Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, with its thrilling continuities of a knoble knignt in the days of King Arthur, began in newspapers in 1937 and continues to this day. Fantagraphic's deluxe, full color library editions of Prince Valiant was intially intended to end with the 2000's Volume 40, the final volume in which Foster was the chief architect of the strip's visual look. Due to overwhelming demand, however, Fantagraphics is continuing the series, reprinting strips written and roughed-out by Foster and finished by Foster's ...
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Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, with its thrilling continuities of a knoble knignt in the days of King Arthur, began in newspapers in 1937 and continues to this day. Fantagraphic's deluxe, full color library editions of Prince Valiant was intially intended to end with the 2000's Volume 40, the final volume in which Foster was the chief architect of the strip's visual look. Due to overwhelming demand, however, Fantagraphics is continuing the series, reprinting strips written and roughed-out by Foster and finished by Foster's prodigous assistant, John Cullen Murphy. Each volume of Prince Valiant features close to a year's worth of full-page Sunday strips. Volume 41 presents the "King of Atheldag," Cullen Murphy's first major story arc, reprinting from strips from 1971-72.
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Seller's Description:
Color Illustrations. Fine. Prince Valiant began in full color tabloid sections on Saturday February 13, 1937. The first full page was strip #16, which appeared in the Sunday New Orleans Times Picayune. The internal dating changed from Saturday to Sunday with strip #53. The full page strip continued until 1971 when strip #1188 was not offered in full page format—it was the last strip Hal Foster drew. The strip continues today by other artists in half page format. The setting is Arthurian. Valiant himself is a Nordic prince (from the faraway Thule—apparently located somewhere near the city Trondheim on the Norwegian west coast). Early in the story, Valiant comes to Camelot, becomes fast friends with Sir Gawain and Sir Tristran, earns the respect of King Arthur and Merlin, and becomes a Knight of the Round Table. Later, he meets the love of his life—Aleta—on a Mediterranean island. He fights the Huns with his magic Singing Sword, Flamberge, travels to Africa and to America, and helps his father regain his lost throne of Thule. The historical and mythological elements of Prince Valiant were initially chaotic, but soon Foster attempted to bring the facts into order. Some of the elements of the story (for instance, the death of Attila the Hun in 453, the murder of Aëtius in 454, though different from the historical version (Valiant and Gawain are blamed for the murder and must flee), and Geiseric's sacking of Rome in 455, which Prince Valiant and Aleta witness), place the story in the 5th century. Some slightly fantastic elements, like "marsh monsters" (a dinosaur-like creature) and witches, are present in the early years but are later downplayed (as are Merlin's and Morgan le Fay's use of magic), so that by 1942 the story is in most aspects a realistic one. Still, the storyline is far from being historically accurate; while obviously meant to take place in the mid 5th century, Foster continuously incorporated "out-of-era" features: Viking Longships, Muslims, alchemist and technical advances not made before the Renaissance, and the fortifications, armor and armament resemble the High Middle Ages.
