The Sunday Funnies - Prince Valiant 1973-1974!

In Prince Valiant Volume 19: 1973-1974 by Foster and Murphy from Fantagraphics we have the first full volume not drawn completely by Hal Foster the creator of Prince Valiant in 1936. He is still writing the strip and laying it out, but John Cullen Murphy has taken over the primary art chores. In the volume begins with a reminiscence of Murphy by fellow comic strip maven Jerry Dumas

The saga picks up where it left off with the budding romance of Jacques the troubadour and the young acrobat Joan. They are married off post haste and the story quickly turns to Prince Arn who has found a friend in Boltarson, the son of Boltar, Prince Valiant's longtime ally and husband of Tillicum who was Arn's nurse. They head North and meet up with various adventures in which Boltarson questions Arn's bravery but quickly learns he has mistaken guile for guts. The duo make for Thule and soon Arn is sent on a mission to help install the new king of Holvik, who it turns out doesn't want the job. The heir Heidmar arranges to take the place of an ill-fated serf and rides off escaping his duties. The job of king goes to the untrustworthy Grimner and his chosen wife Princess Frieda. After that Arn encounters Lydia who stakes a firm claim on his young heart. When he is ordered to check on Grimner he is reluctant but does the job and helps to settle down the area which has been invaded by Wanderers. He is wounded and returns to Camelot where he convalesces thanks to Lydia while his father finishes his mission in Holvek. There is much treachery and both Grimner and Frieda end up dead and another is selected to be king, who it turns out is Lydia's brother. But when Arn sees Lydia meet her brother at the docks with much affection his tender affections are wounded so much he leaves Camelot without a word. Arn provisions a ship of Vikings but soon leaves them when they desire raiding over trade. He then grows up a bit and loses his fathers tunic design to fashion his own in red. He becomes a knight errant and soon has a clever squire in a loquacious fellow named Paul. They have adventures and even end up in a castle under siege. Seeing it is hopeless they escape but do rescue a lost young girl who they named "Squirrel". Paul becomes attached to her and eventually he marries and becomes a happy father of many. Arn then encounters Sir Gawain and the two go to fight jousts, some not fair at all. Meanwhile Lydia's brother is searching for Arn and eventually finds him and tells him the truth. Overcome with joy Arn is breathless to get to Thule. The two stalwarts find a hidden valley in which the people have been protected from invasion for two hundred years and later a castle in which the reluctant queen has been dead behind a locked door for over fifteen years while her mad lover waits for a word. Soon after and Arn  and Gawain part company when the latter heads home to Camelot. Arn encounters more Vikings, helps two young lovers find themselves and then when he gets to Thule he is reunited with Lydia at last. Prince Valiant becomes the focus when he goes to stop a giant warrior form terrorizing the district. He overcomes this threat with his usual cleverness and bravery. As the tome ends we are treated to the daydreams of young Galen and later yet another siege on a castle. But that story will be next time. 

The extra treat in this volume is a classic Hal Foster piece from 1942 -- The Song of Bernadette which was a Book-of-the-Month Club offering. The complete piece is here. This installment wraps up "The Sunday Funnies" for at least the next month or more. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it in November and bring more Prince Valiant to the Dojo. Until then. 

Rip Off

The Sunday Funnies - Prince Valiant 1971-1972!

The year 1971 saw the momentous shift in the venerable history of the Prince Valiant comic strip -- it's creator and artist Hal Foster at long last stepped away as the primary artist on the strip after thirty-five years or more in that post. He had searched for a successor and had found one in experienced comic strip artist John Cullen Murphy. The changing of the guard is showcased in Prince Valiant Volume 18: 1971-1972 by Foster and Murphy from Fantagraphics. 

