Battling the Picts

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Note: Today marks the 78th anniversary of the Prince Valiant adventure strip! For A Prince Named Valiant's special series of posts to mark the 75th anniversary, click here, here and here.

Also, A Prince Named Valiant was launched on the 74th anniversary of Prince Valiant. To read the post that began it all, click here.


Art and text: Hal Foster (from page #659, September 25, 1949).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 7): 1949-1950 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2013).

"I Dare You to Learn My Secret"

NEXT: Maeve, Woman of Mystery

Art: John Cullen Murphy (from page #2334, November 1, 1981).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: The Sun Herald newspaper (Sydney, Australia), 1984; from the collection of Michael J. Bayly.

See also the previous post:
• Mistress of the Hounds

The Watchman's Tale

See also the previous posts:
• "I Bid You Welcome"
• Zamestra Dagon
• "Like Men Caught in a Dream"

Art: Gary Gianni (from page 3610, April 16, 2006).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot – Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008).

Bukota's Discovery

Art: Thomas Yeates (from page 4024, March 23, 2014).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Comics Kingdom.

See also the previous posts:
• Bound for the Misty Isles
• Sea of Myths
• The Whirlpool
• A Miraculous Grounding
• The Siren's Call
• Polyphemus!
• No Desire to Engage
• The Scylla
• Down They Tumble
• Polyphemus' Fall

At the Ready

Art and text: Hal Foster (from page 630, March 6, 1949).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 7): 1949-1950 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2013).

Mistress of the Hounds

In the aftermath of the relief of Camelot, Prince Arn, eldest son of Prince Valiant and Queen Aleta, finds himself shipwrecked on an "isle beyond the north wind."

Here he encounters Maeve, Mistress of the Hounds. He is instantly smitten.


Art: John Cullen Murphy (August 1981).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: The Sun Herald newspaper (Sydney, Australia), November 27, 1983; from the collection of Michael J. Bayly.

"Like Men Caught in a Dream"

NEXT: The Watchman's Tale

Art: Gary Gianni (from page 3609, April 9, 2006).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot – Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008).

Thomas Yeates: "My Biggest Thrill is Seeing the Prince Valiant Logo on My Drawings"

Prince Valiant illustrator Thomas Yeates was the subject of an October 31, 2014 Press Democrat article by Stephen D. Gross. Following with added images and links is an excerpt.

Prince Valiant came into [Tom Yeates'] life in 2011 at the ComicCon convention in San Diego, when a King Features representative approached Yeates about taking over the venerable comic strip. Its previous illustrator, Gary Gianni, had been hired to do illustrations for Game of Thrones. The first strip illustrated by Yeates appeared April 1, 2012.

“I was speechless” said Yeates. “It was like a dream come true.”

Prince Valiant is the longest continuous comic strip story in print, created by Hal Foster in 1937 and still appearing in more than 300 papers, including The Press Democrat. [NOTE: Actually, Prince Valiant is not the "longest continuous comic strip story in print." Dick Tracy (1931), The Phantom (1936), and, arguably, Gasoline Alley (1918) have been in print since their debuts without resorting to reprints.] It stars the distinctive prince and his kin, who are immersed in medieval Arthurian battles with sea serpents, shipwrecks, specters and sirens. And Yeates and his readers would have it no other way.

Valiant endures, he said, because of the ongoing action-packed story line and because the strip is visually well done and carefully crafted. To keep it fresh, Yeates keeps a watchful eye on movies and other people’s work.

Since 2004, the story line is written by Mark Schultz, who sends Yeates three or four stories at a time. He spends at least three days illustrating each strip with the high quality, complicated drawings in the strip’s characteristic style.

As Yeates juggles Valiant with all the other art projects in his airy studio overlooking the Russian River estuary, music is a constant companion. It follows him into his private life as a singer/songwriter.

Yeates performs locally with his band, the Jennerators, but nothing beats the national notoriety that comes from following in Foster’s footsteps.

“My biggest thrill,” said Yeates, “is seeing the Prince Valiant logo on my drawings.”

To read Stephen D. Gross' article "Tom Yeates' Princely Appointment" in its entirety, click here.

See also the previous posts:
• Thomas Yeates: The New Illustrator of Prince Valiant
• 4000
• Mark Schultz on Prince Valiant as an American Invention

Image 1: The Press Democrat.
Image 2: Thomas Yeates (from Prince Valiant, page 4050, September 21, 2014).
Image 3: Thomas Yeates (from Prince Valiant, page 4057, November 9, 2014).

Like a Deadly Scythe

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Art and text: Hal Foster (from page 655, August 28, 1949).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 7): 1949-1950 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2013).

Mordred Flees

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NEXT: Mistress of the Hounds

See also the previous posts:
• The Banishment of Mordred
• The Return of Mordred
• "Camelot, You Are Mine!"
• Talking Strategy
• The Relief of Camelot

Art: John Cullen Murphy (August 1981).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: The Sun Herald newspaper (Sydney, Australia), November 20, 1983; from the collection of Michael J. Bayly.