Prince Valiant, Vol. 3: 1941-1942 (PRINCE VALIANT HC)

Brings back old memories from childhood. Grand kids learn to love history. Thanks.

If you read any comics from the Golden Age of the 1940s, two things are generally true: The stories were pretty bad and the art was worse. That was certainly true of Superman, Batman, and some of the other fondly remembered super heroes. Even the best of the comic books, the Simon and Kirby issues of Captain America or Mac Raboy's Green Lama, are none too good. Hal Foster's Prince Valiant stands head and shoulders above the competition. His closest rival might be Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. While Raymond's art was impressive, the stories were often pretty weak. By contrast, Foster's art is extraordinary and his stories are actually quite good. I know next to nothing about art, but even I can recognize how good Foster was. The care Foster put into drawing these panels is really quite amazing. The level of detail in many of the panels blows me away. I found myself reading this book very slowly, because so many of the pages really need to be savored.Foster's stories were also able to hold my interest. Given that each page had to be a self-contained unit, he had a much harder task than comic book writers who typically had 8-12 pages to tell their story, so a weak page now and then was not generally a problem. There are no weak pages in this book, which contains the 104 Sunday strips that appeared during 1941 and 1942. Now I don't want to go overboard; we are not dealing here with Moby Dick. There are places where Foster relies on coincidence or implausible plot twists, but by and large his story lines are well done and quite entertaining.Fantagraphics's has done a terrific job with this book. Although these strips have been reprinted before, this is the first time that the original printer's proofs were used. Fantagraphics obtained access to Foster's own collection of the proofs, housed at Syracuse University. This volume also has an informative foreword by Dan Nadel and an interesting afterword on how a few of Foster's panels were censored for various reasons.In short, if you have any interest in comics or great storytelling in graphic form, you need to buy this book.

About 40 years ago, my father get two Nostalgia Press books of Prince Valiant. I loved the strip, but the binding was terrible, and they only had about 3-4 years worth of strips. I've been looking for extend the collection every since, but reprints were all terrible and often B&W and abridged. When Fantagraphics reprinted the entire run about a decade ago, I got some, but they were hard to find and were paperback.These new books are literally something I've been looking for for my entire life.These new books have vinyl covers, which are a little cheap, but much more durable than the paperbacks. More importantly, the comics are beautiful. The printing is a little larger than the old Nostalgia books, and the coloring is better. This was obviously a labor of love. Where I have over-laps, I've compared the coloring and printing. The Nostalgia books better reflect the words in the story and often color in scenes that were all blocked in one color in the older book.I bought the first one for $80 and was immediately ready to shell out that much for each. To find them for only $14 was an added bonus.If you already love Prince Valiant, buy them without hesitation.If you've read it in the newspaper but weren't impressed, buy it and you'll understand why it is considered such a classic -- the old Hal Foster stips were soooooo much better than the ones today.

This high quality hard cover series from Fantagraphics is superb. Two complete years (1941 and 1942) of Sunday strips are included. Prince Valiant is followed across the Mediterranean, the Near East, sub Saharan Africa, France, and Britain. Along the way we are introduced to two characters who will figure prominently in future adventures - Queen Aleta, his future wife and Boltar the viking. Foster is at the top of his game here.I've followed Prince Valiant's adventures before through the Nostalgia Press books of the 1970s and later the 50 volume Fantagraphics softcover series of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. That Prince Valiant can sustain so many reprintings over the years is a testament to the high quality of the art and storytelling. I think perfection has been achieved in the current series. The only complaint I have is that the releases are not coming fast enough.Some have noted that Foster is not consistent in his chronology. This volume is certainly a case in point. The period depicted seems to vary as the plot requires from the 5th century (just after the fall of Rome) to the 12th century (the Crusades). Foster is no doubt aware of all this. He's just not going to let it stand in the way of a good story.Included in this volume are several features about Foster and how some strips have been altered over the years. Interesting stuff.Highly recommended. If you have earlier reprintings now is the time to trade up. If you've never read Prince Valiant before start with volume 1 and work forward.

Wonderful to have this.One wishes, that Prince Valiant be made into a series of animated movies, including ALL of the original drawings, omitting nothing at all. It would possibly take at least twenty full length movies, but it would become a world wide hit with children, and many grown ups.Someone should write a driving, energetic theme song, select good actors for voices, and fill out the original drawings of Hal Foster by the required sequences to complete them into a movie. Just please do NOT change the story at all, and do not skip anything ! Start it with the first book and see what happens, what the response of the kids is.Excellent books !Another wish is to publish all the books sooner.Thanks, Fantagraphics !

Fantastic and beautifull

Terzo volume della saga, si presenta come sempre in un ottima edizione di ottima qualità.Irrinunciabile acquisto, non pùò mancare nella collezione degli appassionati.Come sempre, l'unico rammarico è per la cadenza semestrale, che obbliga ad attese troppo lunghe.Il problema più grave è rappresentato dai pacchi di Amazon, un vero terno al lotto a causa della pessima realizzazione: i volumi vengono spediti all'interno di scatole di cartone praticamente vuote, rimanendo così alla mercè degli urti causati dal trasporto. Io me lo sono fatto rispedire perchè al primo tentativo è arrivato danneggiato; la seconda volta è andata un po' meglio ma solo per un colpo di fortuna, visto che il pacco, come sempre, è stato realizzato con un incuria che ha dell'incredibile.Riepilogando:- 5 stelle per il libro- 5 stelle per l'assistenza Amazon- 0 (ZERO) stelle per l'imballo con il quale vengono spediti i libri!

Después deber de ver tanta valoración de 5 estrellas me esperaba más de esta edición. Varias páginas del volumen 1 tienen un color deficiente y en el resto de páginas de ese volumen y de este el color está sobresaturado debido al tamaño reducido de las páginas en comparación con las gigantescas hojas de periódico para las que estaba pensado ese color. En las páginas mejor coloreadas algunos colores son terribles como por ejemplo los verdes que aparecen con unas manchas amarillas inexplicables, también los azules. En cuanto a la línea negra del dibujo está muy mal reproducida, en ocasiones aparece difuminada en lugar de nítida y en otras directamente se pierde, recordemos que Foster en estas páginas lo que hacía sobre todo era dibujo con lo cual la línea negra es algo básico para apreciar su obra. Para colmo en alguna página del volumen 1 falta hasta el texto de alguna viñeta. Si seguimos dando a estas ediciones valoraciones de cinco estrellas los editores no se molestarán jamás en darnos buenas ediciones de los cómics clásicos sino solo correctas. Lo titulado, decepcionante.

Das Buch zeigt die Sonntagsseiten in ununterbrochener Reihenfolge,die von Hal Foster gezeichnet wurden.Die Größe des Buches kommt recht nahe an die Größe der Original "Sunday pages",sodaß die herrliche Darstellung der einzelnen Zeichnungen besonders deutlich wiedergegeben werden. Auch die Aufbereitung der Farben für diese Zeichnungen sind einmalig schön gelungen. Ich kenne keine vergleichbare Prinz Eisenherz Edition,die so gut ist.Natürlich bin ich ein großer Bewunderer von der künstlerischen Arbeit von Hal Foster,von seinen fantastischen Zeichnungen, aber auch von seiner Prinz Eisenherz (Prince Valiant) Saga. Da stimmt einfach alles.Deshalb finde ich das Buch absolut empfehlenswert.

Ottimo prodotto: grande formato, stampa ineccepibile ed un prezzo secondo me non esagerato. Per gli amanti del Principe Valiant che come me, hanno letto queste avventure su edizioni modeste degli anni sessanta, questa è una vera e propria gioia per gli occhi.