Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Jains


Prince Valiant's son Galan has journeyed to India with the Chinese scholar Yuan Chen.

Above is a detail of the opening panel of installment #2372 (July 25, 1982). The text that accompanies this panel reads:

Galan and Yuan Chen cross the Indus River into India. India! Not since Rome has there been an empire so vast, so rich, so civilized, so busy. The university at Benares is among the greatest in the world. Yuan Chen spies a sect of Jains.

"I have heard of these men," he says delightedly, scribbling in his book. "They live a frugal and holy life. We shall pass the night with them."





NEXT: Ujjain


Art: John Cullen Murphy (from installment #2372, July 25, 1982).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: Prince Valiant, Book Two (Kings Features Syndicate, 1986).

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Wise Merlin


Sir Gawain is being held hostage by the sorceress Morgan Le Fey. To help rescue him, Prince Valiant turns to wise Merlin.







Art and text: Hal Foster (from installment #60, April 2, 1938).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 1): 1937-1938 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2009).

See also the previous posts:
Seeking Merlin's Counsel
Old Beyond Years
“It Is Indeed I”

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

The Banquet

As a member of a hunting party from Camelot, Prince Valiant has crossed half of Britain, from King Arthur's citadel to the monarch's estates on the eastern sea where Valiant's son Arn is the Royal Parker. They will pass the night in the warmth of Castle Orr, where a surprise awaits Prince Valiant . . .



Be sure to click on image for a larger view!





Art: John Cullen Murphy (installment #2446, December 25, 1983).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: Prince Valiant, Book Two (Kings Features Syndicate, 1986).

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Reunion


After time away adventuring in Vikingsholm, young Prince Arn returns to Camelot and is reunited with his family. The text that accompanies this panel notes that Prince Valiant's "eyes are moist as he watches his family reunite with such evident affection." (Be sure to click on image for a larger view!)


Art: Hal Foster and John Cullen Murphy (from installment #2197, March 18, 1979). At this point in Prince Valiant's run, John Cullen Murphy, who had been quietly assisting Hal Foster since 1970, was well into his first decade of drawing the strip over Foster's writing and roughs.
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 49): Road to Sorrow's End, comprising pages, or installments, 2168 (August 27, 1978) through 2211 (June 24, 1979). Fantagraphics Books, 2003.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Aleta, Queen of the Misty Isles . . .


. . . as drawn by Hal Foster.


Art: Hal Foster (from installment #453, October 14, 1945).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 5): 1945-1946 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2012).

Friday, December 14, 2012

"Here is What We Do . . ."


Aleta and her father-in-law King Aguar of Thule scheme to ensure that Prince Valiant approves of Lady Fenia, the love interest of his long-widowed father.


Art: John Cullen Murphy (from installment #2504, February 3, 1985).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: Prince Valiant, Book One (Kings Features Syndicate, 1986).

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

As Wise a Mate As She is a Queen



Art: Gary Gianni (from installment #3537, November 21, 2004).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot – Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008).

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Aleta . . .


. . . Queen of the Misty Isles and wife of Prince Valiant,
as drawn by Thomas Yeates.


Art: Thomas Yeates (from installment #3925, April 29, 2012).
Text: Mark Schultz.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Escape from the Isle of Sloth

Prince Valiant's adventure on the Isle of Sloth continues . . .











Art: John Cullen Murphy (installment #2417, June 5, 1983).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: Prince Valiant, Book Two (Kings Features Syndicate, 1986).

Friday, November 30, 2012

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

An Audience with King Alfgar


With his friend and comrade Ramud of Tunis at his side, Prince Valiant boldly strides into the throne room of King Alfgar. It's all part of Val's plan to raise an army, storm the walls of Saramand, and rescue Aleta from the harem of the tyrant Donardo.


Art and text: Hal Foster (from installment #444, August 12, 1945).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 5): 1945-1946 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2012).

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Gallery of a Thousand Buddhas


Notes Wikipedia:

The Mogao Caves or Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 492 temples 25 km (16 miles) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves, however, this term is also used to include other Buddhist cave sites in the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, and the Yulin Caves farther away. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out 366 CE as places of Buddhist meditation and worship. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China.


See also the previous post: Savior of Turfan.

Art: John Cullen Murphy (from installment #2677, May 29, 1988).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion – Brian M. Kane (Fantagraphics Books, 2009).

Friday, November 16, 2012

Nathan's Escape






Art: Gary Gianni (installment #3597, January 15, 2012).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot – Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008).

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Monday, October 29, 2012

Lydia


Prince Valiant's eldest son Arn and his first love Lydia.


See also the previous post: Halcyon Days.

Art: Hal Foster and John Cullen Murphy (from installment #2177, October 29, 1978). At this point in Prince Valiant's run, John Cullen Murphy, who had been quietly assisting Hal Foster since 1970, was well into his first decade of drawing the strip over Foster's writing and roughs.
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 49): Road to Sorrow's End, comprising pages, or installments, 2168 (August 27, 1978) through 2211 (June 24, 1979). Fantagraphics Books, 2003.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Overwhelming


Art: Gary Gianni (from installment #3590, November 27, 2005).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot – Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008).

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Galan to the Rescue


As his father and Sir Launcelot engage a troop of King Claudas' horsemen, young Galan sees one of the king ruffians approaching his mother, Queen Aleta, and sisters, Karen and Valeta, hidden in the nearby woods. Prince Valiant hears his wife scream, yet even as he sets spurs to his mount he knows he cannot reach the danger in time. It is Galan who charges to the rescue.


Art: Hal Foster and John Cullen Murphy (from installment #2153, May 15, 1978). At this point in Prince Valiant's run, John Cullen Murphy, who had been quietly assisting Hal Foster since 1970, was well into his first decade of drawing the strip over Foster's writing and roughs.
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 48): Return to Camelot, comprising pages, or installments, 2124 (October 23, 1977) through 2167 (August 20, 1978). Fantagraphics Books, 2003.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Releasing the Djinn








See also the previous posts:
Thorwolf's Claim
A Nightmare Realm


Art: Gary Gianni (installment #3656, March 4, 2007).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot – Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008).