Bone-A childhood comic series who's hopes of animated adaptation are slim+Anecdotes

Back when I was in the sixth grade,

which would have been between September 2009 to June 2010,  

I was exposed heavily to Jeff Smith's BONE comics.

And suddenly, a whole new world of Tolkienesque Fantasy opened to me in ways I couldn't imagine before said exposure.

Probably because even in Late 2009, 

Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS movies were still fresh in people's minds at the time.

And this was before I got into the anime FAIRY TAIL though the anime did premiere in Japan in 2009 but us Americans/Canadians wouldn't get it legally until 2011 when FUNIMATION got the license to localize the series in North America.

But 12 year old me was obsessed to the bone, no pun intended, with the Bone comic series.

It had things in the stories you just couldn't get with any other Comics published during your childhood....

Unless you count the various Manga from other sources.

But things you see in BONE are just stuff you won't find in most comics that touch dark subject matter.

The sheer fact that this series got printed in 1991 publications is amazing.

A story that gets away with things like dark subject matter, 

Political Allegories,

and mutilation,

Back in 1991, you won't find something like that in other comics...

Unless you look at the various superhero comics or whatever manga gets past all those publishers back in the day.

A story meant to be told to children, yet has stuff that's often pretty dark and gory.

With a story that dark, you know it's bound to be good.

I live for dark stories with actual character.

While I've stated I got into Bone back in the Sixth grade, I didn't exactly start at that period.

My first real exposure to the BONE comics was at a Local Hair Salon at Venables Steet and Commercial Drive. which was within a walking distance from my apartment at Frances Street & Victoria Drive.

You know some places like a hair salon or Dentist's office has these things for kids to entertain themselves like Magazines or Comics?

Well, this Salon had a copy of ROCK JAW: MASTER OF THE EASTERN BORDER

Reading that, I was mesmerized by not only the drawings but the story.

And my further exposure in the Sixth Grade only further solidified that.

Did I mention in the header that the chances of BONE getting a Movie or TV Series is virtually slim?

Yeah..... Let me elaborate on that.

Back when I was 12, during my time in the sixth grade, I was so obsessed with BONE that I envisioned in my mind what BONE would have looked like if it had been adapted into either a movie or a TV Series.

Fast Forward years later, that still has not been made a reality....

In fact, throughout BONE's 35+ year history since it's first publication in 1991, BONE has had a horrible history of fights between Jeff Smith and Animation Executives on how to handle the BONE I.P.

The first attempt was in the late 90s when Nickelodeon had interest in adapting it into a Movie.

Boy, did that go horribly awry.

Nickelodeon's execs demanded the BONE Cousins be voiced by Children and they also demanded POP Songs from the likes of NSYNC, Britney Spears, etc.

Good thing Jeff walked out of the pitch because Pop Songs in a comic series like BONE would be a poor choice due to the perceived anachronisms as well as undermining the Serious Nature of the story. 

Then in 2008, Warner Bros. picked up the license.

(Keep in mind this was before that INFAMOUS David Zaslav became CEO)

After years of stagnant negotiations, the deal fell through.

From what little Information I have, the Warner Bros. deal was that the film would have been a trilogy of films and they would all have been CGI because...... EXECUTIVES..... and their MONEY......

But good thing that deal fell through because of what's to come within WB in the later years.

In 2019, Netflix picked up the series, raising hopes that a proper 2D Adaptation would finally commence......

WHOOPDIE-EFFING-DOOOO!!!!!

NETFLIX THEN PULLED THE GODDAMN PLUG IN APRIL 2022 DUE TO AN ALLEGED RESTRUCTURING....

But really, it was because Netflix's EXECUTIVES fell victim to Mr. BOSS BABY and his findings of NETFLIX's poor stock reports in 2022.

"PUT THAT COOKIE OF RANTS DOWN!!!! 

That cookie is for Closers!!!"

OH SHUT UP MR. BOSS BABY. YOU EFFED UP A PERFECT DEAL WITH NETFLIX AND I DON'T WANT TO HEAR SOURDOUGH FROM YOU.

ALSO, GIVE MR. BIG BABY HIS RIGHT TO EAT THEM COOKIES.

But yeah, I was devastated to the bone back in April 2022 when I heard that Netflix pulled the plug on the BONE adaptation.

