“Yesterday’s” Comic> Prince Valiant Free Comic Book Day

Just another family gathering for Shadiversity and Jazza.

Prince Valiant: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition

Fantagraphics (April, 2013)

WRITER/ARTIST: Hal Foster

EDITOR: Kim Thompson

Prince Valiant is a long-running newspaper comic strip about a prince whose country was taken over by villains. He found a new home in Camelot, raised a family, and has had many adventures. This sampler features stories appearing in Prince Valiant: Volume 7 by Fantagraphics, collecting stories from 1949-1950.

The Homecoming

Valiant is returning home to Thule along with his wife Aleta and their son, Arn…and apparently their Native American nursemaid Tillicum. This is where I admit most of my Prince Valiant knowledge comes from the TV show as the Sunday comics with only a few panels were difficult to follow, and I use to read The Phantom in the newspapers just fine. I also don’t know about the Norse pirate Boltar, or who Arf is (just that I question his parents’ naming ideas), but it does feel strange that Valiant apparently has no trouble with Boltar doing a few raids. He isn’t even challenged until Tillicum is worried a raid will endanger Prince Arn and she rather easily tells him to knock that stuff off until they arrive home, where Valiant’s dad hears of his return and demands the castle cleaned properly for his son and daughter-in-law’s return. Sorry, Hal, I don’t buy that this was considered “business” back in those days. They’re stealing people’s stuff, even if they aren’t the killing and raping kind of Norse Viking pirates. It’s not a badly told story but I have concerns. It also makes me wonder what was in the missing panels the Grand Comic Database is missing from both stories.

The Challenge

The second story has the group leaving the tavern on the shores to return home and how has Tillicum, a Native American I remind you, not ridden a horse before? I’ve not heard of a tribe where the squwas weren’t allowed to ride horses…or that squwa was considered a racial and gender slur until just now (so where did the word come from?), but considering there’s a group of people who will be insulted on your behalf even when you’re not I question most things I read on the internet these days. My apologies if any Native American women reading this was insulted because I just learned that in real time with this article when I looked up the spelling. Now I need a second paragraph just for the summary. Nice going, me!

It’s a happy reunion with Valiant and his father, Aguar, as well as the kids meeting their grandfather. Val has been nursing an injury from a previous adventure in the previous story as well and it’s still bothering him here. Some young man makes a move on Aleta but is smart enough to back off before he regrets it given her response to the attempt. Arf however wants to fight for his queen and tries to deal with him, gets a whooping, and has to be rescued by Valiant. This results in a set duel, which both parties agree to themselves is rather foolish. Lucky Arf decides to undo his error by ending the fight with snow from the roof falling on the duelists, cooling their head off. The duel itself is presented well but so are the events that lead up to it. Valiant won’t even use his Singing Sword because he knows this is not a good thing but these are the old days and pride goeth before the fall. It doesn’t condone or condemn the whole affair but simply presents the events as they “happened” and lets the reader decide they’re idiots.

The comic ends on a cliffhanger in which a new religion has come to Thule and is winning people over, which doesn’t sit well in the ye old days.

Overall this is a really good selection. I don’t know what panels are missing and if they matter, or if that’s just this sampler or the actual collection. Hal Foster’s art is stunning and I’m happy to see future creators after his passing have continued something close to that style in modern comics. I see a lot of differences from The Legend Of Prince Valiant as far as the character of Valiant and of course that show started in Valiant’s early adventures as he sought King Arthur’s help in rescuing Thule from villains and to become a Knight Of The Round Table. It’s just interesting how different their personalities are but it’s a great introduction to this comic and much easier to read all at once.