Prince Valiant, Vol. 12: The New World

Fantagraphics Books, 1991. Prince Valiant began in full color tabloid sections on Saturday February 13, 1937. The first full page was strip #16, which appeared in the Sunday New Orleans Times Picayune. The internal dating changed from Saturday to Sunday with strip #53. The full page strip continued until 1971 when strip #1188 was not offered in full page format—it was the last strip Hal Foster drew. The strip continues today by other artists in half page format. The setting is Arthurian. Valiant himself is a Nordic prince (from the faraway Thule—apparently located somewhere near the city Trondheim on the Norwegian west coast). Early in the story, Valiant comes to Camelot, becomes fast friends with Sir Gawain and Sir Tristran, earns the respect of King Arthur and Merlin, and becomes a Knight of the Round Table. Later, he meets the love of his life—Aleta—on a Mediterranean island. He fights the Huns with his magic Singing Sword, Flamberge, travels to Africa and to America, and helps his father regain his lost throne of Thule. The historical and mythological elements of Prince Valiant were initially chaotic, but soon Foster attempted to bring the facts into order. Some of the elements of the story (for instance, the death of Attila the Hun in 453, the murder of Aëtius in 454, though different from the historical version (Valiant and Gawain are blamed for the murder and must flee), and Geiseric's sacking of Rome in 455, which Prince Valiant and Aleta witness), place the story in the 5th century. Some slightly fantastic elements, like "marsh monsters" (a dinosaur-like creature) and witches, are present in the early years but are later downplayed (as are Merlin's and Morgan le Fay's use of magic), so that by 1942 the story is in most aspects a realistic one. Still, the storyline is far from being historically accurate; while obviously meant to take place in the mid 5th century, Foster continuously incorporated "out-of-era" features: Viking Longships, Muslims, alchemist and technical advances not made before the Renaissance, and the fortifications, armor and armament resemble the High Middle Ages. . Reprint. Soft Cover. Fine. Illus. by Color Illustrations.