John Cullen Murphy

Misleadingly titled, this is not the first adventures of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant. It may begin John Cullen Murphy's tenure with the strip, and a fine successor he was. The style of art and writing shows a marked studiousness of Foster, and in all this strip comes close to the quality of that legendary creator. These strips, which show a middle-aged Prince Val with a growing family (teen-age Arn and the flirtatious twins, the young scholar Galan and mischievous two-year-old Nathan), are lighter in tone and more humorous, well-drawn and have a fine sense of storytelling. Foster's "Prince Valiant" was a classic of comic strips; John Cullen Murphy's efforts are a worthy next-best.… (altro)