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Tweak says, "purple fuzzy socks"

dr_hermes (dr_hermes) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-07 21:44:00

Entry tags:

char: prince valiant, creator: harold foster, era: golden age

Say, that Demon looks familiar
Here are two Sunday PRINCE VALIANT pages from December 1937. The word "epic" has been so trivialized that it's hardly useful anymore. Maybe it should be retired for a generation until it regains some of its power. In any case, PRINCE VALIANT actually was an epic in the original sense. Looking over Harold Foster's gorgeous art and getting into the solid storytelling, I'm struck by how well-done it was and how it was just one of a dozen strips you could read every week as part of your newspaper. It looks as if newspapers are declining fast and may soon be just a minor curiosity to a relative handful of readers. But certainly, as far as Sunday comics go, newspapers are just a faint echo of what they once were.

So. The young and idealistic Val is trying to prove himself to the knights at Arthur's court and he applies himself to ridding the land of the oppressive "Ogre," a lord who rules his turf through terror. Catching a goose, Valiant fashions a disguise from its body....

He then goes on to throw the deceased Ogre's soldiers into panic by taunting them as this demonic figure, appearing briefly from the shadows, swinging overhead and cackling, getting on their nerves big time.

Well, looks like Prince Valiant is not out of trouble yet, judging by that last panel. Actually, he would go on every Sunday until 1971 under Foster's crafting. The strip wasn't just about daring duels and huge battles in every land (although there was plenty of that). Val married and raised a son, and family drama (and family comedy) were just as important to the story. PRINCE VALIANT was excessively well-done and remains a high point of American comics. Now, in 1972, Jack Kirby drew on Foster's art for an image. Kirby's Fourth World saga had been skewered and aborted at DC, so he created a pair of new titles which (while still good and whose characters are still being used today) were essentially throw-aways for him. One was KAMANDI. The other was about Merlin's servant, a rascal named Etrigan (who looked identical to Prince Valiant's impromptu disguise back in 1937).

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	cmdr_zoom 2009-08-08 03:31 am UTC (link)
	a SUPerSTITious cowARDly LOTTTT! (Reply to this)

	volksjager 2009-08-08 04:04 am UTC (link)
	Fabulous ink work ! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-08-08 04:23 am UTC (link)
	Isn't it beautiful? Foster could do a page of Queen Aleta playing with her baby or a page of Val fighting Vikings on the beach, and both were gorgeous. Hard to believe art like this used to be in the Sunday newspapers. (Reply to this) (Parent)

rab62
2009-08-08 04:39 am UTC (link)

This is why I thought Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook basing the structure of their Kamandi strip in Wednesday Comics on Prince Valiant was a particularly clever idea -- not just as an in-joke, but also as a way of understanding Kirby's approach by drawing on stuff that influenced him. (Most artists who want to "do" Kirby just throw on some Kirby dots and energy crackle and call it a day!)

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	dr_hermes 2009-08-08 04:46 am UTC (link)
	Good point. Kirby didn't originate in a vacuum, he had his influences. I think there's some Howard Pyle in Kirby, too. Maybe Burne Hogarth as well. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-08-08 08:37 am UTC (link)
	Damn, but that is just so damn pretty to look at.... (Reply to this)

	shadowvalkyrie 2009-08-08 10:26 am UTC (link)
	Yay, Prince Valiant gets some love! still has all her old books but luckily doesn't sport that haircut anymore I was fonder of the black-and white than the coloured version, though. (Reply to this)

	tahngarth 2009-08-08 10:40 am UTC (link)
	That's awesome. Prince Valiant has been published over here, but all of the collections are long out of print now... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	reprints cognitivedissident.openid.org 2009-08-08 04:49 pm UTC (link)
	Fantagraphcs (http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1581&category_id=181&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=62) just started reprinting PV from the beginning...grab them while you can! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ar_feiniel_ 2009-08-08 12:07 pm UTC (link)
	I love the way his cape looks, it has a life of its own. (Reply to this)

	nymphgalatea 2009-08-08 06:36 pm UTC (link)
	God, the linework & inking on this is insanely beautiful. If it was recoloured it would probably take pride of place in DCs' Wednesday Comics. Also, now want "Etrigan The Demon vs. Prince Valiant" mashup comic. (Reply to this)

houbanaut
2009-08-09 01:43 pm UTC (link)

The artwork is undeniably great (and as I recall the story is fairly compelling), but I can't help but feel the way it's told entirely through captions takes some getting used to, and never quite stops feeling outdated.

I have a feeling the translated books I read some 15 years ago even put all the caption text outside of the panels (increasing the space between each strip). Or maybe the caption placement was just more static at some point in the series' history.

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