{"id":35864,"date":"2026-07-05T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35864"},"modified":"2026-07-03T18:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:06:24","slug":"hal-fosters-prince-valiant-volume-14-1963-1964-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/07\/05\/hal-fosters-prince-valiant-volume-14-1963-1964-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hal Foster\u2019s Prince Valiant volume 14: 1963-1964"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Hal Foster<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-970-7 (HB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur<\/strong> premiered on Sunday February 13th<\/sup> 1937: a fabulous rainbow coloured weekly peek into a world where history met myth to produce something greater than both. Pioneering creator Hal Foster developed the feature after a groundbreaking and astoundingly popular run on the Tarzan of the Apes<\/strong> comic strip.<\/p>\n

Prince Valiant<\/strong> offered action, adventure, exoticism, romance and a surprisingly high quota of laughs in its engrossing depiction of noble knights and wicked barbarians played out against a glamorised, dramatized, mythologised Dark Ages backdrop. The never-ending story follows a refugee lad of royal blood, driven from ancestral Scandinavian homeland Thule, who grows up to roam the world, attaining a paramount position amongst the fabled heroes of Camelot.<\/p>\n

Foster wove his complex epic romance over decades, tracing the progress of a feral wild boy who became a paragon of chivalric virtue: knight, warrior, saviour, avenger and ultimately family patriarch through a constant storm of wild, robust and joyously witty wonderment. The restless champion visited many far-flung lands, siring a dynasty of equally puissant heroes, enchanting generations of readers and thousands of creative types in all the arts.<\/p>\n

The glorious epic spawned films, an animated series and all manner of toys, games, books and collections. Prince Valiant<\/strong> was – and remains – one of the few adventure strips to have run continuously from the thunderous 1930s to the present day (well north of 4000 episodes and still going strong) – and, even here at the end-times of newspaper strips as an art form, it continues in hundreds of US and international papers and globally through the internet.<\/p>\n

Foster soloed on the feature until 1971 when John Cullen Murphy (Big Ben Bolt<\/strong>) succeeded him as illustrator whilst the originator remained as writer and designer. That ended in 1980, when he finally retired and Cullen Murphy\u2019s daughter Mairead took over colouring and lettering whilst her brother John assumed the writer\u2019s role. In 2004 the senior Cullen Murphy also retired, since when the strip has soldiered on under the auspices of other extremely talented artists such as Gary Gianni, Scott Roberts and latterly Thomas Yeates & Mark Schultz.<\/p>\n

This luxuriously oversized (362 x 264 mm) full-colour hardback (tragically, the series is still unavailable digitally) re-presents pages spanning January 6th<\/sup> 1963 to December 27th<\/sup> 1964, (individual Strips #1352 to 1455) and comes with all the regular bonus trimmings. Comics book A-Lister Roger Stern (Superman<\/strong>; Avengers<\/strong>; Spider-Man<\/strong>; Doctor<\/strong> Strange<\/strong>; Incredible Hulk<\/strong>; Captain America<\/strong>) discusses and critically appraises the influential force of the newspaper strip on comic books in picture packed Foreword \u2018Swiping Mr. Foster: A Legacy in Four Colors\u2019<\/em>, offering many potent comparisons and shameless swipes, after which Brian M. Kane expands the argument about Valiant\u2019s lasting influence in \u2018Might for Right: A Code of Honor for Sentinels of Liberty\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The erudite scholar returns at this tome\u2019s close: spotlighting the glorious range of the master storyteller in closing article \u2018Land and Sea: Hal Foster\u2019s Fine Art Paintings\u2019 <\/em>via a gallery of land-&-seascapes, nature studies and illustrative tableaux. Captivating as they are, though, the real wonderment is, as ever, the unfolding epic preceding them…<\/p>\n

