"Hold! . . . I Know This Man!"

NEXT: A Flash of a Cameo

Art: Gary Gianni (from page 3400, November 6, 2011).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Comics Kingdom.

Celebrating 79 Years of Prince Valiant

Valiant, Prince of Thule, as drawn by John Cullen Murphy (1986),
the second illustrator of the Prince Valiant adventure strip.

Friends, today marks the 79th anniversary of the Prince Valiant adventure strip, created by Hal Foster in 1937.

For A Prince Named Valiant's informative 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.

Right: The fourth and current Prince Valiant illustrator Thomas Yeates at Comic-Con 2015 . . . with none other than the Prince of Thule himself!

Yeates took over from Gary Gianni, the third illustrator of Prince Valiant, in April 2012.


See also the previous posts:
• How It All Began
• A Valiant First Effort, Wouldn't You Say?
• Remembering Episode 3000, 8/7/94
• John Cullen Murphy on Prince Valiant: "It's My Duty. I'm Responsible For It"
• Mark Schultz on Prince Valiant as an American Invention
• Gary Gianni's Prince Valiant: Looking Good
• Thomas Yeates: "My Biggest Thrill is Seeing the Prince Valiant Logo on My Drawings"
• "He Wasn't a Superhero But He Was a Hero"
• 4000

Art: John Cullen Murphy (1986).
Source: The Sun Herald newspaper (Sydney, Australia), 1988; from the collection of Michael J. Bayly.

Numair the Bedouin Raider

Art: Thomas Yeates (from page 4103, September 27, 2015).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Comics Kingdom.

Loft Lodgings

Art: Hal Foster and John Cullen Murphy (from page 2150, April 23, 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.

No Choice

NEXT: Merlin Ambrosius

See also the previous posts:
• "Climb!"
• Earthquake!

Art: Gary Gianni (from page 3808, January 31, 2010).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Sunday Telegraph (Sydney, Australia).

A Desperate Ploy

Click on image for a larger view.

Art: Thomas Yeates (from page 4056, November 2, 2014).
Text: Mark Schultz.
Source: Comics Kingdom.

Horrit of the Fens

See also the previous post:
• Horrit's Prophecy

Art: Hal Foster (from page 9, April 10, 1937).
Source: Prince Valiant (Vol. 1): 1937-1939 – Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books, 2009).

Friend or Foe?

Art: Gary Gianni (from page 3840, September 12, 2010).
Source: Sunday Telegraph (Sydney, Australia).

Comic-Con Encounter

At this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, Prince Valiant illustrator Thomas Yeates encountered none other than . . . Prince Valiant!

“I was knocked out by the guy in the Prince Valiant costume,” said Yeates.


Image source: Prince Valiant Facebook Page.

A Little Something Extra

Perhaps like me, you've known for some time that the print version of the Prince Valiant adventure strip has a little something extra . . . an additional panel featuring an illustration under the strip's banner. Although unrelated to the narrative of the story, this illustration nevertheless relates somewhat to the current adventure. Thus it may remain unchanged for weeks, even months at a time.

I dare say the addition of this "banner panel" is to do with the fact that most newspapers print the strip in a horizontal manner (see below) rather than the vertical one that's found online and which Prince Valiant illustrator Thomas Yeates originally creates the strip. One thing's for sure, I enjoy periodically checking the local Sunday paper that runs Prince Valiant to catch the latest "little something extra"!

Click on image for a larger view.

Artwork: Thomas Yeates (from Prince Valiant, page 4095, as printed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 2, 2015).