The Great Cow Race Ch2: The Cave

Synopsis
After the encounter with the bee, Fone Bone discovers what Phoney has been up to all this time and chides him for his schemes. Fone is convinced that Phoney had something to do with the attack on the farm by the Rat Creatures, but Phoney promises that he is innocent, something that's rather hard to believe.

That night, Thorn has another dream, this time of a cave filled with dragons. She remembers that she drew the very map that led the Bones to The Valley in the first place, but decides not to share her concerns with Gran'ma, so that she doesn't throw off her game before the Great Cow Race.

Pros
This is an incredibly well written chapter, showcasing the personalities of all three Bones and diving into Thorn's (possibly imaginary, but that's pretty unbelievable) backstory in Deren Gard. The pages are divided equally into three scenes: the first with Fone and Phoney arguing about the latter's terrible get-rich-quick schemes, then a little bit later with Phoney as the "mystery cow".

The second scene then shows Thorn as a very young girl being led far away -- we soon find they're going to Deren Gard, the home of a motley assortment of multicoloured dragons.

Although Thorn is being kept safe in her dream, she wakes up and treats the memory with fear; telling Bone that she wished she could leave. She even drew the map so that it might lead someone to save her. This third scene is filled with great midnight lighting and a sense of something big and/or horrible on the horizon. When Thorn decides not to talk about it with Gran'ma, we can see the idea of dragons existing still weighs heavily on her, and she doesn't want the same concern affecting Gran.

Cons
None, really. Despite not having a lot of action, this is an exemplary chapter of Bone that conjures fun, seriousness, mystery and warmth all in equal measure.

This chapter's lesson
A small one but a good one: in the first scene of this chapter, Jeff Smith is using classic filmic blocking to separate and rejoin each of the three Bones in order to draw reader attention to different sides of the conversation and interpersonal conflict.

At first, Phoney is haggling with one of the farmers, reminding the reader of his plan to fix the Cow Race. When Fone arrives and is suspicious, Phoney leaves his betting stand and the "camera" moves to hold Fone and he in the frame as they argue. When Smiley as the mystery-cow comes into frame, Phoney then takes him aside, and the "camera" moves again, keeping him and Smiley as the two central figures and leaving Fone off in the background.

After the banter between the two about the cow suit, Fone re-enters the frame and our attention returns to Phoney and he having their argument about Phoney's schemes. At the end of the scene, Smiley then re-asserts himself with a message for Phoney, who then exits to the right.

Rather than make the reader focus on three characters for the entire duration of the scene, Smith figuratively juggles our attention with most of the dialogues happening between only two of the three characters. It's simple movie-making stuff, but it's really cool to see it used like this in a comic book.