While Jeff is still hunting for other studios to help him adapt the comics into a series, It goes to show you that in this current Animation Studio Climate, Execs are not interested in these adaptations due to either obsession with the money or demanding changes to the source material which many a creator is not going to accept.

As of now, according to LOST MEDIA BUSTERS, this is the only evidence of a Netflix series that at one point existed

So much for childhood dreams but our rants unfortunately fall on deaf ears so...

DEAL WITH IT!!!

.... Sorry for that. 

But that's reality.

However,

On the topic of Warner Bros. I'm actually glad the deal with Jeff Smith and Warner Bros. fell through because of what would happen later when they brought in Zaslav in 2022 after the Discovery merger.

If what happened with Olan Roger's FINAL SPACE is any indication, I don't want to think about what Zaslav would have done to BONE had the deal with Netflix didn't go forward in 2019.

While we are still fuming at NETFLIX for them shitting on the Bone Series,

they still own the rights so while that can't be changed.

I seriously hope NETFLIX changes their minds before Jeff Smith turns 70.

I originally started this post in the summer of 2024 but I went through multiple revisions due to me still raging over NETFLIX's handling of the BONE series and not giving a crap over JEFF SMITH's reaction to the news.

And I was still reeling in from my own personal issues at the time so I had no desire to post back then.

And besides, 2026 is the 35th Anniversary of the BONE franchise so posting this at the within the year feels more fitting.

And why is SKYDANCE in the labels for this post?

Because in the later years, PARAMOUNT would buy WARNER BROS. after the NETFLIX deal fell through after they backed out of buying WB.....

However, NETFLIX still has the rights to BONE, which they wrote off any chances.......

Ok..... It's all in the past. Instead of me raging, I should treat myself to either some TROPICANA Juice or a good blend of GREEN TEA.

A CRUMBY looking Car doodle

This showed up on my FACEBOOK feed while I was at CHURCH setting up the cameras before I actually operated them:

What's the guy in the car so ANGRY about?

Pay no attention to the what the guy in the car's fuming about.

Notice anything about the doodle?

If you guessed ROBERT CRUMB? 

That was a good guess but it's not drawn by him,

Nor was it ripped from the bowels of WEB3.

This doodle was just inspired by ROBERT CRUMB's art style

If you're asking,

The Car is not anthropomorphized.

There is a head stuck in there....

But the scowl on the face of the head actually does Remind me of IAN MAXTONE GRAHAM, the very tall man from THE SIMPSONS when he got laughed at be NELSON MUNTZ.

"You find something Comical about my appearance when I drive my Automobile?"

I have some other posts in the works but they're all in the backburner for the time being.

In the meantime, hope you've enjoyed my little filler because I'm in no position to restart my QUICKIES due to personal preferences.

Happy 40th Anniversary GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

On July 2nd, 1986,

A little film about a mouse who dresses and acts like Sherlock Holmes during QUEEN VICTORIA's Diamond Jubilee was released in Cinemas everywhere in the United States, Canada, etc.

And at the right moment too as VANCOUVER's SKYTRAIN had just opened on DECEMBER 11 1985 so I guess many people when they weren't attending EXPO 86 decided to hop aboard the SKYTRAIN circa 1986 just to go to the FAMOUS PLAYERS cinemas such as the 2-Screen VANCOUVER CITY CENTRE CINEMA in GRANVILLE STREET which right now is a TOM LEE MUSIC,

Or whatever CINEMA was playing the film in 1986 like the 

former FAMOUS PLAYERS CAPITOL 6 In Downtown Vancouver for example

Either way or another, this film was a big hit when it released

because it had been roughly a year since the infamous release of THE BLACK CAULDRON that almost sank the DISNEY company due to company politics, etc.

MORAL was also at an all-time low. 

That's because the animators had been exiled from BURBANK and relocated to GLENDALE after the failure of CAULDRON in 1985.

So this meant it made submitting their work or even recycling certain visual effects very difficult due to the distances between BURBANK & GLENDALE.

Because this all predated the modern internet.

(The internet of the 1980s was all text based BBS systems)

there was no remote work involved..... sort of.

The only way the Animators could talk to the Disney Upper Management was either through in-person meetings or through the Telephone

Using SALLY to represent the animator

and CONNIE BENGE as the Executive....

