I had the good fortune to talk with Jeff briefly several years ago at the Chicago Comic Convention. This is significant because of the half dozen conventions I've been to, I think he's the only creator I've ever actually bothered to wait in line to meet.
While the subject matter and artistic style aren't really incredibly unique, I have a hard time comparing Bone to anything else in the comic medium, for I can't think of anything else like it. Similarly, I have a difficult time describing why, exactly, I love the book as much as I do. It definitely has a charm to it that I'd consider Tolkein-esque, the way the story starts out small-seeming and builds into an epic with a history that seems to spill from the pages it's written on. The characters are fantastic, the art(while perhaps an acquired taste) is fantastic, and as Dave said, Smith's characterization really makes it all click.
I guess, to put it best, this book makes me feel young(er), and that's really why comics were created in the first place.
