The Great Cow Race: A Graphic Novel (BONE #2) Paperback – August 1, 2005

Great read! Brings me back to my childhood memories!

Having read the Bone series in the original black and white, I was a little worried about how it would be with color. The stories were never intended to be in color and I wasn't sure if it would really have the same feel colorized. Well, I am in love with this version, it looks fantastic. Breaking it up into nice sized chapters is great (the omnibus was unwieldy and the individual comics short and expensive to collect)and very affordable.I am a big fan of the series, which seem "cutesy" on first look. Don't let the Scholastic imprint fool you, these were published by Image comics originally. It is kid friendly, but not a children's story. When you read them, you will realize that there is a great epic story that builds with a nice progression and fantastic art. I bought these to read with my sons who are 4 and 6, they were instantly drawn into the story from the beginning, and have been counting down the days til the new chapters arrived. Definitely give the series a read, it starts a little slow, but is excellent all the way through.

Steve Hamaker really does justice to Jeff Smith's line work. I picked up the first volume with hesitation, expecting the color to diminish the impact of the original artwork, but I was happy to see that it actually brought it to life more in certain panels. Since this epic story has been pegged as the definitive "children's comic book" that every kid should read, I would think the kids might be more likely to appreciate the colored version than the black and white original prints. Kids just like colorful things. However, for adult fans of the original Bone, this is also a wonderful way to revisit this amazing epic story again. I'm rereading these books for the third time now, and it's refreshing to see them in a new coloful light.

Once you start reading about the Bone cousins and their troubles, you feel as though you are a part of the action and have to follow them to the end as they meet more fantastic characters. Every person, animal, and creature adds to the adventure of the Bone cousins as they try to make a new life for themselves and uncover secrets about other characters past which will impact their future. The book act is vibrant with lots of details to the characters (human and other) as well as they scenery around them.

Daughter got it for Christmas.

My 10 yr old daughter loves these books! Cover to cover in just a couple days

I picked these up when my middle son and I decided to read them at bedtime and see what everyone was talking about. Over the past three years, we blasted through these great books – books that are strangely banned in some places in the US. When they are forced from their home, Boneville, three cousins that look something more anthropomorphic Casper the Friendly Ghosts need to figure out what to do next. Their cartoonish goofy attitudes are certainly why they were dropped from the community – and next they must deal with the wild, uncertain wilderness in their certainly funny way.The most notable aspect of these comics is the variety of art styles that Smith combines in telling this story. It is a strange amalgamation of cartoony Warner Bros characters, more streamlined Disney ones, and occasionally a hero or villain straight out of regular comic heros, and they all live in a Discworld/Lord of the Rings-type universe that has villains, weather, citizens of distant lands, and all manner of weirdos getting in the way of our three main protagonists that embody the Three Stooges character tropes: Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone. There are cow races, royal lineages, romances between humans and... uh... whatever the Bone cousins are. At every turn they are chased by rat creatures and their hooded disciples bent on undermining the evolving goals of our main characters. It makes for some brilliant fight scenes, near escapes, and my favorite, sentimental, quiet introspection under the stars.While I have not completely finished reading all of the available volumes of BONE, nearing the end it makes the most sense to write about all of them and review them all at once as the storyline runs through all of the books and the delineations just separate the overall story beats. This is less about the story and very much about the solid characters and beautiful illustration styles that serve as not only a backbone to the story, but as an homage to the characters and situations they are (at times) clearly based on. Inventive and original, BONE is a delight, and I find it interesting that the parts that touch me the most tend to be those quiet moments that my youngster likely doesn’t entirely grasp. We’ve had a wonderful time with it so far and look forward to finishing the final two books.

Son added this to his reading collection and likes them. Remember your kids childhood is only once so if they want them get them!