The Official Prince Valiant Collection (Vol. 1)

A young prince rises through the ranks of King Arthur's Court. Thus begins the saga of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant. 

I'm not sure where I scored this over-sized collection of early newspaper comics. I think it might have come from a grab bag which is a pretty nice find if that's the case. Nearly 100 pages of story. 

That had to be how I came across this book. As a child, I loved the dynamic artwork of Prince Valiant. But the writing and lack of word bubbles bored me to tears. Prince Valiant was always the lead feature in my area's Sunday Funnies. Yet, there never was anything funny about it. Plus, with the story being continued week after week, if you missed anything, you were totally lost.

That's why I appreciate this collection. At least 3 stories are collected in their entirety here and there's a beginning of a fourth. Though the cover doesn't say it, this is supposed to be volume 1 of a continuing series. However, I don't think publisher Pioneer was in business long enough to produce other volumes. There is a small shining light of hope to all this as Pioneer did manage to release 18 issues and an annual of further Prince Valiant material. So I could continue the story if I ever felt like searching for the other 15 issues not covered by this edition.

This book does manage to collect the very first stories of Prince Valiant. Getting to read the character's origin story was really cool. It's set at a time where dinosaurs are dying off but there's just enough for folks to think they're dragons and monsters. The aspect of Prince Valiant not just being around in the days of King Arthur's Court but also as a full-fledged member of Camelot was new to me. The original full title of Hal Foster's series was Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur. However, by the 1980s when I first encountered the strip it was simply shortened to Prince Valiant.

A lot must be said of Hal Foster's work. Yet, I don't think it all could be put into words. There's an air of realism mixed with bravado in Foster's art. Every character looks modeled after a movie matinee idol. The scenery is given just as much loving eye to detail as the characters. And Foster's prose is a mix of Old English bard and 1930s pulp.

I enjoyed this read. I think I was finally old enough to enjoy it. Having a bunch of the strips in order helped too. Though the editing of them was a bit hap-hazard. Whomever was in charge of formatting this book did happen to number the panels, often of different shapes and sizes, from time to time. But I shouldn't have to find panel #3 right next to panel #8 of the next page over!

Swashbuckling action in the vein of Errol Flynn or in this case: Robert Wagner. Google it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Uncanny Origins #11

  Up until the publication of this issue in 1997-98, there were 3 people to carry the mantle of the Black Knight in the Marvel Universe. The first was Percival from King Arthur's Court, who bore a sword forged by Merlin that could only be defeated by one that wielded this sword’s counterpart. (OK, stop right there! Why create a powerful tool only to give it an equally powerful way to stop it? Seems stupid to me. Or is this like Batman having some kryptonite to keep Superman in check?)

Anyways, centuries later, a curse was bonded to the sword in which if anyone kills with it, even accidentally, it turns the killer evil. A biologist named Nathan Garrett becomes possessed by the blade and becomes the villainous Black Knight. But Garrett's reign of terror is short-lived and he is killed.

  Enter Dane Whitman, nephew of Garrett. He discovers that his uncle was the Black Knight but he decides to go on the path of good. Tell that to the Avengers as they still think this is the evil version of the Black Knight and mayhem ensues when Dane tries to save them from Magneto and later Kang.

  This all seems pretty straight forward, right? Well somebody forgot to post the memo to issue writer Glenn Herdling, because this was the most convoluted story that I have read in a long time. This book has flashbacks, flash forwards and even a flashback hiccup (that's when you flashback to someone else who then has a flashback in their flashback. Confusing, ain't it?) Another issue is that because of this excessive jumping around in the Marvel timeline, some potholes are left wide open and seemingly forgotten. Only I didn't forget!  (This is also another one of those times where a bibliography would've come in handy, as I have little idea where most of this takes place and I'd like some closure!)

   Along with the plot, the art wasn't all that great either. Dane doesn't look the same one panel to the next. Proportions of characters were all wrong and it looked like someone was trying to copy Rob Liefeld a bit too much.

  This was such a disappointment. I really like the character of the Black Knight- good or bad. But they just don't do him justice. And that my friends is a true crime!

Not Worth Consuming.

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.

   

Fables, Volume 20: Camelot

Somewhere around issue 60, the character of Bigby was temporarily written out of the series. I felt that minus the Big Bag Wolf, the series suffered considerably. Well, Bigby’s gone again and I just wasn’t so enthralled by this otherwise great series.

Not having the character of Bigby in Fables is like an episode of Walking Dead without Daryl or a James Bond movie without 007. Something’s missing to the chemical makeup of the cast. In this case, it’s the mundane embodiment of the Three Little Pig’s arch enemy.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like Fables and even without the Wolf, this is still one of the best current series being published today. It’s just that instead of tearing through this book in a day or so, I would only pick this volume up from time to time to read. That’s how much I think of Bigby Wolf and it speaks volumes as to how droll the series can be without him. Something in these residents of Fabletown is missing. I’ve read several issues in a row where Bigby didn’t appear in the series. Yet, the characters were engrossing in their adventures. Without the Wolf, it’s like the wind’s been removed for everybody’s sails.

In this volume, the concept of Hope’s chosen vessel, Rose Red, has been inspired to revive King Arthur’s Camelot. The premise behind this series was that these characters are the living breathing versions of their fairy tale counterparts. With this new Camelot, each major player is now embodying both their make believe selves but figures in the Arthurian legend as well. For example, since Rose is running the thing, she’s Arthur! I’ll let you figure out who's her Guinevere, Merlin, Mordred, and Morgan LeFay. But I will say some of these placements are shocking.

I can’t wait to see where this series is going. Mostly because it’s hinted that Bigby will return. Just that little glimmer of hope has me eagerly anticipating the next volume.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.