Both are from DOUG.

or via driving all the way from GLENDALE to BURBANK and vice versa.

Using Hank Hill's 1986 Ford Ranger 

just to be period Accurate.

But despite the negativity of the move to a new building, the animators made the most of it

Like I said about 101 DALMATIANS earlier in January 2026, MOUSE DETECTIVE was made as a MAKE-OR-BREAK film as it came shortly after CAULDRON bombed at the BOX-OFFICE,

ironically not against a DON BLUTH film but rather against SACHARINE CANADIAN BEARS.

When MOUSE DETECTIVE premiered, the money it made in the BOX OFFICE was more than what DISNEY imagined and even managed to recoup the costs that CAULDRON could not.

It really was that successful. 

Because of all that, 

It was a blend of DISNEY MAGIC that the new Animators who replaced the NINE OLD MEN could muster after the 20 years the studio that stagnated in which they bounced back.

The film also allowed for a much better blending of the 2D Acetate Cels and CGI.... sort of.

The way it was done was that the CGI was made in the computer first

This was before DISNEY invested in PIXAR's image computers

for their CAPS Systems.

Although the Documentary mentions a mechanical hand with a Ballpoint pen, I call baloney on that.

What I think the animators really used to transfer the Wireframes onto animation paper was one of those line plotters

Like this HEWLETT PACKARD plotter here.

Once the CGI line plotted drawings are complete, they're sent to the character animators who draw on a separate piece of paper their assigned character

Once the Character animation is cleaned up, both the Character Animation and the CG Wireframes are sent to the XEROX Department

Where they get painted onto cels with the finest acrylic paint imaginable

And thanks to the Anime GOLDEN BOY, I now know that the painters also had to make sure they shake the cels slightly to get rid of the AIR BUBBLES since certain CEOS and Art Directors can be very picky about the presentation of the cels when exposed to bright lights under the camera.

After the paint dries, it's all sent to the Camera Department to be photographed on 35mm Film stock

And this is the end result

The casting is all superb here.

The late actor VINCENT PRICE portrays the villain RATTIGAN.

I've heard that RATTIGAN is a favorite roll amongst PRICE during his later years in life.

Probably because of his cunning and snivvy personality that's so befitting VINCENT PRICE.

Of course, We can't forget about BARRIE INGHAM

He portrays BASIL of BAKER STREET.

He's sort of the MOUSE Equivalent of SHERLOCK HOLMES but if you've watched the movie or even read the book that the movie's based on, BASIL is different than his human namesake.

This BASIL is sort of a lovable scoundrel who wants to help out but at first, he wants to do things his own way.

Hmmm... Gives me SNAKE PLISKKEN vibes

Here's an interesting piece of trivia:

Last year on JULY 2 2025, Pete Emslie of THE CARTOON CAVE made a post about the film detailing the impact the film had on him.

And he also shared two photo scans of when He met in person both VINCENT PRICE

& BARRIE INGHAM.

and shared to the two of them his CARICATURES of both actors.

If you're wondering about my Screenshots, I'm using a 35MM Italian Print of  the movie I found on ARCHIVE.ORG which explains the grain, color depth, and open-matte aspect ratio.

And bits of where the Camera fulcrum accidentally reveals the acetate celluloid nature of the artwork and Camera Desks

No wonder DISNEY prefers their WIDESCREEN Prints of this film since it emulates how

cinema houses always close the Projection apertures to maintain full widescreen.

and it's no wonder why DISNEY switched to DIGITAL INK & PAINT IN 1989.

I had a hard time finding a Blu-Ray and I wasn't in any position to make an AVERMEDIA Capture of the film on DISNEY+ since I have a hunch the film is not in 4K & HDR10 like BLACK CAULDRON is so I instead used this print from ARCHIVE.ORG because I can.

As for why I mentioned FAMOUS PLAYERS instead of CINEPLEX ODEON, 

I read on CINEMA TREASURES that in the 1980s and later the early 1990s,

FAMOUS PLAYERS & CINEPLEX ODEON each had exclusive distribution rights from respective studios.

And FAMOUS PLAYERS was often the preferred Cinema chain for DISNEY in CANADA so that's why.

I could be wrong though.

Let me know in the comments if they did play DISNEY MOVIES in 1980s CINEPLEX Locations.