What Has Gone Before<\/em>: following a failed and ruinous quest for the Holy Grail by the Round Table Knights, Valiant has compelled their return to Camelot and courtly duties. In the months following he visited the Great Tor at Glastonbury, met St Patrick<\/em> and assisted a Papal mission from Rome assigned to erect a cathedral there. Wars erupted and plots were foiled, and an extended familial rift with long-suffering wife Aleta<\/em> healed. A visit to Valiant\u2019s Thule homeland brought more battle and death… and personal injury. With firstborn son Arn<\/em> in tow, recuperation was concluded during a visit of the entire clan to Aleta\u2019s ancestral kingdom in the Misty Isles, as Viking reiver Boltar<\/em> escorted them to counter (other) Mediterranean pirates and brigands…<\/p>\n

At their destination, the family defeated a colonising invasion by rival ruler Thrasos<\/em> during which the queen delivered twin daughters, to make Valiant a proud father of four. His peace was shattered when fleeing prisoners of war abducted Arn and his commoner pals Paul<\/em> & Diane<\/em>, forcing Valiant and Viking shipwright Gundar Harl<\/em> into frantic pursuit to prevent their being sold as slaves. However, by the time they caught up, cunning, capable Arn had already dealt with the problem. Even with the crisis averted peace was impossible to find. When pilgrims bound for the Holy Land were shipwrecked on the Misty Isles, Val was duty-bound to offer aid, and used his presence as escort to found a trade mission promoting the produce and wares of his island home. He also brought Arn, whose days of childhood indolence gave way to learning his proper place in the world…<\/p>\n

Many rousing exploits marked their trail from Jaffa to the Dead Sea, and Damascus to Baghdad, before the pilgrimage ends in Aleppo where Boltar waits to ferry father and son back to a recovered and much wealthier Aleta. However, a brief period of glorious relaxation ends as King Arthur summons them to save Gaul from invading Goth hordes. With safe passage across Europe ended, England\u2019s ruler also needed his greatest hero to carry a message to the Pope. As Aleta\u2019s forces secured a sea route to Albion, Valiant & Arn\u2019s perilous mission drew much action but ultimately no satisfaction from the embattled Pontiff. Undaunted, Valiant devised an alternative trade route between the Holy Father and increasingly imperilled Christian Britain: visiting what would become Spain and France, encountering a lost land where monks were guarded by monsters, dodging Goths and ousting a usurper all whilst reinstating the true ruler…<\/p>\n

By the time the scattered family were reunited in England, the country endured a new kind of assault, as a charismatic priest was manipulated by his scurrilous scholar attendants\/business managers to foment a religious revolution. After cleverly ending that near-insurrection, Val rejoined his family at the site of a church under construction near the fens where he grew up. The lure of his sire\u2019s past beguiles Arn, who explored the boggy waterways and was soon hopelessly lost. Over tense weeks, he experienced the same privations his father had, before being rescued. Carrying huge wealth destined for Arthur\u2019s coffers, the family thankfully took ship for Camelot, unaware that greedy, ambitious eyes were watching…<\/p>\n

The illuminating wonders here resume with those eyes fatally blinking. Opportunistic fellow voyager Ethwald<\/em> abducts Arn by guile, holding him to ransom for treasure Valiant safeguards for the king. Ethwald fears the knight\u2019s prowess but is certain a father will do nothing to endanger his heir. He grievously underestimates the deadly wiles of outraged mother Aleta…<\/p>\n

The majority of this two-year tome deals with the anticipation and results of a mass invasion by Angles and Saxons, but the slowly-building saga is built of many shorter episodes – adventures both tragic and even broadly comedic – in its ever-expanding tapestry. After returning to Camelot, the family are feted until Valiant is again called to defend the realm. Arn meanwhile, steadily advances from Page to Novice and begins official combat training. Soon he is made Batchelor-at-Arms and, when the vassal king of Wales dies, is drawn into war. The former Prince Cidwic<\/em> hungers for fame, glory and riches, and – deploying his fierce Welshmen and a mercenary Pictish & Caledonian warband – besieges Carlisle in an attempt to annexe Scottish territories. The city is defended by a small contingent of cavalry and engineers led by Sir Kay<\/em>, but as Arthur readies a rescue fleet to aid them, Valiant forms and leads a unit of swift-riding messengers from the Novices & Batchelors<\/em> to keep lines of communication open. His youngest recruit is Arn\u2026<\/p>\n

