PRINCE VALIANT

Prince Valiant is a comic strip that follows the adventures of the young Prince of Thule during the times of King Arthur. In the third volume of the strip, it picks up with the young prince being captured by slavers and forced into being one of the slaves. At this point in the strip, Val had become a knight of the roundtable and with the aid of his short temper, he was a very unhappy fellow, to say the least. The Sea King, Angor Wrack, ends up taking Val’s singing sword, which happens to be the sister sword of Excalibur. Prince Val was not at all thrilled at the prospect of being a slave, and his inner monologue showed the reader that he didn’t even think he was worthy of being a slave since he was a prince as well as a knight of Camelot. As always, Val found a way out and stole one of the smaller ships. It was after a few days journey that, in his delusional state, arrived at the Misty Isles and was aided by the queen, Aleta. When he awoke later on the boat that was now stocked with provisions, he made it his quest to find the Misty Isles and his now beloved Aleta. 

Of course, on his way to the Misty Isles he encounters may hiccups that make it harder for him to arrive to his destination. For example, he ends up landing on an island where the king takes him as his prisoner. However, being a prisoner wasn’t all too bad since he was entertaining two beautiful young princesses (which Val of course didn’t mind, and which put off his quest for quite a bit). He ends up helping one of the princesses escape an arranged marriage to none other than Angor Wrack, the sea king. Val’s lust to regain his singing sword is restored and he makes it his duty to get it back. Val, being as young and hot tempered as he is, makes a foolish mistake in thinking he could take on this very powerful man on his own and ends up leaving without the sword, only to follow the sea king to Jerusalem. From there he meets vikings who are traveling toward his homeland, but instead they go in search of treasure in a swamp-like area. He then rescues his good friend Sir Gawain and together they travel back to Camelot. They are only there for a few days before Arthur sends them out on a quest, one in which is dangerous and deals with the invasion of the Picts, the enemy of Britain and Arthur at the time. On and on it goes, with Val getting into trouble, figuring his way out of it, going on new quests, making more enemies, meeting new friends, and so on. Throughout the strip, he meets new characters as well as the staples of King Arthur tales (such as Sir Gawain) and travels to far off exotic places. In the third volume of the strip I had noticed that Val was rarely in Britain, and when he was, it was for a few strips before he was sent off to some foreign land. 

Magic seemed to always be discounted as only being a science, and it was interesting to see it referenced in such a way because Val would always say that Merlin was the one who said that when things seem magical, it was more scientific than we think. Merlin is always thought up to be the magician or the sorcerer behind Arthur. This made the strip to be more realistic in nature. Even so, the main theme was the young prince getting into trouble due to either his temper or his lust and then figuring out ways out of it all! 

Hal Foster was the originator and creator of Prince Valiant, in which he drew such beautiful illustrations. He is also known for one of the first adventure comic strips based off of Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, Tarzan. Hal is best known for his work in Prince Valiant though, especially because it was solely his strip. William Randolph Hearst had wanted to work with Foster for so long that when Hal pitched the idea of Prince Valiant to William, he promised him ownership of the strip, something very rare in those times. That’s how popular of an illustrator Hal Foster was. Prince Valiant is regarded as one of the most beautifully and artistically drawn strips of it’s time, and it’s easy to see so. 

Extremely detailed for a strip!

The way Hal Foster used words and text I thought was interesting. He didn’t use a single word bubble, a thought bubble or anything of the type. He would simply run the text either on the top or the bottom of each panel, describing what is going on throughout the strip. Sometimes his images dominate over the words, but with his drawing style it is easy to see why some may disregard the text to stare in awe at the drawing before them. The drawings are definitely more on the realistic side. You see this especially whenever Val’s shirt is off; Hal Foster draws Val’s body extremely detailed and anatomically correct. If the drawings weren’t as superb as they are, I don’t think the comic strip would have had much of an impact. Part of the joy and draw of reading this strip was the actual drawings! Plus, King Arthur and the Round Table are, to me, regal topics and should be shown as thus. Having a simpler drawing style for this strip would definitely take the royalty out of the strip for me. 

Throughout the strip, I noticed some characters would reappear. I thought it was a nice touch, especially the way they aid the prince to his destinations. Furthermore, when he reintroduces a character to the strip, even if you haven’t been following the strip for a while, you can still understand the personality of the character and know what they have done in the past. I also really enjoyed that he didn’t remain in Britain and would travel to far off lands such as Jerusalem or Africa or the swamplands. It was humorous that he would refer to dragons as alligators but that probably reverts to the fact that magic was taken out of the picture to make the strip seem more realistic. I also just thought it was humorous that the fact that he saw Aleta once and instantly falls in love with her and is then on a mission to find her ... until two beautiful princesses occupy his time. In the third volume, it doesn’t show much devotion to Aleta, but more so to him regaining his singing sword. It also shows him for what he is, which is a teenager who is easily distracted by beauty but who also strives for honor and acceptance. I have always been particularly interested in the tales of King Arthur and know that some people were unhappy with the strip since it strayed from the actual facts. However, even though it strays I think it allowed more opportunities for the prince to go out on adventures either by his lonesome or accompanied by his fellow knights.

I think it is safe to say that Prince Valiant has had a big impact on comics, and in particular it is because Hal Foster was the one who birthed it. Many comic artists look up to the great Hal Foster and his brilliant and gorgeous renderings of architecture, people and landscapes. It gave comic artists a standard to live up to and a bar that they would strive to go beyond. At this time that Prince Valiant was published, there was much competition amongst the strips and the syndicates. The storytelling plus the artwork was an instant seller and made it to be an extremely successful comic strip at the time.