Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3900 Sunday strips. Currently, the strip appears weekly in more than 300 American newspapers, according to its distributor, King Features Syndicate.
The story takers the reader from Valiant's young days as the son of the dethroned King of Thule to the Battle of Mount Badon and beyond. The strip started in the Tabloid section and by strip #16, the comic had gone to full page. Several other artists have taken up the strip after Hal Foster's retirement. The strip has been reprinted by King Features Syndicate into Volumes containing a year or so of the story. More recently, Fantagraphics Books reprinted Foster's entire run in fifty volumes, beginning the reprint in 1984 and completing it in 2004.
Characters and Story[]
Prince Valiant battles of a horde of Vikings
Valiant is the prince of Thule, a city from which his father was dethroned. He grew up in the marshes, and early in the story, befriends Gawain and Tristram. He seeks to impress Merlin and Arthur to achieve knighthood. He eventually meets his wife Aleta on a Mediterranean island, and goes to Africa and America to help his father.
Val's Family[]
Val eventually marries Aleta and they have five children: three sons (Arn, Galan, and Nathan) and two daughters (the twins, Karen and Valeta). Arn grew up to marry Maeve, the daughter of Mordred, and fathered Ingrid, Val and Aleta's first grandchild.
Animated Series[]
An animated version of the comic strip called The Legend of Prince Valiant aired on The Family Channel from 1991 to 1994 for a total run of 65 episodes.
Like the original comic strip, the series begins with the fall of Thule, the fictional kingdom that Prince Valiant is heir to. Valiant, his parents, and a group of survivors from the castle are exiled by the ruthless conqueror Cynan to a hostile marsh across the sea. The young prince, deeply saddened by this defeat and vengeful towards Cynan, attempts to make the best of his new life but craves some greater purpose. He finds this purpose when he has a series of dreams about a kingdom called Camelot, King Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table. Valiant becomes enraptured with Camelot's New Order, which is founded on the ideas that might does not make right and that truth, justice, honor and friendship should be the guiding forces in people's dealings with each other. Against the wishes of his father, Valiant leaves the exiles' settlement in search of Camelot so that he may serve King Arthur as a Knight of the Round Table.
During his quest, the prince meets two peasants who fall under the spell of his dream and join him. The first that he meets is Arn, a wandering peasant with great skills as a woodsman but who is ashamed of his class, illiteracy, and clumsiness. The second is Rowanne, the daughter of a blacksmith, who is feisty, unorthodox, and an expert with a bow and arrow. These three quickly become best friends and find Camelot together. But before they can become knights, they must undergo training, face off against various enemies, and do a bit more growing up.