Information on Bone #1 (July 1991) (updated)

Bone is one of those books you can go back to again and again and it?s still fresh and still funny. Jeff Smith?s art is so great ? he has such an expressive style, you could take out all the text and it would still work fine ? always a sign of a great comic book. Bone appeals to children and adults, and it?s a story that?s simple and clever, dramatic and hilarious. I hear they?re making a CGI movie of it (although a retro Disney -styled animation would seem more appropriate), and I hear schoolkids can?t get enough of Bone these days. Good! I?m sure Bone will endure and only get more popular. Anyway, I?m trying to compile information on the first issue, which appeared in July 1991, with a ?fire engine red? logo in Smith?s self-published Cartoon Books imprint. So here's what I know so far:

*The red logo is a clear indication of a first print. I?ve heard conflicting reports that some red logo copies are not first prints, but they are.

*The print run for the first print was about 2000 to 3000, and the print runs remained around this figure until about issue 12 or 13, when Bone began to take off in popularity, following an appearance by Jeff Smith at the San Diego Comicon. Issues 5 and 6 are the rarest.

As of February 2011 there are 78 unqualified universal grade CGCs of this book, with the lowest in 5.5 and the highest in (gulp) 9.8.