Comics Kingdom | Prince Valiant by Mark Schultz and Thomas Yeates

Mark Schultz and Thomas Yeates

About

Exiled as a boy from his native land of Thule, Prince Valiant grew up in the vast fens of fifth century Britain before discovering his calling and destiny as a knight of King Arthur’s storied Round Table. As inquisitive and intelligent as he is handy with a sword, Val rights wrongs and adventures across both the known and unknown medieval world. Along the way, he finds and marries the love of his life, Aleta, Queen of the Misty Isles, and fathers a family of equally adventuresome offspring. All of whom test his patience and bruise his ego to one degree or other such are families in any era.

Created in 1937 by the immortal Hal Foster, Prince Valiant continues strong to this day as the pinnacle of comic strip adventure storytelling. Balanced between the excitement and danger of medieval knightly derring-do and the domestic complexities surrounding a high-spirited family, Val has little time for rest and his devoted readership would have it no other way.

As representatives of Camelot, Val, Aleta and the roguish ladies’ man, Sir Gawain, have seen adventures taking them throughout barbarian-plagued Europe; from the wilderness of Pictland to crumbling Rome and prospering Byzantium; from far Cathay to the unnamed Americas; from Ab’Saba in limitless Africa to Jerusalem and the sands of the Holy Land.

Equally adept with both his brains and brawn, Prince Valiant carries forth the ideals of Camelot as beacons of light and civilization in an often dark and violent age. As such, he remains an instantly identifiable and much beloved hero for generation after generation.

Characters

Prince Valiant

When King Aguar of Thule, ruler of what is now Norway, was driven from his throne by the usurper Sligon, the deposed monarch fled with his queen and 5-year-old son Prince Valiant to the wild fens of Britain. There Val waxed in wit and strength, became squire and friend to Sir Gawain and, through many feats of bravery, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. Through the medieval world of noble quests and derring-do, chivalry and tournaments, Prince Valiant has battled evil and injustice with the "Singing Sword", a blade twin to Arthur's legendary Excalibur, forged by the same wizard. Val later dedicated this great weapon to the cause of justice before the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. As the years have passed, Val's contentment has grown. Since he first beheld the beautiful Aleta, gray-eyed Queen of the Misty Isles, he has been under her spell. He has married his fair lady, sharing both joy and heartache. They now have five children, two of whom are themselves married, and one of whom the eldest, Prince Arn is also a father. Today Val remains a powerful knight and adviser to King Arthur, and a heroic father and grandfather.

Aleta

Aleta, Val's beautiful gray-eyed wife, is also the legendary Queen of the Misty Isles. Years before, Aleta cast a pleasant enchantment over the young Val, winning his heart forever. Intelligent, strong-willed, beautiful and courtly, Aleta has been an adored member of court and a heroic adventurer as well. She is Val's equal in every way.

Prince Arn, Maeve and Ingrid

Prince Arn is Prince Valiant and Aleta's first-born son. Worldly, adventurous and enthusiastic, Arn has more than earned his spurs, becoming almost as great an adventurer as his father. His beautiful wife, Maeve, is the also the daughter of Arthur's evil half-brother, Mordred. Ingrid is their daughter, and Val and Aleta's only grandchild.

Galan

Ill-adept at the pastimes of a warrior, Val's bookish son, Galan, seeks instead the life of a scholar.

Nathan

Val and Aleta's youngest son was kidnapped at birth by the Emperor Justinian. Nathan was saved, and returned to his parents, thanks to the heroic efforts of his brother, Arn.

Karen and Valeta

Val and Aleta's twins, Karen and Valeta, are alike in looks only. Karen is carefree and fun-loving while Valeta is serious and moody. Karen became an Amazon in her late teens and later married Vanni, the son of the legendary Prester John. Valeta shares an occasional courtship with Cormac, a Druid priest.

Cormac and Valeta

Sir Gawain

a rogue with the ladies, is Val’s most worthy, if feckless, companion.

King Arthur

Mordred

Arthur's evil half-brother

Authors

Mark Schultz

Mark Schultz has been cartooning and illustrating for more than 20 years. He is best known as the creator of the award-winning speculative adventure comic book, Xenozoic Tales, which has been adapted to television as the animated series, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.

The first Xenozoic adventure originally appeared in the eighth issue of Kitchen Sinks Press’ anthology magazine, Death Rattle. Reader and critical response was positive, leading Kitchen Sink to offer Mark his own book — and Xenozoic Tales premiered in February of 1987.

Mark is also widely recognized for co-creating and co-writing SubHuman, an underwater adventure series, for Dark Horse Comics, and for scripting DC Comics’ Superman, Man of Steel for a five-year span. He has also written and/or drawn many other popular fictional icons, including Flash Gordon, Tarzan, the Spirit, Star Wars, Aliens and Predator. Currently, he writes the Prince Valiantnewspaper comic strip.

As an illustrator, Mark has depicted the adventures ofRobert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria for the highly regarded Wandering Star/Del Rey editions of Howard’s works, and illustrated the autobiography of the famed painter of prehistoric life, Charles R. Knight.

He has written a DC Justice League novel, The Flash: Stop Motion, published by Pocket Books, and a science primer graphic novel titled The Stuff of Life: a Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA for Hill and Wang.

He is in the process of finishing the illustrations to his cautionary novella, Storms At Sea, for Flesk Publications.

Born in 1955 near Philadelphia, and raised outside Pittsburgh, Mark at age 6 discovered both comics (Dell Comics’ Tarzan, and DC Comics’ Superman, Metal Men and Hawkman), and, through television broadcasts, classic adventure films, in particular King Kong and the Tarzan series. The stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard further inspired him, as did the illustrators associated with them, especially Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta.

Upon graduating from Kutztown State University in 1977, Mark devoted his career to producing commercial illustration until 1986, when a long-repressed desire to tell stories prevailed, leading to his submission of an eight page Xenozoic introductory tale to Kitchen Sink Press. Publisher Denis Kitchen showed interest in the concept and the first Xenozoic adventure appeared in the eighth issue of the anthology magazine, Death Rattle,in November of 1986. The first issue of Xenozoic Tales followed in February of 1987.

Mark’s artwork is strongly influenced by his love for classic American illustration and its roots. Some of the artists he admires and studies include Winslow Homer, Frank Schoonover, N.C. Wyeth, Daniel Smith, Dean Cornwell, Herbert Morton Stoops, F. R. Gruger and Hugh Ferris. Mark’s principle influences from within the comics field include: Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Roy Crane, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood and Al Williamson.

He, his wife Denise and their two cats live in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. For relaxation, Mark hikes, travels, watches old movies and tries to keep current with developments in the biological and physical sciences.

Thomas Yeates

Thomas Yeates grew up in Sacramento, in northern California, where he was born in 1955. He attended college in Utah, Sacramento, and the Joe Kubert School in New Jersey.

Since then he has been working as an illustrator, focusing on high adventure in the comic book/graphic novel field. He has worked for most of the major companies in that field, including DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and Eclipse. He has illustrated Swamp Thing, Timespirits, Tarzan, Conan, Zorro, myths and legends for Lerner Publishing and many short stories. He has also illustrated Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars for Barnes & Noble publishing and a series of books on myths by the popular writer Anthony Horowitz.

His latest released work is The Once and Future Tarzan, serialized in Dark Horse Presents #s 8-10. The Outlaw Prince from Dark Horse, a graphic novel based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Outlaw of Torn, was released in 2011. He is currently working on a western graphic novel based on a Louis L'Amour story, Groo VS Conan with Sergio Aragones and illustrating the Sunday Prince Valiant page.