Showing posts with label Prince Valiant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prince Valiant. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Looking for a Lost Child

If you are a member of Prince Valiant's family, then you are going to be frequently placed in danger. In fact, in the case of Valiant's third son (and fifth kid overall), that danger will begin pretty much the instance you are born. 


This is part of a Prince Valiant story arc that ran through late 1983 and early 1984. John Cullen Murphy was the artist by this point, with scripts being provided by his son Cullen Murphy. Hal Foster created the strip in 1937 and, after handing the strip to Murphy in 1971, still continued to provide pencil sketches and scripts throughout the 1970s. Foster is justifiably considered a master (arguably THE MASTER) of the art form, but I'll be darned if I can find a drop in quality in the strip during the Murphy years.


Anyway, it was in 1983 that Val's wife Aleta gives birth to another son, who is promptly stolen in a plot instigated by the Byzantium emperor Justinian, who had become the Valiant family's enemy.


Val's oldest son Arn--by now a young adult--ends up trying to track down the boy. This takes him to what is now Turkey, where he learns that the boy had been given to a family living along the frontier of the Byzantium Empire. Arn soon ends up traveling with a Rabbi named Ezekiel. Because of persecution, there aren't currently many active Rabbis in the Jewish community. So Ezekiel travels from village to village, visiting each one along his route perhaps once a year. He's able to help Arn ask about the missing child in each village they visit.


But things get dangerous--and tragic. Justinian knows Arn is searching for the boy, but his minions don't know exactly where the child ended up either. Troops search for Arn, but he keeps dodging them. So a back-up plan is put into effect. All the young children in the area are to be slaughtered.



The above panel is one of the most heartbreaking ever to appear in a Sunday Comics page. The children in a village that Arn had just left are killed. Thanatops (Justinian's thug-in-chief) pauses here, letting rumor and fear do the job of flushing out the baby they are actually looking for.



Arn soon finds his young brother, who is being raised by a Jewish couple named Matthias and Judith. They've named him Nathan and love him as their own.


Frightened villagers have tracked down the boy as well and Thanatops is close behind them. The troops attack, ruthlessly cutting down any Jews they encounter. Ezekiel is mortally wounded. Arn and his baby brother seemed doomed.



In this brief summary, I'm not really doing justice to how awesome a character is Ezekiel. Learned, wise, compassionate and faithful to God, the story arc brings him quickly to life, makes us like him and leaves us devastated when he's killed. I hadn't read this particular story arc prior to it's recent reprinting, but he instantly became one of my favorite fictional characters ever. 


If I have one criticism here, it's that Arn and Nathan's rescue is something of a deus ex machina. Persian invaders show up (without any foreshadowing) to kill Thanatops and scatter his troops. 


After that, though, the story gets back on track. It's mentioned that the Jewish community in the area is better treated by their new rulers and Arn is able to deliver Ezekiel's Talmud to Babylon. It turns out that the rabbi is one of the chief scholars behind compiling the Babylonian Talmud, which would a key component in Jewish religious thought for centuries to come. 


Arn then takes Nathan back to his parents in Camelot. But what about Matthias and Judith? They've raised Nathan and consider him their son. 


What follows is another favorite fictional moments. The Jewish couple accompanies Arn and Nathan to Camelot. Judith and Aleta stare daggers at each other at first and Aleta insists on calling the baby Egil--his original intended name. But "Egil" is just a meaningless sound to the child and he cries whenever Aleta holds him. It's not until she starts calling him Nathan that he begins to bond with her.



The sequence literally drips with a sense of real humanity and emotion. Aleta and Judith bond as well, with the Jewish couple becoming a part of the Valiant household. Aleta has her son back and the heartbreak of Judith is lessoned when she can still be a part of Nathan's life. This part of the story unfolds naturally and seems real, without a hint of deus ex machina. It's really a wonderful bit of storytelling. It's a great example of how good Prince Valiant remained even after it's creator retired. 


Next week, we'll board an LST off the coast of the Philippians in 1944. 

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Stolen Relics, A Quest and an Ally who is a Kind of Dumb

 One might have justifiable presumed that when Hal Foster retired from producing Prince Valiant, that it was the end of an era. Foster's art was literally breathtaking. His plots and characters melded with that art to bring us an epic saga set not just in Arthurian England, but taking Valiant and other characters to many far-flung lands, including America.


