I was thinking about my colleague Maya’s post on comics (an excellent read!) while I was downsizing my bookshelves in preparation for a move, when I came upon my collection of graphic novels and manga. Among them are the Bone comics by Jeff Smith (which I love and am definitely keeping) and I thought it would be fun to talk about them and other works that I consider ‘cross-genre’.
But first, a definition of the term. According to Wikipedia: “A hybrid genre is a literary or film genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Works in hybrid genres are also referred to as cross-genre, multi-genre, mixed genre, or fusion genre. ” [Emphasis mine.]
Bone is definitely a cross-genre series. If I had to describe it in as few words as possible, I would say it’s the Snoopy comics meets The Lord of the Rings. They’re comical and funny, but set in a fantastical world with a plot that gets increasingly dark and the stakes increasingly higher. There’s a prophecy, dragons, lost princesses, a failing kingdom, a great eldritch evil, corrupting power…and strange little ‘bone’ creatures on the run from the fallout of a financial scam that had them chased out of their city by an angry mob. Hijinks and nonsense abound, as well as quests and heartbreaks.
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