Bone

The fourth Bone book, THE DRAGONSLAYER (Jeff Smith), is out. Phoney Bone has just about gone too far this time, tricking the villagers into fearing a non-existent danger, imposing strict security measures that are followed to the letter even though they don't make sense, ordering plowshares beaten into swords, taxing the villagers to cover the "crisis" situation he has created, blaming everything on the moral decay of the people, and almost killing the villagers' greatest ally when his scam doesn't quite play out the way he'd planned.

No, wait. Was that Bone I was reading, or today's newspaper?