Rule of the Bone

Bone gets his new name from his tattoo: two crossed bones without the skull above them. For Bone, this symbolizes his attempt to let go of who he was, including the sexual trauma he’s faced. The tattoo also reminds him of Peter Pan, the lost boy who can never grow up. Bone projects an outward toughness to the world as he deals with drugs and violence, but he’s still just a boy. The tattoo embodies the dichotomy between projected and internal self.

I-Man’s Jah-stick is a religious symbol, but it’s also a testament both to I-Man’s philosophy and capacity for violence, because he has embedded needles into the head to perform the “miracle” of stinging anyone who touches it. I-Man’s religion is about knowing oneself, and so for I-Man, there’s little difference between a miracle and having agency in the world, particularly in a world that has disenfranchised and undermined his people for centuries. When I-Man dies, Bone takes up the Jah-stick and uses it to perform a miracle of his own, placing a curse on Jason for killing his friend and sending him into the fire. Here, the stick takes on further meaning, as it’s a mantle being passed from surrogate father to surrogate son.