Hal Foster debuted his legendary Prince Valiant strip 75 years ago on Saturday, February 13, 1937. My mom was one year old. She was an early reader, but I doubt she was reading early enough for Prince Valiant's premiere. Foster wrote and drew Prince Valiant for many years before turning it over the art duties to John Cullen Murphy, who later had his son Cullen Murphy script. Now it's a collaboration between Mark Schultz and Gary Gianni. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm more of a Schultz fan than I am a fan of either Prince Valiant or Hal Foster.
Shocking, huh?
Schultz's Xenozoic Tales is one of my favorite books, one of the comics that got me reading them again after years of anti-comics snobbery. If I had one comic-related wish, it would be Schultz returning to the fabulous Xenozoic Era for a few more stories and a completion of his unfortunately truncated epic. In the meantime we have Schultz writing this classic comic strip. He's an amazing, award-winning artist in his own right and a solid storyteller in the classic mold. The perfect fit.
I'm not as familiar with Gianni's work, but what I've seen of it has been dazzling.
Their anniversary installment features a whole lot o' Valiant characters. I don't know who all these people are. There's a woman who looks kind of like Dani Moonstar, though. And Inigo Montoya.
Wow. I really need to start reading some Prince Valiant.
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