Prince Valiant, Vol. 45: The Mark of Cain

Prince Valiant (Paperback) #45

by Harold Foster, John Cullen Murphy

The greatest adventure epic since Beowulf continues in this perennial, full-color series. Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, with its thrilling continuities of a noble knight in the days of King Arthur, began in newspapers in 1937 and continues to this day. There had been continuity strips, and even strong elements of adventure, before Hal Foster started drawing comic strips, but approximately 35 years after the birth of the art form, it was Foster who introduced illustrative techniques and the sensibilities and standards of such illustrative greats as Howard Pyleto the comics page. Realistic depictions and sophisticated compositions had been curiously absent before him. He is still considered, twenty years after his death, to be comics' supreme classicist. Fantagraphics' deluxe, full-color library-quality editions of Prince Valiant were initially intended to end with 2000's Vol. 40, the final volume in which Foster was the chief architect of the strip's visual look. Due to overwhelming public demand, however, we are continuing the series, reprinting strips written and roughed-out by Foster and finished by Foster's prodigious assistant, John Cullen Murphy. Murphy, who had been quietly assisting Foster for several years, actively took over the bulk of the drawing chores in 1971 and immediately developed a fan following himself (although, for the most part, your average newspaper reader couldn't discern a difference between Foster and Cullen Murphy's styles). Each volume of Prince Valiant features close to a year's worth of full-page Sunday strips, in an oversized format showcasing the strip's spectacular artwork.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2002

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had he not replaced Hal Foster on PRINCE VALIANT, John Cullen Murphy would be one of the most respected artists of American comic strips. It is true that Murphy's "respected" is a come down from the exquisite Foster, but he was the master's own choice to replace him, Foster continued to write the feature and did layouts for a few years, so those morons who have nothing nice to say about Murphy should just shut-up for their ill-informed stupidity offends me. This volume is disappointing in that most of the stories are really just short vignette's without real power, blame Foster's writing, though the story that continues from the previous volume has good scope as does the ending. This is an almost wonderful book.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The incredible artwork of Hal Foster makes these a true treasure to read. Being able to go through a year's worth of the Sunday strips is fantastic. Awesome story and incredible art make these books get my highest recommendation.