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Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir
Volume 1
Brief Description
The first of a new six-volume series collecting the sketches and notes behind Hal Foster's creation of the Prince Valiant comic strip. In the works for several years, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir presents never-before-published Prince Valiant art by the strip's legendary creator,...
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Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir
$9499
Unit price
/
Unavailable
The first of a new six-volume series collecting the sketches and notes behind Hal Foster's creation of the Prince Valiant comic strip.
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Description
The first of a new six-volume series collecting the sketches and notes behind Hal Foster's creation of the Prince Valiant comic strip.
In the works for several years, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir presents never-before-published Prince Valiant art by the strip's legendary creator, Hal Foster, collected in a series of six annotated portfolio volumes. Part sketchbooks, part biography, part tutorial, part memoir—Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks is an unprecedented look into Foster's personal life and creative process during his final nine years on the strip. It's also a fascinating look behind the curtains as Foster coached and interacted with his chosen successor, John Cullen Murphy. Produced with the full permission and participation of the Foster and Murphy families, this series is a testament to author and Prince Valiant historian Brian M. Kane's research prowess and determination to bring Hal Foster's creative process to light. This uniquely intimate view of Foster's creative process is a long-awaited dream come true for Prince Valiant fans.
Over the course of these volumes, Kane annotates with painstaking clarity and thoroughness 366 penciled layout pages, 40 character sketches, and 577 text pages of Foster's descriptions and instructions for each panel. Also featured are an additional 143 pieces of art, mostly by Foster, 100 photographs detailing his life and career, and 123 personal letters and notes, all adding immeasurably to this exploration of Foster's life and art, as well as his collaboration with Murphy.
Full-colour illustrations throughout
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9798875001192
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 09 September 2025
Country: United States
Imprint: Fantagraphics
Illustration: 112 Illustrations
Contributors:
- Series edited by Brian M. Kane
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 267.0mm
Height: 363.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 112
Collections
About the Author
Hal Foster (1892-1982) created Prince Valiant in 1937. Though remaining involved with the strip until his death in 1982, Foster handed the bulk of the scripting and art chores over to his longtime assistant, John Cullen Murphy, in 1971.
Brian M. Kane is a comics historian and adjunct professor at Ohio State University. He edited 18 volumes of Fantagraphics' collection of the Prince Valiant strip, as well as The Prince Valiant Companion.
Also by Hal Foster
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Prince Valiant Vol. 30: 1995-1996
Premonitions of the future inform and confound Prince Valiant and his son Nathan. An earthquake rocks the Misty Isles. Val encounters danger among the Mayans in Guatemala. A druid civil war breaks out in Hibernia. Val arrives in Utopia and discovers a dark secret. Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vols. 19-21 Gift Box Set
Our series of special slipcased gift sets of the most visually opulent comic strip in the medium's history, based on the King Arthur mythos, continues with Vols. 19-21 (1973-1978). In Vol. 19, Prince Valiant is sent to defend the borders against invading barbarians, but it is young Arn who takes centre stage as he travels to his homeland and loses...Hardback$19099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 25: 1985-1986
As this latest collection begins, Val and Arn are in Lappland, where they get involved with two twin brothers' struggle over succession. Arn consults a mystical hermit about whether his destiny intertwines with Maeve's, the daughter of an arch-enemy. With the sinister Mordred in control of Camelot, Val and Aleta seek to raise an army; this goal requires Val to...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 27: 1989-1990
On a quest in the Asian lands of Cathay, Prince Valiant encounters a fire-breathing mechanical dragon and the legendary adventurer Prester John. Armies converge, mountains crumble, and a father and son are reunited. Mordred escapes imprisonment and treacherously stabs Arn, who learns that Maeve is soon to give birth. Val discovers a lost colony and wrestles with a tusked whale...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 28: 1991-1992
On a quest in the Asian lands of Cathay, Prince Valiant encounters a fire-breathing mechanical dragon and the legendary adventurer Prester John. Armies converge, mountains crumble, and a father and son are reunited. Mordred escapes imprisonment and treacherously stabs Arn, who learns that Maeve is soon to give birth. Val discovers a lost colony and wrestles with a tusked whale...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 29: 1993-1994
The wedding of Karen and Vanni! The adventures of three queens and a princess! Val and Sir Gawain in North Africa! A traitor in control of Aleta's Misty Isles! Siege on top of siege! Val's quest for the truth-compelling Shield of Achilles! Plus, Prince Valiant scholar and translator Dr. Uwe Baumann on Prince Valiant in the early 1990s. Universally acclaimed...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vols. 16-18 Gift Box Set
In Vol. 16, Arn goes berserk, and there are love triangles, slave rebellions, greedy governors, and more. In Vol. 17, Galan quests for a unicorn and King Arthur sends Val on a mission. In Vol. 18, Val must win back the queen of his heart, Aleta.Hardback$19099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 24: 1983-1984
In Volume 24 (1983-1984), a comedy of mistaken identities culminates in Val playing a game of life-or-death using live people as chess pieces. Arn's job as Arthur's Keeper of Parks involves defending against invading Saxons. Merlin gives Val a magic ring and a dire message for Arn. With all the other knights of the round table away from Camelot on...Hardback$6699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 26: 1987-1988
The most visually opulent comic strip in the history of the medium celebrates its 50th anniversary with the marriage of Prince Valiant's son. Val goes in search of a northern spice route, which leads him into adventures among the Balts, the Greeks, the Lapps, and the Chinese. A Trojan Horse deception in reverse nearly wipes out Val's expedition, and a...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 23: 1981-1982
Renowned painter and graphic novelist George Pratt (Batman, Sandman) introduces the volume. In these full-page, gorgeously illustrated newspaper strips, Prince Valiant Vol. 23: 1981-1982 follows Prince Valiant as he journeys from the upper regions of the Alps to the bowels of the Earth on an allegorical quest for humility. This involves the mysterious Wanderer, a curse on the kingdom, monstrous...Hardback$6699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 22: 1979-1980
Val, deprived of his Singing Sword, is enslaved in the Berber salt mines. A death watch has begun for the bedridden King Arthur, and the monarch's half-brother Mordred plots to usurp the throne. Aleta investigates a murder in Cornwall. This volume includes a tour of Prince Valiant's England by Vanity Fair and The Atlantic editor Cullen Murphy, John Cullen Murphy's...Hardback$6699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prince Valiant Vol. 21: 1977-1978
A scoundrel has ruled over the continent's troubadours for the past three years, introducing scum and villainy into their ranks. Arn and Court Jester Sir Dinadan travel to France to set things right, while Prince Valiant accompanies the headstrong Gunther of Germany on his quest to recover stolen holy relics and claim a wife in Jerusalem. The mercenary army of...Hardback$6699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
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