The eleventh volume of Fantagraphics Prince Valiant covers the years of 1957 and 1958, so for the very first time I am reading strip by Hal Foster created in my own lifetime. The venerable strip is more than twenty years old and it has already told the classic tale of a hero who finds himself and then his love and now we follow along as we discover just what "happily ever after" exactly means. Well as we discover in this tome, happy is not something that just pops up and stays.
The tales here seem to be about identity. The volume begins with Valiant going undercover as it were as "Sir Quintas" to ferret out the misdeeds of an evil Cornish king named Och Synwyn. He's a proper villain so we might forgive Valiant pretending to be his loyal knight in the pursuit of a greater good, but Valiant feels he has behaved without honor, though he knows it was necessary. Ultimately it takes King Arthur and the Knight of the Round Table to impart some portion of their honor to Valiant to make him feel that his actions were acceptable.
Then Valiant discovers and makes his own the mighty red horse Arvak. It is a mighty struggle to tame the beast which has already killed one man who tried to tame it with cruel and vicious means. Valiant must even fight a duel for possession of the mighty beast, but in the end he has a mount worthy of his mettle. On his return to Thule, Valiant finds his family has grown, his twins Karen and Valeta have become mischievous young girls and Arn has become a young lad on the verge of becoming a page. the beautiful Aleta is anxious to see her beloved and their playful hijinks make for fun reading. Arn is then sent away in exchange, as was the custom, to the house Hap-Alta whose own son Sven becomes foster in the Valiant household at Vikingshold. Arn is best by Sven's sister Frytha who Sven dubbed the "Monster" for her constant pranks. She continues to prank Arn, though he does fight back in clever ways.
Valiant is then sent to the "Council of Kings" in his father's place when King Aguar is injured in a horse accident. Valiant anticipates and finds trouble and brings many warriors to help defend him after the meeting, but he ends up stranded and alone and must cross a deadly glacier to get to safety. He finds a forgotten den of loyal and deluded Romans must battle brutal warriors in the house of Sigurd Rolf, all the while keeping his true identity secret. Eventually he is found by his men and his mighty Singing Sword returned to him. Later still he is summoned to Camelot where pass some few happy days until Valiant is again charged with a mission warrior parties of Saxons and Danes. He takes along two young eager squires named Edwin and Claudius, the former proving to a headstrong young fellow who does in fact end up getting captured and killed. His death strikes Valiant hard and the great knight seeks a terrible vengeance, one so terrible that he in a fit throws the Singing Sword into the sea. But soon enough he finds it again in time wreak more damage to the enemy. Later he outwits the cruel tradesmen of London who are making profits on the backs of the people. In the court Queen Guinevere looks on the popular Aleta with some mote of jealousy but the twin terrors Karen and Valeta win her over with their hijinks.
The volume ends with Prince Valiant in search of a missing Sir Gawain and encountering a haggard Merlin at the ruins of an ancient Celtic temple and on Merlin's advice he assumes yet another disguise as a minstrel to enter Oswick Castle where he hopes to find his friend and mentor.
In these strips we see a Valiant who is beginning to feel the sting of time as he tutors younger warriors and a Valiant who has a fury which is difficult at times to check. Foster puts him in situations where he is alone and must struggle mightily to survive, and always his family waits for him to return, though Aleta does reflect that maybe eventually he won't return. The strip is by no means melancholy but the ebullience which warmed earlier times does seem to be flagging somewhat.
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