Signed Prince Valiant print by Hal Foster, 1978.[/caption]Exiled as a boy from his native land of Thule, Prince Valiant grew up in the vast fens of fifth century Britain before discovering his calling and destiny as a knight of King Arthur’s storied Round Table. As inquisitive and intelligent as he is handy with a sword, Val rights wrongs and adventures across both the known and unknown medieval world. Along the way, he finds and marries the love of his life, Aleta, Queen of the Misty Isles, and fathers a family of equally adventuresome offspring. All of whom test his patience and bruise his ego to one degree or other such are families in any era.
Created in 1937 by the immortal Hal Foster, Prince Valiant continues strong to this day as the pinnacle of comic strip adventure storytelling. Balanced between the excitement and danger of medieval knightly derring-do and the domestic complexities surrounding a high-spirited family, Val has little time for rest and his devoted readership would have it no other way.
As representatives of Camelot, Val, Aleta and the roguish ladies’ man, Sir Gawain, have seen adventures taking them throughout barbarian-plagued Europe; from the wilderness of Pictland to crumbling Rome and prospering Byzantium; from far Cathay to the unnamed Americas; from Ab’Saba in limitless Africa to Jerusalem and the sands of the Holy Land.
Equally adept with both his brains and brawn, Prince Valiant carries forth the ideals of Camelot as beacons of light and civilization in an often dark and violent age. As such, he remains an instantly identifiable and much beloved hero for generation after generation.
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Prince Valiant encounters Merlin for the first time in many years. "From the powers of night I asked for immortality," says the wizard, "but forgot to ask for youth." Art: John Cullen Murphy (November 1983). Text: Cullen Murphy. Source: The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia); from the collection of Michael J. Bayly (1986).[/caption]
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