The Butcher

Family Bones is a comic book series that ran several years ago. What I'm reviewing here are all the comic books in that series compiled into two graphic novels titled: Family Bones Volume one and two. They're both printed in black and white - which might have originally been to keep costs down - but I found it very fitting for some reason. It’s also worth noting that there will only be two volumes. The story comes to a close by the end of the second book.

The story is about a young kid by the name of Sean who ends up staying with his grandparents for the summer. Only problem is... they're bat shit crazy and spend their off hours slaying local farmhands. But the books focus more on Sean's experience on the farm and his blooming relationship with a local girl simply named Wendy. It's sort of a coming of age story with some suspense and mystery mixed in. But what's fascinating is that Family Bones is all based on true events. See what pulling potatoes out of the ground day after day can do to you? It’s also important to note that writing the character of Sean is Shawn Granger himself, so this really happened to him.



What I enjoyed most about the Family Bones series was the suspense. When book one ended I was literally rummaging through my stack of comics and other various forms of media (Why is there a Robocop VHS tape in here?) to find volume two. There's a great dynamic between Sean and his grandfather. See, Sean's from the city and carries an attitude like Matt Dillon in 1982. You're never quite sure how much of grandpa's shit he's going to take. On the other hand, grandpa is one crazy mother f*cker and you're never sure how far he's going push. I’m sure for real life writer Shawn Granger this was horrible, but it sure does make for a good read.

I've never been physically abused myself. Well, besides trying to beat Friday the 13th on the NES. But I've seen enough TV and film to know that writer Shawn Granger's depiction is spot on. The thing about abusive people is that you never know what's going to set them off. It could be because you used the wrong dish for your corn flakes or maybe you knocked over a lamp. But most of the time it's simply because they have nothing better to do. Shawn captured this eerily well.

Besides the abusive relationship, Shawn (real life writer) focuses on the relationship between Sean (character in the books) and Wendy. The relationship plays out just like you'd imagine with the two young kids meeting during summer vacation. And no, unfortunately they don't sing a duet on the beach. But the dialogue between them and their choice of activities all felt genuine and because of that I found myself emotionally invested in the characters. This makes for a great payoff too because you know ultimately Sean has to come home and face grandpa and who knows how he's going to react.



It's funny... every time I write the word grandpa all I can think about is the old bag of bones from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. "Hey, could you grab me that bucket and hammer please?"

Overall, I spent a nice Sunday afternoon reading these two graphic novels and enjoyed every minute of it. I found the writing to be where it needed to be and I was always interested in the characters and what was going to happen to them.

You can pick up both these books at Amazon for ten bucks each, which I think is worth the money. I've included some links below, so that you can follow up with this if you'd like.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article!

Related Links

Official Site for the Family Bones Graphic Novel
Preview Family Bones
Book 1 on Amazon.com
Book 2 on Amazon.com