ancestor of the Bones and goes on a tall tale-style adventure, fighting a bunch of Rat Creatures that are even stupider than the ones his descendants would face. He also stumbles upon the valley where Bone takes place and saves some woodland critters. That's about it - the rest of the dialogue falls flat, making this even more non-essential than Rose, the other Bone spinoff book.
November 30, 2008
This was a fun little spin-off series dealing with one of Bone's ancestors, Big Johnson Bone. Set in the same valley that Bone finds years later, this story was written in the style of old folk legends, as the visiting hero helps rescue the local townspeople from an evil queen. And, along the way, we also learn the important moral of why Rat Creatures wear their tails short, rather than long.
If you've read the Bone series, you'll probably get a kick out of this, but if not, you probably won't really appreciate what's going on.
If you've read the Bone series, you'll probably get a kick out of this, but if not, you probably won't really appreciate what's going on.
December 18, 2013
This trip away from the main Bone storyline works really well: it's got an entertaining plot that uses the concept of tall tale really well, a great sense of humor (including some in-jokes for readers of Bone), and Smith's art looks as good as ever (plus, we get a story drawn by the masterful Stan Sakai, as well.) This volume isn't as weighty as Bone (either in terms of plot, or in terms of physical weight, since I read the one-volume edition of Bone), but it's a good read.
October 22, 2008
The Stupid thing from this book is the second story...
the first story about Bone is amazing. I'd love to give it 5 stars. Big Johnson Bone is a big-mouthed and you cannot tell when he's lying, but his confident and skills were worth it.
About the second story? The main character, the little pig, is really,really annoying. It's the only time when I felt sorry for the rat creatures.
the first story about Bone is amazing. I'd love to give it 5 stars. Big Johnson Bone is a big-mouthed and you cannot tell when he's lying, but his confident and skills were worth it.
About the second story? The main character, the little pig, is really,really annoying. It's the only time when I felt sorry for the rat creatures.
October 14, 2011
Some fun stories that are prequels to the Bone series by Jeff Smith. There are actually two stories in this book done by different writers and artists. The first story is fun and creative well the second is kind of immature and just fluff. It is a fun read and highly recommended for those who have already read the Bone series, not as good on its own.
July 28, 2010
Falling off my seat, rolling on the floor laughing! I love Jeff Smith. His characters are just so unique and fun. If you love Smiley Bone, you will love Big Johnson Bone - the tall taleing explorer.
Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures!
Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures!
January 17, 2016
Cute and fun. I think I liked the story more because we saw the origins of the tailless rat creatures and the snowy forest. Otherwise, this volume wasn't all that spectacular. I especially didn't like the last story about the autistic pig (except for the two stupid rat creatures).
August 18, 2015
I love the Bone story, and even though this story wasn't written by Jeff Smith, it's still got the fun and warmth that his series has. Plus we get some stories drawn by Stan Sakai....what more could you want?
June 2, 2008
La primera historia tiene sus gracietas.
La segunda (dibujada por Stan Sakai)me puso tan de los nervios como el cerdito protagonista a sus compañeros. No sé si eso es bueno o es malo.
La segunda (dibujada por Stan Sakai)me puso tan de los nervios como el cerdito protagonista a sus compañeros. No sé si eso es bueno o es malo.
December 28, 2008
Very funny and a great addition to the actual Bone series.
September 14, 2009
I had a lot of fun reading this to Ryley. Probably four star fun. But if I read it by myself I think it would be three star fun.
Read
August 28, 2009Very cool. This was just very funny and was just great.
August 19, 2011
Gambarnya keren, hidup dan ceritanya meski banyak tulisannya sangat enak dibaca ^_^
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews