Thorn: The Complete Proto-Bone College Strips 1982-1986, and Other Early Drawings

by Jeff Smith

The Secret Origin of Jeff Smith’s BONE Comes to Light!  NYT Bestselling Author Smith Returns to his Roots with a New Collection of His THORN College Strips to Launch in October Kickstarter 
Cartoon Books announces The Complete Proto-BONE College Strips from 1982 to 1986, and Other Early Drawings, reprinting the entire run of his earliest rendering of the world-famous BONE characters for the first time. 
The comic strips reveal an early version of BONE called THORN that was written for a college audience in the 1980s. THORN appeared five days a week in the pages of The Ohio State University’s student newspaper The Lantern . A few were reprinted in a self-published 1983 book called Tales from The Lantern . Another small selection was published in 2008’s limited edition fundraiser for OSU’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum called Before BONE . Both books are long out of print and sell at collector’s prices. There has never been an official, complete run published until now. 

This beautiful edition includes plenty of bonus material such as recently discovered early drawings of the BONE characters, essays and interviews.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Humor, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Comic Strips, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 1982

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bone completists will be happy with this big, generous collection of the comic strips from Jeff Smith's college newspaper where characters like Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, Thorn, and Gran'ma Ben made their first official appearances in print in a story that shows all the framework of the comic book epic to come.

The art is a bit rough in places and the script is gag oriented, with humor made for and produced by college kids. The strip also flounders as it continues on needlessly past the conclusion of its major story arc, with Smith throwing in a lot of metafiction and political satire to keep things rolling.

It's an interesting artifact of an artist on his journey toward his big breakthrough.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:

All work by Jeff Smith except where noted.

• Jeff Smith: Before Bone – Foreword / Lucy Shelton Caswell
• Introduction / Jeff Smith
• Fall 1982: Fone Bone! What's Yours?
• Winter 1983: And You Thought Enlightenment Was a Tricky Thing
• Spring 1983: Equality v. Privilege
• Summer 1983: You Brought a Dragon into My Apartment?
• Fall 1983: Where There's One Rat Creature, There's Bound to be Others!
• Winter 1984: What Have We Done? / Steve Spencer, contributing script and illustrations
• Spring 1984: An Elephants' Graveyard for Dragons
• Summer 1984: Trapped in Real Life!
• Fall 1984: You Mean There's More of You?
• Winter 1985: Mickey & Rudy
• Spring 1985: Hello, Goodbye
• 1986: The Final Thorn Strip from The Sundial – My Rosetta Stone
• 25 Questions – An Interview with Jeff Smith / Guido Weißhahn
• Derf Backderf on the Kizzy Controversy / Derf Backderf
• Tales from the Inkwell: The Story Behind Bone and Cartoon Books, Part One
• A Foreword, Looking Backward / Jim Kammerud
• Comparisons: Then & Now
• Endnotes
• Acknowledgements

[Dan O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Thorn newspaper strips aren’t all perfect, but that’s half the fun. As a big fan of Jeff Smith since the early days of Bone, it was very cool to see his early work that led to that series.

And the interviews and bonus content were all fantastic as well. I look forward to seeing what kinds of bonus materials make their way into future volumes of the Cartoon Books Deluxe Library.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 40th anniversary volume of Thorn appearing in The Lantern, the Ohio State University school newspaper. I knew of Jeff Smith and Bone, but had not read much, so when I got a chance to read the prequel to his famous series, I jumped at the chance. Boy, am I glad I did! I was in college/grad school at the time these strips first appeared (but not at OSU) so the culture and events these strips interacted with were familiar to me. I got the jokes and enjoyed the parodies. I also enjoyed the interviews and history of this project. Now I cannot wait to get my hands on the Bone books themselves!

I want to thank Cartoon Books for the opportunity to read this title!

[Tim Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been working my way through this since my Kickstarter copy arrived. These kind of things can be hard to review. I love Bone and it's been meaningful in my family because both my youngest sone and one of my Grandsons got turned on to it through me. Thorn was Smith's college newspaper strip and you can see a lot of things that happened in Bone evolving here. And it's an evolution. This is obviously not a mature work. And there are definitely things that are incongruent with the overarching story. But that's probably to be expected in such a primordial work. But it's entertaining and shows a ton of promise that was ultimately realized. For a big Bone fan, it's a kick. If you're not...it's probably a pass. But go out and read Bone and become a big fan.

[Alberto Martín de Hijas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un recopilatorio de los primeros trabajos de Jeff Smith que luego desembocarían en la épica Bone. Es muy interesante ver como se desarrolla el estilo de autor y descubrir las partes de Bone que ya habían germinado aquí (a la vez que observamos los elementos que cambiarían en la futura serie que consagraría a su autor) Además, el libro incluye gran cantidad de información con notas, entrevistas y diversos comentarios del autor. Las tiras ya son recomendables en si mismas, pero ganan aún más interés al complementarse con la serie y permitirnos la comparación.

[luciddreamer99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable look into the development of an artist, these early comic strips by Jeff Smith are delightful. Also included are some interviews and writings about Smith and his artistic process, as well as the history of the Bone characters. Recommended for any fans of cartooning, graphic novels, and Jeff Smith's Bone in particular.

[Sezer Turgay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book with early look to career of Mr. Smith.Mostly includes stips published in local newspaper "The Lantern".I loved extras in the end where you can find early age comics of Jeff Smith and good interview about early years of his career.Highly recommended for fans of Bone and Comic Strip fans.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Smith's Bone saga and seeing the early strips was a fascinating look at the inspirations for the epic story told in his later work. It was great to see the creation of his ideas and the evolution of his work in Thorn over it's years in the newspaper of Ohio State. The introduction, explanatory text and Q&A with Smith was a wonderful look into his creative process and the life of a daily cartoonist in a college newspaper. I also really liked the "historic" drawings included, going all the way back to a drawing done when Smith was 2 1/2 years old! Finally the side by side presentation of the panels from the Bone Saga with the panels from Thorn that inspired them showed in great detail the differences between the early and later work in a unique way. I received a free digital ARC of this book from the publisher, Smith's own Cartoon Books.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who has been reading comics for decades certainly knows of Smith and Bone. Ironically, I had not read much of the series nor did I know it started out as a strip he did while in college (at the same time I was basically in my undergraduate studies). Reading this collection now transports me back to that time period.

It was fun to see Smith's artwork and style evolve over this period. That is going to happen when he's working daily on his craft. There is a lot of fun bonus material in this new volume, including some behind the scenes interviews and early sketches from the artist. It helps to put the strips in the context of the times and in the historical benchmarks for the overall Bone franchise.

I came to realize that Smith and I share something in common. The strips over the summer of 1984 find Fone Bone and his cousin Phoney Bone working jobs along with the cartoonist at an ice cream factory. This was Smith's art imitating life, and it was imitating mine too as I also worked the summer of '84 in an ice cream plant in my hometown. Talk about odd coincidences.

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely FABULOUS! The perfect book for any Bone superfan!

[Shaun Phelps · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a completionist I was glad to find and read this. And I'm underwhelmed. It's worth seeing, and also not really a comic I enjoyed.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful window into young Jeff Smith's process and the ideas that went into creating Bone. The first half of the book is a light retelling of much of Bone books 1,3,4,5, then it goes on a long rant about how horrible Ronald Reagan is, then a few more slight diversions before wrapping up. Worth reading for older Bone fans

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Works much better as a look into the creation of Bone than it does as a standalone piece. Smith's talent is apparent from the start even though the art gets much better as he begins the actual Bone series.

[Miranda]

Excited for my bone reread that is coming soon!

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 Eisner Award winner - Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips

Bone is one of the most acclaimed comics of the past thirty years. This volume collects Jeff Smith's earliest published version, daily strips from his university newspaper in the mid 1980s. It's a fascinating look at the evolution of the comic and of Smith as an artist. Smith was already a pretty good artist when he started, but you can tell he was still working out a lot of his technique. It's also clear that he sometimes didn't quite have his head in the game, as the adventure-centered strip would occasionally veer into gags or political commentary and sometimes break the fourth wall. The book also includes background information from Smith about the strip and how he developed as an artist. There are some samples of his earliest work from the time he first started drawing as a very young child though high school. All in all, this is a very nice historical record of an artist and his creation, certainly a must-read for Bone fans.

[Joseph R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before he launched into the massive story of Fone Bone, a mild-mannered adventurer from Boneville who gets involved in a wide-ranging saga, creator Jeff Smith went to college (Ohio State University) and drew a comic strip called "Thorn" for the campus newspaper (which had a circulation of 50,000). Thorn is the female protagonist in the later Bone narrative and a romantic interest for Fone Bone. The seeds of that epic are found in these strips, along with a lot of other content. Being a college student, he did a lot of experimenting, drifting into political commentary and bizarre narratives (the characters often visit him in the "real" world and even spend one summer working with him at an ice cream factory). Some material is rough, some is heavy-handed, some reads as derivative. But that's a small portion of a larger, more entertaining strip that hasn't full coalesced yet. As a fan of Bone, I found this mostly enjoyable and am glad I read it.

Recommended for Bone fans.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is something that any fan of Bone is going to want to read. Smith had all of the basics for Bone down all the way back in college and published a daily strip in Ohio State's paper for 4 years. It's amazing how much of one of the signature comics of the 90s was laid out here. Some things are different. Thorn isn't drawn as well early on and she's older and more adult than I expected. Caricatures of Jerry Falwell and Ronald Reagan make several appearances. Jeff Smith himself visits and lifts Fone and Phoney into the real world over one summer. Still all of the basics are there including the rat creatures and the Hooded One. I found this fascinating. But I also LOVE Bone. It's one of my favorite series from back in the day and I own most of it in single issues.

[Alec Longstreth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh man, it was so fun to see the humble college-newspaper-comic-strip beginnings of Jeff Smith's Bone. It's fascinating to watch Smith figure out his voice as a writer and work out his art style in these daily strips. By the end of his four-year run he's got most of the pieces assembled. It's a handsome volume with lots of extras (early childhood drawings, interviews, an introduction and preface, etc.) - a must have for any (adult!) Bone fan who wants to know the history of how this epic tale came into being.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heckuva(n) archive, a true gift to longtime fans of Bone, not just the complete college strips but bonus context material. The strips themselves can be rough, but to see the parallels and origins of the later comic book, to see Smith’s career unfold, it’s a treasure, it really is. I wouldn’t want this to be the version, and it really doesn’t on its own warrant a considered legacy, that history remembers, but c’mon. Anyone reading this and criticizing the material itself is missing the point.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of the college comic strips from Smith, mainly focusing on Thorn and it was good. The problem I have is that Bone is one of my favorites of all time and I couldn't help comparing them (which isn't really fair to Smith but it is what it is). The narrative and story jumps all around and it did bug me when he inserted himself into the story. But what we have hear is the makings of a genius who was just learning his craft so I do think it's essential reading to watch that development.

Good with the seeds of greatness planted.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot in here that’s familiar if you’ve read Bone, but what was fascinating was everything that wasn’t familiar….characters that were new, characters that were in Bone but didn’t show up here and how the characters were different. While there were some similarities, I was really struck by how much of this was new. New and very entertaining. This is one of the most polished college strips I’ve ever read.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good for college age strips. There're some plot holes, but the characters and art make up for those. The essays and extra art included provide some nice history without bogging the book down. I found it a bit surprising Smith wasn't able to get a syndication deal for Bone, but comic pages are notoriously calcified. Maybe he'd have had better luck if Bloom County hadn't been around. They're completely different things but have a similar look and vibe.
I'm glad I got the physical book from the Kickstarter campaign and not just the digital copy. It's beautifully made: oversized with only two strips per page.

[Barron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best adjuncts to the Bone series. Terminally underrated!

No other Bone entry features Voochko the communist pig. No other Bone edition reveals that Smiley Bone was once Ronald Reagan's press secretary. No other series includes ... shudder ... Brutus the Buckeye, who I believe to be in league with the Hooded One.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to see how well developed the characters and story were in these original college versions. Also interesting to see some different styles like political cartooning, breaking the fourth wall, etc. great collection and additional material.

[Joshua K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorn is less interesting as a stand-alone collection of strips and more interesting when you look at it as watching arguably one of the greatest American cartoonists grow and find his inner voice. Its an interesting ride but probably not of much value if you don’t love Bone.

[Colby N Wait · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's fair to say that most Bone fans will love this collection, and everyone will enjoy it although not with the same passion level. For me this was a four star read, whereas Bone was a five star.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I now plan to go and re-read my Bone collection.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cool to see the development of the Bone series through many of these original comics. It was cringy at times though with the 80s humor and references.

[Kamil Henri · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful volume of where Bone developed from