I had no knowledge of Jeff Smith's Bone series when Rose hit the stands. But I knew Charles Vess, whose artwork has never failed to captivate me, so I picked up the book even though it was a prequel to a series I didn't read.

Not only does Rose stand easily on its own as a classic of comic-book fantasy, it also piqued my interest in Smith's long-running fantasy series. I will know more of these people, these creatures and these lands! But before I journey into the realms of Bone, let's focus on the book at hand.

Rose boasts the kind of lush, layered and highly detailed art that has always excited my eyes and drawn my imagination into whatever stories he illustrates. His people -- and, in this case, his anthropomorphic dogs, dragons and rat-creatures -- are by no means photo-realistic, yet they are expressive and endearingly lifelike. The panels seem almost to be in motion as Rose, her sister Briar and the iron-jawed Captain Lucius Down play out their parts in the tale. Euclid and Cleo literally dance across the pages with canine excitement!

Jeff Smith, who has developed quite a following for his Bone series, proves himself to be a capable and creative scriptwriter with this prequel. Rose is, by itself, an utterly charming story with a detailed, well-imagined plot that kept me turning pages until the end -- when I promptly turned back to the beginning and read it again.

Rose is about a young princess who is not perfect, who makes mistakes and who seeks wisdom rather than some fairytale prince to happy-ever-after the conclusion. The actions committed and decisions made in Rose will obviously play a key role in the Bone series, and I long to see where that series takes these characters.

Fantasy fans will love this story, which involves swords and sorcery in a completely nonstereotypical swords-and-sorcery yarn. There is plenty of humor in this story, but tragedy, too. Villains aren't always obvious, and moral dilemmas aren't always clearly resolved.

This book is a gift to this and subsequent generations -- to anyone who loves to see a good story and great art combined.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 10 May 2003