Sunday, December 5, 2010

In the Days of King Arthur

Anyone who loves Hal Foster's artwork, and specifically Prince Valiant, has seen his work dozens of times in dozens of different editions of printings, including the beautiful current hard covers from Fantagraphics.

But somehow I am so enamored of the 1950s Hastings House editions that printed Foster's artwork as black and white line work, with a narrative text by Max Trell. The artwork is so clean and crisp, looking much like his original drawings would look like. And there were epic scenes throughout.

I'm only showing a few of the many illustrations in this volume, not in any particular order, and one of those I cropped. We've seen this work in many places, but if you'd like to see more of these beautiful black and whites, let me know and I'll be glad to scan some more.

I love this set of books!














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10 comments:

  1. solutionsbyDecember 5, 2010 at 4:00 PM

    I would love to see more, thank you for giving so much to the internet community!!! There should be more people like you.

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  2. TeodorDecember 5, 2010 at 4:06 PM

    Of course, the best Prince Valiant is in black and white!
    In my place we have seen that comics only in b/w.

    My colleagues and I were very, very disappointed when we saw it in color

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  3. M. D. JacksonDecember 5, 2010 at 4:08 PM

    Those are amazing. I don't often see Foster's work in black and white, so thee are a real treat.

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  4. Erik Johnson IllustratorDecember 5, 2010 at 4:47 PM

    Thank you SO Much!

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  5. Unca JeffyDecember 5, 2010 at 6:29 PM

    I, for one, can never get enough of Fosters work.

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  6. Joe JuskoDecember 5, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    I LOVE THESE BOOKS I only have the last three but they're among my favorite Valiant books for the same reason you state.

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  7. cumgranosalisDecember 6, 2010 at 12:50 AM

    Fantastic stuff! Thanks for sharing. I visit your blog almost every day. It's a treasure chest! More, please.

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  8. Larry MacDougallDecember 6, 2010 at 6:41 AM

    Fabulous Thomas ! You can really see what Frazetta took from Foster in several of the pieces you posted. Would love to see more.

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  9. joe ackermanDecember 7, 2010 at 4:19 AM

    Oh. My. Word.

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  10. Juan ArranzDecember 24, 2010 at 2:04 AM

    This is the best black & white PV edition ever published (better than the Hastings volumes): http://www.manuelcaldas.com/coleccion.php?col=val_es
    With ALL the pages with this astonishing crystal clearness: http://www.manuelcaldas.com/imagenes/PV213_big.png and http://www.manuelcaldas.com/imagenes/PV301_big.png
    It’s in Spanish, but volume 1 was also published in English (by the same publisher, Manuel Caldas): http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1576&category_id=181&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=62

    ReplyDelete