(The last regular Prince Valiant by Hal Foster)

The stories in this volume begin with Prince Valiant searching for something to take his mind off his feud with his beloved Aleta. He finds distraction trying to protect a castle from some enemies fighting over a lovely damsel. Later he catches sight of Aleta's ship on the way to the Misty Isles but his pride stops him from calling out. He rambles around he at last meets a wise man in Merlin's cave who gives him the mission to win Aleta all over again. He finds Prince Arn soon after and the two of them sail to the Misty Isles. But it's a short voyage and they must travel overland where they meet Ben Ziara who can take them to North Africa. It is as they travel with Ziara when they find they must avoid invading Goths that Foster draws his final full Prince Valiant (with one exception... more later). Meanwhile Aleta and her family land in the Misty Isles where she enounters Ortho, a noble who appears at first helpful. Valiant and Arn are helping others protect themselves from the Goths but eventually get to the deserts where they encounter yet more strife.  While Aleta is trying to navigate her relationship with the attentive Ortho, Valiant and Arn see the utter destruction of a desert city which is first invaded and plundered then suffers from an immense earthquake. On the coast at last they encounter a ship sent by Ortho but whose captain has been given orders to kill Valiant by Ortho. Valiant soon figures this out and takes precautions which not only save his life and Arn's but put him into position to defend against the treacherous Ortho, who alas meets his end in another way. Valiant and Aleta are at long last reunited and the story leaves them to enjoy their rekindled romance. The twins Valeta and Karen trifle with love and marriage of an ignorant noble lad and end up making a happy couple but not the one everyone expected. Prince Arn then goes with a friend who is the new king of Dondaris. He proves essential in this new king being able to keep his fractious kingdom together when rebels with good cause rise up in the hinterlands. Dondaris is a land gone soft and Arn sees that only fair play and justice can save it from destruction. Valiant appears and then suffers the loss of the Singing Sword. He soon finds it and the thief finds due justice. But then Valiant comes to the kingdom of Atheldag where visitors must have stories to entertain a king who cannot sleep. Soon Val meets King Dashad who is a wastrel and knows little of the suffering of his people. Val takes him in hand and soon has toughened him up and instilled in him a sense of empathy for the common people. Then the story turns to a troubadour named Jaques who is  all too ready to woo women with his tender words and lovely songs. He too finds trouble and learns a lesson when he meets a young woman who becomes his wife after some trouble. 

This book starts with an essay by Brian Walker about his memories of both Foster and Murphy. It ends with an outstanding collection of incidental and advertising art by Foster of Prince Valiant for various folks and institutions. Lovely and some very funny stuff with our stalwart hero. The endpapers in this particular volume also feature some art used in the Hasings House volumes which told the Valiant saga in prose. All in all another handsome installment. Foster will continue to write and layout the strip for some years to come, but his signature disappears from the strip and some thought the strip might end. It didn't of course and is still going strong. 

More next time as the Prince Valiant saga continues. 

Rip Off

The Sunday Funnies - Prince Valiant 1969-1970!

Prince Valiant Volume 17: 1969-1970 by Hal Foster from Fantagraphics is a notable volume in this venerable series in that it marks the beginning of the end of Hal Foster's connection to the strip. Now there is still a decade of Foster directing the series but as this tome closes out we see examples of three artists who were considered as viable candidates to take over these singular adventures in Camelot. More on that later. 

Gray Morrow

The saga picks up with the Valiant clan on the way back to Camelot from the Misty Isles and with the budding romance between Katwin and a rough and gruff sea captain named Helge who lost an arm fighting to save the aforementioned Katwin. After some coaxing the dour seaman is lured into romance and eventually marriage. Then we turn our attention to Sir Gawain who made his way to Camelot on land and who had much to explain as to why he turned up in King Arthur's court atop a mule. He relates several tales of woe but in most of them he prevails until the end when he is hoodwinked by a false magician and his lovely companion. Then Valian is sent to check up on the Saxons who after the Battle of Badon Hill have settled peaceably in the lands with Arthur's permission as long as they build no forts. They claim to be put upon by Vikings and since Val is a Viking it is thought he might be handy to solve the situation. With considerable cunning he turns back the threat of Thoric, a raider who was banished by Val's father King Aguar. Then he must put down a rogue Saxon who is hiding a hoard of weapons and preparing for war. We follow the Valiant family as young Galan seeks a unicorn (a goat) and the twins Valeta and Karen confront the confusions of chivalric romance. A young woman named Adele turns up and seeks to keep a promise made in childhood to be the wife of Geoffrey the poet and scholar, and Prnce Arn is useful in helping out. Arn then gets into trouble and is made a slave of a rogue named Llanwick  but he is able to turn the tables and burn Llanwick's castle down and Valiant shows up in time to help Arn out. Then King Arthur is miffed that his royal deer are diminished and blames Hugh the Fox, but later changes him mind and makes Hugh his warden. We then follow the adventures of a young knight named Dale MaKinnie who seeks to become a knight of the Round Table and gets a chance when he is sent to assist Lady Marvyn tabilize her hold on her territory. The situation becomes complication when a young woman named Matilda turns out to be a more worthy mate and becomes just that when Lady Marvyn accidently poisons herself. Prince Arn falls into the clutches of Moragan Le Fay who seeks revenge for Prince Valiant's victory over her nearly twenty years before. After Arn is saved Val and Aleta have a spat which causes them to have separate sleeping quarters for a time and as this volume ends with Val seeking to help a beautiful damsel in a castle tower their tiff is left unresolved. 

