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).