Sir Launcelot’s Offer

Art and text: Hal Foster and John Cullen Murphy (from page 1781, March 28, 1971).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 18): 1971-1972 – Hal Foster and John Cullen Murphy (Fantagraphics Books, 2018).

Arthur and Launcelot

Art and text: Hal Foster (from page 504, October 6, 1946).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 5): 1945-1946 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2012).

Something Very Special . . .

To mark the February 13 75th anniversary of Prince Valiant, the team currently producing the strip – artist Gary Gianni and writer Mark Schultz – have created something very special . . .

Yes, it's this weekend's installment, page #3914, of the ongoing adventures of Valiant, Prince of Thule and Knight of the Round Table; a page that in harkening back to a surreal adventure experienced by Valiant in his youth, provides a wonderful opportunity for Gianni and Schultz to not only convey the strip's key values of adventure, camaraderie, family and hope, but also highlight and celebrate many of the characters that have appeared throughout Prince Valiant's 75-year history and helped make it one of the most beloved and enduring 'comic' strips of all time.

Be sure to click on the image above for a larger view!

These highlighted characters include Valiant's wife Aleta, eldest son Arn, twin daughters Karen and Valeta, second son Galan, father King Aguar of Thule, good King Arthur of Camelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Tristram, Horrit of the Fens, Boltar, Tillicum, Geoffrey, Gundar Harl, Angor Wrack, Makeda, Sir Lancelot and Prince Arn of Ord.

And if you look carefully you'll see standing with the wizard Merlin none other than Hal Foster (1892-1982), the creator of Prince Valiant, and his successor John Cullen Murphy (1919-2004), who drew the strip for over 30 years before passing it on to Gianni in 2004.

Without doubt, Gianni and Schultz's 75th anniversary page is a beautiful and fitting tribute to Prince Valiant, the greatest work ever produced in the comic art medium.


See also the previous post:
• Prince Valiant Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Recommended Off-site Links:
• Happy 75th Birthday, Prince Valiant! – Tyler Tichelaar (Children of Arthur, February 1, 2012).
• Supporting Cast: Happy Wedding Anniversary, Aleta and Val – DailyInk.com (February 10, 2012).

The Banishment of Mordred

After it is discovered that King Arthur's deathly illness is the result of being poisoned by his half-brother Mordred, who seeks the crown for himself, the king secretly recovers and then takes action.

Following is the text that accompanies the above illustration:

Before the assembled throng, Gawain strips Mordred of his sword and cuts the emblem from his tunic. Now Arthur draws Excalibur and plunges the blade into his own arm. The heavens tremble at his words: "Mordred, false knight and false brother, I spit you out. From this realm I banish you. Your estates and your wealth I give to the poor. May your children scorn you and your grandchildren call you Judas. Behold, from my arm spills the blood we once shared. I am cleansed. Begone, viper, I know you not."

Left: Watching from a nearby balcony are (from left) Sir Launcelot, Queen Guinevere, Aleta, and Galan.

And why, you may ask, is Prince Valiant absent from this momentous event? To find out, click here.

NEXT: The Return of Mordred

Art: John Cullen Murphy (July 1980).
Text: Cullen Murphy.
Source: The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia); from the collection of Michael J. Bayly (1983).

First Love

Prince Valiant's first love was the fair maid Ilene of Branwyn, whose parents Val rescues from a band of outlaws.

When Val asks for Ilene's hand in marriage, her father the Thane of Branwyn informs him that she has already been promised to Prince Arn of Ord.

Prince Valiant vows to find his rival and defeat him. Traveling to Ord he encounters and jousts with Arn on a narrow bridge above a swirling river. Arn is unhorsed and topples into the water. He is saved from drowning in his heavy armor by Val who declares: "If you are to die this day, it will be by my hand in fair fight."

The two lads are soon at it . . . with cries of "Ilene or death!"

Their duel is halted by the arrival of a Viking raiding party, which they battle and defeat. From a wounded survivor they learn that Ilene has been captured by Thagnar, the Viking sea rover.

Forgetting their quarrel in the face of Ilene's peril, Valiant and Arn rush to the coast. Armed with Arn's charmed Singing Sword, Prince Valiant buys time by holding the bridge at Dundorn Glen against fifty Vikings.

With rage in his heart and the terrible "Singing Sword" in his hand, Val writes his name large in the memories of his foes.

The Vikings draw back in amazement, but, weakened by a score of wounds, Prince Valiant collapses and is taken to Thagnar's encampment. Here he is reunited with Ilene. The two are soon at sea, prisoners of Thagnar.

With Arn in pursuit, Val strikes Thagnar, reclaims the Singing Sword, and cripples the longship's steering sweep. At Ilene's urging he jumps overboard and swims to Arn's ship. Together, Valiant and Arn defeat the crew of Thagnar's second ship, but the Viking rover himself has repaired his ship and escaped with Ilene.

Arn and Val's search for the woman they both love ends in tragedy with the discovery of Thagnar's shipwrecked vessel – and a jeweled clasp that had belonged to Ilene.

Later the two princes are consoled by Sir Launcelot.

Do not grive for Ilene – fate has spared her much unhappiness. Had she been found you were pledged to fight to the death for her hand; the winner would live on knowing he had brought a bride with his friend's life, and gentle Ilene would be the wife of a murderer, forever blaming herself for being the cause of it all.

Back in Britain, the two friends part company; but not before Arn gives Val the charmed Singing Sword, "to be used in good King Arthur's cause."

Years later, when considering a name for his first-born son, Val shares the tragic tale of Ilene with his wife Aleta. They then decide to name their son Arn. Pictured above is how Prince Valiant creator Hal Foster recaps the story of Val's first love in April 1948.


Image art and text: Hal Foster.
Image 1: From installment #75, July 17, 1938.
Image 2: #67, May 22, 1938.
Image 3: #68, May 29, 1938.
Image 4: #71, June 19, 1938.
Image 5: #75, July 17, 1938
Image 6: #78, August 7, 1938.
Image 7: #82, September 4, 1938.
Image 8: #85, September 25, 1938.
Image 9: April 1948.

Source of images 1, 3, 4 and 5: Prince Valiant #1, Pioneer Comics, June 1988.
Images 2, 6, 7 and 8: Prince Valiant (Vol. 1): 1937-1938 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2009).
Image 9: From one of the Prince Valiant comic books my father collected in 1954-55 and which were published and distributed by Associated Newspaper Ltd. of 60-70 Elizabeth Street, Sydney.