‘Bone’ – Jeff Smith Comic Book Set For Animated Netflix Series

Deadline is reporting that Netflix has just snagged the rights for a children’s animated series based on Jeff Smith’s acclaimed comic book, Bone. Here’s what Smith had to say about the deal:

“I’ve waited a long time for this. Netflix is the perfect home for Bone. Fans of the books know that the story develops chapter-by-chapter and book-by-book. An animated series is exactly the way to do this! The team at Netflix understands Bone and is committed to doing something special — this is good news for kids and cartoon lovers all over the world.”

This isn’t the first time that Bone has headed down the path towards adaptation. In 2008, Warner Bros unsuccessfully tried to turn the story into an animated film. Then, in 2016, they tried again with Kung-Fu Panda’s Mark Osborne with hopes of creating a franchise around the book.

If you aren’t familiar with Bone, here’s a quick summary:

The story follows the Bone cousins — the intrepid Fone Bone, the scheming Phoney Bone, and the affable Smiley Bone — on their adventures through a vast, uncharted desert that gives way to a mysterious valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures. The trio look like they might be made of marshmallow, while their adventures draw on high-pedigree influences: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Jiminy Cricket, Walt Kelly’s Pogo, Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, and Carl Barks’ sublime Disney work with Donald Duck and his relatives.

In the years since Bone was first published in 1991, it has sold 8 million books in North America, been sold to readers in 30 different countries, won more than 40 national and international awards, and was named one of the 10 best graphic novels of all time by Time Magazine.