When Cidwic regroups and fortifies his position, the boy plays a crucial role in supporting Kay\u2019s forces and in the would-be conqueror\u2019s eventual downfall. As diplomacy and reconciliation take over, Arthur rewards the boy with more responsibility: befriending new King Cuddock<\/em>, Cidwic\u2019s 12-year old son. As they bond and duty grows into true friendship, the king\u2019s uncle Ruddah<\/em> seeks to frame Arn for murdering the boy king, and learns to his eternal regret that youth does not equate to stupidity…<\/p>\n

Plot foiled, Valiant & Arn make their slow way back to Court, partaking of many local jousts and tourneys that filled the autumn season and served to keep fighting men in peak form. As they compete, they encounter two impoverished, less than noble knights whose response to defeat leaves much to be desired and exposes the sordid underbelly of professional jousting. On reaching Camelot, a joyous family reunion almost ends in shame and bloodshed when cunning schemer Modred<\/em> attempts to traduce Aleta\u2019s honour and reputation by trapping her and Launcelot<\/em> in a compromising situation. His vile scheme exposed, the villain flees and encounters a Saxon war party infiltrating the region around the Vale of the White Horse. The long dreaded war with the invaders is starting…<\/p>\n

War-wise Arthur deems them to be scouting the land and sends his best men to observe them, with Arn and other knights-in-training as messengers. Sadly, Owen<\/em> is still starry-eyed and vainglorious, and his inexperience leads to Arn\u2019s capture. Thankfully, the prisoner is sharp-witted and well-disguised: convincing the Saxons he is a son of infamous pirate Boltar, while turning his situation to Britain\u2019s advantage by memorising the plans of the vast invasion force marshalling overseas. Of course, his actions suggest to the keenly watching rescue party that the son of Valiant has turned traitor… before the boy orchestrates his escape and reports back to Arthur…<\/p>\n

Although moving to a war footing, life at Court continues largely as before and prompts a personal crisis when a grand tournament intended to hone the fighting spirit of the nation\u2019s champions sparks intrigue, and murder.. Visiting his kinsman Launcelot, Count Brecey of Brittany<\/em> finds Aleta most pleasing and determines to make her his. That she is a queen with four children he can profitably marry off when he marries her is a huge additional benefit. Accustomed to taking whatever he wants, the overprivileged coward operates through his personal assassin Hugo<\/em>, but that deadly wight proves no match for Valiant and his mighty warhorse Arvak<\/em>, and as a web of sinister schemes unravels, Brecey abducts Aleta and runs for the coast. Thanks to the efforts of his victim and her hotly-pursuing spouse and first son, the Count doesn\u2019t get far and – when caught – compounds his villainy with the worst kind of cowardice…<\/p>\n

As summer approaches, Arthur\u2019s preparations intensify, and the entire Court awaits news of a vast fleet of Angles, Jutes, Danes and Saxons. Tensions mount as word comes of established colonies, previously defeated by and sworn to Arthur, recant their oaths of allegiance and pick up the swords they had abandoned for peace and acceptance. The lure of imminent plunder is everywhere and the King is forced to remind is noble subjects of their promises to supply fighting men when the nation needs them. Valiant & Gawain<\/em> are despatched to Cornwall where three local kings are at war with each other and \u201cunable\u201d to honour their word, whilst Arn travels to North Wales where his friend Cuddock<\/em> is genuinely embattled, plagued by raids of marauding Scotti. As he will soon discover, the raiders are sponsored by the Saxon overlord as a distracting diversion…<\/p>\n

Although one Cornish ruler is steadfast and readily provides promised forces for the army, weak, ambitious, greedy Kings Grundemede<\/em> and Alrick-the-Fat<\/em> need a sharp lesson in realpolitik and practical conjuring (learned long ago when young Valiant was attached to the wizard Merlin<\/em>) before they grudgingly comply. Their missions successful, both the Cornish and Welsh embassages return with their new reinforcements to Camelot to make final preparations for the encroaching Saxon invasion. Thanks to Arn\u2019s prior intelligence, the warlord\u2019s colonising raiders head for Badon Hill, the ideal site for Arthur\u2019s stout defence…<\/p>\n