But when John Cullen Murphy stepped up to the plate beginning in 1970, he hit it out of the park (with Foster sending him layouts and scripts through 1979. Though Murphy was an experienced and talented illustrator in his own right, his willingness to emulate Foster's work gave the strip an important continuity of style. Without missing a beat in terms of quality, Prince Valiant continued his adventure. A story arc that ran from March to July in 1977, for instance, is typical of the strip's continued excellence.

A ship approaching the Misty Isles is attacked by pirates, but defended by a knight named Gunther, who is badly wounded in the process. Naturally, Val, Aleta and their family take the young knight in. They find out that his family history is a fractious one. His father was a king. Gunther's oldest brother assassinated both the father and another brother before himself being killed. His five co-conspirators robbed the local cathedral of holy relics and made a run for it.

Gunther is pursuing the thieves, determined to bring them to justice and recover the relics. Aleta urges Val to help out the young knight.

So together they travel to Alexandria. Here we begin to realize that Gunther tends to act without thinking. In fact, though he is brave and skilled in a fight, he doesn't have a lick of common sense. When he, by chance, sees one of the thieves, he kills the guy before they can get any information out of him.




Val, on the other hand, is taking more considered action, employing intelligent detective work and discovering that the remaining four thieves are on their way to Jerusalem to sell the relics. Gunther is all for pursuing them across the desert, but Val convinces the dolt that they should take a ship up the coast and ride to Jerusalem from Jaffa. This will get them to the Holy City ahead of the thieves.

Along the way, they help a girl named Zara escape from a desert raider. This is fortuitous, as Zara is the daughter of a sheik, which gives them an ally and a base of operations in Jerusalem. 

Gunther is wounded yet again, this time in a fight with the desert raider who is still out to get Zara. Zara nurses him back to health and he mistakes her attentions for love. He's now convinced he's found a wife, though her high spirits will, of course, have to be toned down. He's also completely oblivious to the fact that she's overtly in love with someone else. 


In the meantime, Val finds out where the thieves are staying and is looking for an opportunity to nab them and get the relics back. Once again, Gunther jumps into the situation without thinking, though through his undeniable bravery and a lot of luck, he comes out alive and with the relics (muddy and battered though they now are) back in his possession.



The story arc comes to a fun conclusion when the sheik denies Gunther permission to marry Zara and Gunther, storming out of the sheik's head, is immediately distracted from his heartbreak when he sees a pretty Saxon girl walking by.

The story is great fun. Gunther, as a character, can be a bit of a dense jerk, but he fits into the tale perfectly in that role, with the "he hasn't learned a thing" ending being both appropriate and funny.

Hal Foster was one of the best things that ever happened to the American comic strip, but John Cullen Murphy still managed to fill his shoes quite nicely.

That's it for now. Next week, we'll look at the next story in our examination of Animal Comics

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Friendship, Betrayal and Outright Aggression


Hal Foster was such a magnificent illustrator that I think sometimes fans of his work often come close to forgetting that he was a brilliant and sophisticated writer as well.

A story arc beginning in June 1955 provides us with a great example of his skill as an artist AND writer. Valiant, his wife Aleta, his three children (young Arn and the toddler twin girls), along with Sir Gawain and two boatloads of Northmen, have ended up in Kiev after a series of adventures. Now its time to head home, something that will require a trip up the Dnieper.



The story of this river journey can be divided into four chapters--with the last chapter involving a lengthy flashback as Valiant, while recovering from wounds, recounts some of his early adventures to his kids. The first three chapters, though, each involves an encounter with a different people group. Each of these people groups reacts in a different way to Valiant's expedition, giving each little mini-adventure its own flavor and maintaining a high level of excitement from beginning to end.

The trip actually begins on a grim note: food supplies begin to run low and Valiant injures his leg while hunting an auroch. It's while he's lying helpless near the dead beast that a couple of local tribesmen appear and seem determined to finish him off. Some of Valiant's men arrive in time to capture the tribesmen before they do any harm.

Despite this rather shaky start to friendship, Valiant manages to cut a deal with the tribesmen. They'll get metal arrowheads in exchange for bringing meat. This provides boat crews with the food they need.

The next crisis comes soon after that. The boats arrive at the Great Portage, where the river becomes un-navigable for a time and the longboats must the hauled across the ground.




By this point, the expedition has arrived in the territory of another tribe. Valiant cuts a deal with them, paying them a fair price for helping to portage the boats.


