April 2nd, 2012

Editor’s Dispatch: A New PRINCE VALIANT Chapter

by Brendan

A week ago yesterday marked the end of a very special era for the great PRINCE VALIANT comic strip. March 25^th was the last VAL featuring the art of Gary Gianni. I am personally sad to see him go – I have a real fondness for Gary’s work. He gave the good prince such amazing treatment during the years he carried the pen and ink. Flip through the last year of archives right here on DailyINK, and see what I mean – Gary’s work is just stunningly beautiful. I will miss his signature line work and the class that he brought to the page every week. I encourage you all to follow Gary’s career as he continues to explore what’s next. Head over to his website and spend some time there. And go buy some of his great books!

Just as we lament the leaving of Gary, we celebrate a new chapter for our epic comic. We couldn’t possible let Gary go without finding a suitable replacement. We certainly couldn’t just willy-nilly find some serviceable artist to carry on the great tradition of beautifully illustrated PRINCE VALIANT Sunday pages. So what did we do? We got Thomas Yeates to take over the art chores. If you read yesterday’s VAL, you saw for yourself the elegant, classic nature of Thomas’ work.

Welcome to the family, Thomas!

Our good friend, Mark Schultz remains as the scribe for the weekly adventures, and we couldn’t be happier about that. You can expect the same excitement from the VAL chronicles for the foreseeable future. I’ve already had the privilege of seeing the first several pages that Mark and Thomas have created, and I assure you, you are in for a treat as these two continue the tradition of wonderful weekly PRINCE VALIANT comics.