This astounding clash takes seven weeks to tell, but at the end England is barred to them for generations and the victorious armies return to their own lands. Switching from epic action to wry romantic comedy, Foster then plays with his stars as Aleta and the visiting queen of Alrick-the-Fat indulge in combat matchmaking; each seeking to wed heroic Sir Charles of Cornwall<\/em> to their respective noblewoman prot\u00e9g\u00e9s. However, their escalating wiles and schemes make a catastrophic impression on Aleta\u2019s twins Karen <\/em>& Valeta<\/em>, who apply what they\u2019ve seen to their own relentless pursuit of boy-king Cuddock, recuperating from nobly-earned wounds and far too naive to endure being the subject of the girls\u2019 first crush…<\/p>\n

Employing the clever conceit of lost historical scrolls, the narrative jumps forward some months before resuming with Valiant\u2019s entire family en route<\/em> to ancestral homeland Thule with bombastic brigand Boltar. That voyage is interrupted by news of marauders assembled by Skogul Oderson<\/em>, who has united numerous warring tribes into a formidable force to ravage Thule. As the year ends, the far northern chieftain is spectacularly beaten, never counting on Valiant and wilderness scout Garm<\/em> organising scattered self-serving homesteaders into a lethally effective guerrilla force to slowly whittle away the raider\u2019s numerical advantage through guile, lethally inventive use of terrain and psychological warfare. The final instalment here presages even greater adventure as Boltar\u2019s son and Arn discuss a return to the lost continent they had visited: a land latterly dubbed \u201cthe New World.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Be Continued\u2026<\/p>\n

A mind-blowing panorama of passion and visual precision, Prince Valiant<\/strong> is a potent procession of boisterous action, exotic adventure and grand romance; blending tremendous epic fantasy with dry wit and broad humour, soap opera melodrama with dark violence. Lush, lavish and captivating lovely, it is an true landmark of comics fiction which no fan can miss.
\nAll comics \u00a9 2015 King Features Syndicate. All other content and properties \u00a9 2016 their respective creators or holders. This edition \u00a9 2016 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1921 cartoonist and King Features editor Bill Yates<\/strong> (Professor Phumble<\/em>) was born, followed in 1933 by uber enthusiast Shel Dorf<\/strong> (who founded the San Diego Comics Convention) and in 1945 French creator Fran\u00e7ois Bourgeon<\/strong> (Les passagers du vent<\/em>, Cyann Saga<\/em>, Les Compagnons du cr\u00e9puscule<\/em>). In 1945; cartoonist supreme Bill Watterson<\/strong> (Calvin and Hobbes<\/strong>) in 1958; British writer Ian Edgington<\/strong> (Scarlet Traces<\/strong>, X-Men<\/strong>, Predator<\/strong>, The Red Seas<\/strong>, Aliens<\/strong>) in 1963 and mangaka Ken Akamatsu<\/strong> (Love Hina<\/em>) in 1968.<\/p>\n

In 2004 this date, Tim Rickard<\/strong>\u2019s comic strip Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!<\/strong> first launched, but we lost astounding master Frank Bellamy<\/strong> (Fraser of Africa<\/strong>, Dan Dare<\/strong>, Thunderbirds<\/strong>, Garth<\/strong>) in 1976, Belgian Paul Cuvelier<\/strong> (Corentin<\/em><\/strong>, Line<\/em>, Epoxy<\/em><\/strong>) in 1978 and manga artist Shinji Wada<\/strong> (Waga Tomo Frankenstein<\/em>, Sukeban Deka<\/em><\/strong>, Ninja Hish?<\/em><\/strong>) in 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-60699-970-7 (HB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur premiered on Sunday February 13th 1937: a fabulous rainbow coloured weekly peek into a world where history met myth to produce something greater than both. Pioneering creator Hal Foster … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Hal Foster\u2019s Prince Valiant volume 14: 1963-1964”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,78,102,122,125,396,242,195,148,111,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-comic-strip-classics","category-fantasy","category-historical","category-humour","category-monsters","category-pirates","category-prince-valiant","category-romance","category-satirepolitics","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9ks","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35866,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35864\/revisions\/35866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}