The Great Cow Race Ch1: The Spring Fair

"The Spring Fair! Don't you just love it Fone Bone? The smells! The colors!"
"I have to admit -- this is a pretty good way to wind up our adventure!"

So what, Bone, in a few days you'll be headed back to Boneville?
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Pros
The opening page of this chapter has some beautiful art showing off the Spring Fair, and as usual the facial expressions of the main characters are very effective. I also liked the introduction of giant bees as another emblem of the Valley's magical weirdness.

Cons
Sheesh, Tom -- you didn't win the good looks lottery, did you? Perhaps it's because he's such a bit-part character, but the hunk with the honey's first of several appearances in The Great Cow Race has a whole lot of derp-face going on. Sure, it's just one panel, and he's considerably more normal through his other scenes but ... good grief, maybe Jeff Smith just wanted us to dislike him from the start and went waaay too far.

This chapter's lesson
At the start of The Great Cow Race, I was reminded that, unfortunately, this and the fifth volume Rock Jaw are the least impressive of the series. They aren't bad by any means, but especially contrasted with the high action and drama in the surrounding volumes, the talking-animal antics and less interesting plot threads (oh no, Thorn is smitten by a jerk guy ...) come off as affected and unnecessary.

However -- and this is the lesson for today! -- the sillier tone of The Great Cow Race and the lower-stakes action is not a weakness from the standpoint of Bone as a children's series. Yes, it has a broad audience and is not intended only for kids, but it is of the same genre as Asterix or The Hobbit. Both books also make use of sillier breaks in between the more serious plots to keep the story from becoming too grim.

Think back to the episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" in Avatar: TLA. Our heroes have just been told that the city they spent the whole season trying to reach is basically a more affluent Airstrip One from 1984. Followed up with a collection of light or touching short stories! Not exactly the most narratively satisfying continuation, but necessary to downplay just how scary the situation truly is.

To fall back on the ever-present Tolkien example, these early hi-jinxes are like the Shire. Darker times ahead will be more bearable to struggle through knowing what lies behind the main characters and what they want to protect. Here, the Spring Fair is an example of that fun and happiness.