It takes some back-breaking work, with the locals and the Northmen all working together, to get one boat across the portage. Then the new, young leader of the tribe decides that Valiant's willingness to pay well is a sign of weakness. He demands double pay, determined to back this up by placing some armed men nearby.




This is not a good idea. To quote the strip itself: "Prince Valiant's motto is, treat everyone fairly, but do not depend on fairness in return." In other words, Valiant has armed men in place watching the armed men who are watching him.

The new, young leader never does get any older. Having lost the confidence of his people, he happens to suffer a tragic "accident" one night soon after his failure to renegotiate. From that point on, the tribe and the Northmen are again able to work together and finish portaging the boats.





The boats continue north along the river. By now, Val's leg has largely healed, so he is leading a scouting patrol along the river's edge when they encounter a band of Swedes. There's no chance for friendship or negotiation this time--the Swedes want Valiant's stuff and simply attack.

Outnumbered, Valiant sends one man running back to the boats for reinforcements. He and his patrol hold the line for a few moments, then break and run. The Swedes pursue--but Val was expecting this. When the Swedes are strong out along the trail, he turns suddenly back upon them.


In the ensuing melee, Val is wounded. Gawain and more men arrive to save his bacon, which leads to the aforementioned flashback sequence. By this point, Prince Valiant had been running for nearly twenty years, so its not surprising that Foster decided to recap some early adventures.

By the time Val is on his feet again, the boats have reached the Baltic Sea, bringing the river journey to an end.

It's a wonderful adventure, containing many sharp character moments involving Val and his family on top of the inherent excitement. The art work is magnificent, of course, but it is interesting to note just how well-written and multi-layered the story is. There are times when--in my mind--Prince Valiant comes very close to surpassing Terry and the Pirates as the best adventure strip ever. Like Milt Caniff, Hal Foster wrote as well as he drew and created a perfect synergy between plot and imagery.

Next week, we'll visit an Old West classroom and listen to Hopalong Cassidy teach us how to be a good sheriff.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

DO NOT mess with the nanny!


You see that wild-eyed young lady up there? That's Tillicum, an Indian lass who (through a series of odd adventures) ended up in King Arthur's England, helping take care of Prince Valiant's first-born son Arn.

The guy she's trying to knife to death is Boltar, a Viking warrior and her future husband. You do NOT mess with Tillicum. Even if she's in love with you, it's not a good idea.

And if you mess with one of her loved ones--well, there are easier ways of committing suicide.

Tillicum's Crowning Moment of Awesome is in a story arc from late 1952. By this time, she and Boltar are married and they've been allowed to bring Arn home with them for a visit. But the little scamp manages to wander off on his own, where he gets kidnapped by a band of villains.


She soon realizes that Arn is missing. Here, her considerable skills as a tracker come into play. Subtle clues (a crushed blade of grass--a torn spider web--a brook with the mud stirred up) soon tell her what happened and put her on the trail of the kidnappers.

But there was no time to return to her husband for help. Tillicum is on her own.


Which actually isn't a problem for her. Knowing Boltar will be searching for her soon, she leaves a clear trail behind her while closing in on Arn and the bad guys. When she catches up to them, she sneaks into the camp at night to free the boy.

You'd think that would be enough to satisfy her, but remember that you simply do not mess with anyone that Tillicum cares about.

While escaping from the camp, she deliberately leaves a trail that the kidnappers can follow while she doubles back along the route Boltar will be traveling. When they catch up to her, she empties a saddle with her a well-placed arrow. Boltar arrives in time to take out another villain with a thrown axe.



The story arc is a short one--running just five Sundays. But it is truly epic. Hal Foster was a magnificent storyteller, combining perfect art with well-written narration and characters who can only be described as glorious. Regular readers of the strip would have already come to love Tillicum in earlier appearances for her bravery, loyalty and intelligence. Her tempestuous courtship with Boltar had been touching, funny and oddly believable. And here her own short but dazzling adventure cements her place as one of the most memorable supporting characters in Prince Valiant's long run.


Thursday, October 18, 2012

Boy--True Love is a lot of work!

Okay, I realize that in real life, a good husband puts a lot of honest and hard work into a marriage. He’s got to treat his wife with unfailing respect and kindness and faithfulness and make awesome efforts to keep the marriage relationship healthy. That does indeed take work. I know I’m a life-long bachelor, but I get that. I really do.

