The summer of 1949 saw Prince Valiant becoming a tiny bit more domestic in his attitudes since his marraiage to Aleta and the birth of his son Arn in the New World. Having returned to Camelot at last after many many months abroad we see the baby Arn alongside the son of his namesake Prince Arn christened together by the archbishop no less.
There upon Valiant is given a mission along with Sir Gawain and a bumbling alchemist and magician named Oom Fooyat. They are to check up on a kingdom of Illwynde which is reputed to be haunted. They encounter a number of frightening visages and seeming magical creatures but discover that these are merely the women of Illwynde attempting to protect themselves and their lands since the deaths of their menfolk. Oom finds comfort with a lady dubbed Winnie the Witch and they wed.
Another of Valiant's comrades marries and it is the threat of impending wedlock which convinces Gawain that he'd be best to head back to Camelot with Valiant. Along the way the encounter a young boy who is desperate to be a knight named Geoffrey. They take him to Camelot where he becomes infatuated with and devoted to the lovely Aleta. Prince Valaint is then given the task of checking on Hadrian's Wall. The mission was at first an attempt by King Arthur to find chores for his energetic knights during peacetime, but Valiant and his men find that the wall has been breached and the Picts are invading the territory. With only two hundred men against thousands of Pictish warriors Valiant must use all his cunning to defend the wall and make the Picts think the force is mightier than it is. Ultimately they are successful but Valiant suffers a grave wound to his side and Aleta's timely arrival is crucial to the eventual victory. Valiant and Aleta decide that along with their retinue of Katwin and Arn's Native American nursemaid Tilicum along with Geoffery who has managed to get himself banished from Camelot for his reckless devotion for Aleta.
Boarding the ship of old friend and viking Boltar the family heads to Thule so that Valiant can recover. After a joust to protect Aleta's honor Valiant must partner with the knight Egil and another named Rufus Regan to go to Rome so that Thule might get proper teaching in the religion of Christianity. While they are on this mission a upstart prince attacks the fortress of Thule and again Aleta's understanding of her husband's uncanny tactics helps to save the day for all. Valiant and his band which also includes Geoffrey (now named Arf since his true identity has come to light) head to Rome by land so as to seek the greatest adventure and find it soon enough with robbers and even a remarkable encounter with a new invention which will some day be called "gunpowder". The volume closes out with band fighting inside the castle of Ruy Folke which has come under attack by a rival named Black Robert.
I thoroughly enjoyed these adventures. They had a wonderful momentum and no one story seemed to linger past the point of interest. The new characters came quickly and had real verve to them. The attitudes toward the supernatural were interesting to see as generally the strip has rejected the notion of real magic in favor of trickery, but there's a hint that real magic might be possible. This might be linked to the sudden interest in Christianity which shows up a few times in the stories.
Rip Off
No comments:
Post a Comment