Out from Boneville
Jeff Smith
 The three Bone cousins are lost in the desert. After finding a mysterious seemingly hand-drawn map they are attacked by a swarm of locusts. Fone Bone barely escapes with his life, but falls off a cliff. Climbing up the other side, he finds a trail of Smiley's cigars. Following it, he meets two rat creatures who attempt to eat him. However, he is rescued by the Great Red Dragon. Soon after, he meets Ted, a wise bug who suggests that Fone seek counsel from Thorn, but warns he should do so before winter arrives. Following a spontaneous blanket of falling snow, marking the beginning of winter, Fone decides to stay in the Valley until Spring when he can continue his search for Phoney and Smiley. Fone Bone (now donning boots, a blanket cape, and a paper bag hat) is in the process of working on his house when Miz Possum comes by with her three sons to give Fone Bone some more supplies. Miz Possum leaves her sons in the care of Fone Bone for a short while. The kids get away from him while playing, and he chases after them to find they have been caught by the two rat creatures from earlier. Fone saves the kids and tells them to run away while he leads that rat creatures off of their trail. The rat creatures chase Fone Bone for a while, and the chase ends with the Great Red Dragon scaring them away. Fone, angry with the dragon, asks why he didn't use his fiery breath, at which point the Great Red Dragon sets Bone's hat on fire. Afterwards, Fone Bone tries to tell Miz Possum about the dragon, but she, despite seeing his burnt hat, refuses to believe an ounce of it. Making his way to the hot spring to clean up, Fone runs into a beautiful woman removing her trousers to collect some water from the spring. Fone is immediately smitten. She reveals her name to be Thorn, the person whom Ted told him to seek, and Fone goes off with her to her home. Fone Bone is staying at Thorn's house, and helping with chores prior to the arrival of Thorn's grandmother, Gran'ma Ben, who is coming from the annual Great Cow Race. Fone Bone shows Thorn the map they found in the desert, which Thorn finds strangely familiar. Meanwhile Phoney Bone meets Gran'ma Ben, and instantly gets on her wrong side. He and Fone Bone are reunited when Gran'ma Ben arrives at the farm house. The day before the Spring Fair at the nearby town, Fone and Phoney are helping out at Thorn and Ben's farmstead. Seeing the opportunity to make some money, the greedy Phoney sneaks out to go to town early, but en route he encounters the two Rat Creatures and their ruler, Kingdok. He overhears the Rat Creatures are on the lookout for a "small bald creature with a star on its chest", a clear description of Phoney Bone himself. The Rat Creatures are called to high council with The Hooded One, a mysterious figure who wears a brown cloak with the hood pulled down over his face, and wields a scythe. The meeting adjourns with The Hooded One sending every Rat Creature in the valley to attack the farm house. With the farm house under attack, Gran'ma Ben fights off the Rat Creatures, giving Thorn and Fone the chance to escape. When Thorn and Fone get surrounded, the Great Red Dragon appears, announcing its arrival with the smell of brimstone, and chases the Rat Creature army away. They return to the farm house to find it wrecked and smoldering. Meanwhile, Phoney Bone arrives at the Barrelhaven tavern and discovers, to his astonishment, Smiley Bone working there as a barman. He then meets Lucius Down, owner of the bar, and instantly gets on his wrong side. It is then that Phoney discovers that the residents of the valley use products and services as pay—Phoney's drinks cost "two eggs"; Phoney gives Lucius two dollars, which are ripped apart, much to Phoney's shock; Smiley tells him the truth. Thorn, Fone and the Dragon arrive back at the farm to find Gran'ma Ben alive. Clearly she and the Dragon know each other (the Dragon addresses her by her first name, Rose). However, Gran'ma Rose Ben remains distrustful of the Dragon, despite his driving off the Rat Creatures. Meanwhile, Phoney Bone is forced to work under Lucius Down, proprietor of the Barrelhaven tavern, to pay off his bar tab (his coveted Boneville money being worthless in the valley). As he plans ways to get rich off the villagers' goods instead, he is visited by The Hooded One, who claims to want his soul. When Thorn, Ben and Fone Bone arrive in town for the Spring Fair, the three Bone cousins are reunited at last.