Wally Wood 

This volume begins with an essay by Brian M. Kane on the humor in the Prince Valiant strip and ends with a glimpse of Hal Foster's childhood sketchbooks. As mentioned above the most notable events in this book are sample strips by Wally Wood (one), Gray Morrow (three) and John Cullen Murphy (three) used by Foster to select a successor. We know that Murphy will win the prize though I must say that Morrow's efforts were especially tremendous. Wood's outing is excellent but falls just short of the other magnificent examples in capturing that Foster flavor. 

Rip Off

 

Valiant Transitions!

For many years now I have been dutifully collecting up the visually impressive reprints of the great Hal Foster's Prince Valiant from Fantagraphics. The tomes are handsome, filled with the Foster's brilliant images. As the books have continued to come out, we have come through the years to the point when I as a young reader was first taking note of series in my local Sunday color section (one of the best and last ones in the country for years and years). What I couldn't realize in the years of 1969 and 1970 was that Hal Foster was looking to retire, to ease his way out of the artistic chair and in the grand tradition of vintage comic strips, turn over the reins to a successor.

In the pages of this seventeenth volume we get those try-out pages from artists Wally Wood, Gray Morrow, and the man who ultimately took over the strip John  Cullen Murphy. Above you can see one of Wood's contributions to the run. It's an amazing little trip back into time to when I was a boy to see these yarns and this art by talents I know and respect from the pages of the comic books. Now as a man on the edge of retirement myself, I guess I feel some measure of the blend of anticipation and regret which goes with anyone leaving what they've done for many many years, what has become their life. I see these pages from another perspective.

Rip Off

A Valiant Assembly!

Here's a gorgeous illustration produced for the 75th anniversary of the strip by Gary Gianni,until recently the regular artist on the classic comic strip Prince Valiant. Gianni and writer Mark Schultz  took over the strip when John Cullen Murphy, the longtime successor to Valiant creator Hal Foster retired in 2004, becoming only the third regular artist on the strip during its venerable run.

If you'll take a close look at the drawing above, you'll notice a few specific interlopers in the halls of Camelot.

Standing next to Merlin are John Cullen Murphy, his signature mustache and goatee intact and  Hal Foster too, his clean-shaven mug in evidence.

It's what makes a strip like Prince Valiant so precious, not just that it's a profound presentation of a quasi-historical era filled with heroism but that it has a respected proud history of its own as a great American creation. Salute to Prince Valiant and its creator Hal Foster and the man who shepherded the strip for so many decades, John Cullen Murphy.

Rip Off

The Prince Valiant Companion!

I'm only beginning to plow its great depths, but yesterday while the wife and I drove to Louisville to pick up our girls at the airport, I took the chance to stop off at The Great Escape, a place I haven't ventured to in many years. Back in the old days, I have great memories of getting to this store maybe once a year and finding some really off-the-wall comics. I built my Spirit collection there for instance.

Yesterday I found a really great bargain, The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion compiled by Brian M. Kane. There's great art from Hal Foster (of course), John Cullen Murphy, and the new guy Gary Gianni. There are interviews and some real treats. Some that I've already grokked are tryout pages by various artists for John Cullen Murphy's seat. There are pages by Gianni of course, Charles Vess, Tom Grindberg, and others.

It's a handsome volume and I got it on sale to boot. Great stuff!

Rip Off