But by golly, fictional heroes really have it tough. Because they don’t just have to remember anniversaries and make googily eyes at his wife from time to time. He’s got to rescue her from horrible death on a regular basis.

And THAT takes work. And determination.

Take Prince Valiant, for example. It was in 1945—about nine years into the strip—that writer/artist Hal Foster finally got around to telling us how Valiant met Aleta, Queen of the Misty Isles and fell in love with her.

It was an interesting process. Valiant actually spends quite a long time convinced Aleta is a evil sorceress and murderess, holding her prisoner while he traveled across a nearly lifeless desert. But a blow to the head and a bout with malaria does wonders, allowing Val to realize he loves Aleta. They seemed destined to live happily ever after.

Until a local despot named Donardo has his men attack Val, take his famous “Singing Sword,” and toss him over a cliff. Donardo then takes Aleta as a captive back to his city.



So Val—unarmed except for a makeshift spear—must pursue Donardo on foot.  This amuses the evil king, so he sends one of his men back to kill Val with his own sword.

This doesn’t work out.



Well, Donardo’s not worried. He’ll just send two men this time. There’s no way Val can survive that.

This doesn’t work out.



Okay, Donardo really means business now. He’ll send four men back to take out Val. There’s no possible way in heaven or on earth that Prince Valiant can possibly live through the day now.

This doesn’t work out.



Donardo, now a bit unhappy, reaches his city. At least he now has his pretty prisoner safe behind heavily guarded walls. Valiant may be hard to kill, but there’s nothing he can do to rescue Aleta.

Nothing, that is, except raise an army, besiege the city, breach the walls, kill Donardo in single combat and reunite himself with his one true love.



So I know that in real life relationships are hard. But, for gosh sakes, at least all you real life husbands don’t have to fight duels to the death and raze entire cities to the ground.


So all you married guys should consider yourselves very lucky.


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Don't Mess with Prince Valiant

Here's a couple of panels from the Prince Valiant comic strip that ran on March 28, 1943. A fake monk has just tried to back-stab Val with the intention of robbing his corpse.


I

It's just not a good idea to mess with Prince Valiant.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

DId Hal Foster read the Phantom, I wonder?

The Phantom was created in 1936 by writer Lee Falk, with Ray Moore doing the art work. As I mentioned in a previous post, he has one of the coolest origin stories ever. His ancestor was the sole survivor of a pirate attack and swore to fight piracy and uphold justice.


Over the years, the mantle of the Phantom is passed from father to son. But only a few select people know that. The Phantom becomes known as "The Ghost Who Walks" and develops a legend of immortality that awes the good guys and really freaks out the bad guys.

The Phantom was a great strip, full of great imagery and swashbuckling storytelling.



While the Phantom was fighting villainy in modern times, artist Hal Foster was tossing Arthurian knight Prince Valiant up against various bad guys in 6th Century Europe (with occasional trips to the mid-East and Africa). It's an element from a story arc from 1942 that makes me think Foster might have been aware of the Phantom's back story.

Prince Valiant is sent out to inspect the remnants of Hadrian's Wall due to rumors that Viking warriors have joined up with the Picts and made plans to invade England.  Valiant reaches the wall and--despite the fact that the Romans abandoned England centuries ago--finds a Roman soldier steadfastly standing guard.

It turns out that the guy (named Julian) is a descendant of a wounded soldier left behind when the Romans pulled out. He recovered and since then, the job of sentry has been passed on from father to son.

Valiant goes on a scouting mission into Scotland, where he's caught by the Picts. He's tortured horribly before being rescued by his friend Sir Gawain.


Gawain gets Valiant back to the wall, but they're cornered by the villains. But then Julian walks out. We find out the Picts think he's immortal (just like, for instance, the Phantom) and they back off.


Julian mirrors the Phantom very closely in that regard. Of course, there's an excellent chance it's just a coincidence. But then again, maybe Foster was following the adventures of one of his competitors and borrowed an idea.

In either case, the whole Hadrian's wall sequence from Prince Valiant is (as is typical of Foster's work) breathtakingly beautiful to look at and a well-constructed story to boot. If Foster did borrow the idea of perceived immortality from Lee Falk, it was a harmless enough bit of shoplifting. The stories, main characters and visual styles of the two men are otherwise clearly unique in their own rights.

Besides--who knows? Maybe a few centuries after King Arthur's kingdom fell, it was a descendant of Julian who became the first Phantom.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...