4. Prince Valiant

Marvel Comics, 1994



There have been more than a few comic-book adaptations of the immortal strip by Hal Foster, but I always found that the character was more suited to its original format (although weekly pages were collected in book form, and might therefore technically qualify as comic-books).

In this somewhat unheralded four issue miniseries (I say unheralded because I hadn't even heard of it until I stumbled upon three of its issues in a second-hand bookstore), we are treated to a very laudable attempt at following Valiant's exploits in original comic-book form. Praise Merlin, the format used by Hal Foster is maintained: no word bubbles, which allows for the quicker pace we are used to. Essentially, the only difference between these issues and collections of strips is that storytelling is not constrained to presenting one week's worth of material per page; we get double page spreads, for example, when it is suitable. The highest praise I can give this tale is that it feels authentic: it is a genuine Prince Valiant comic, not a derivative product.

The imprint the book was published under is "Marvel Select", of which I hadn't heard before; a cursory glance on the net shows it to have been short-lived, and with very few titles. I suppose it was meant to feature slightly higher-quality books.

Production values here are an oddly mixed bag: the book looks great, with 48 pages of story (48 pages that are definitely not over in 10 minutes, as there is a LOT of story between these covers); it has gorgeous Mike Kaluta covers, spot illustrations by the likes of Charles Vess and Jeff Smith, and the story itself is of deep significance since it chronicles the fall of Camelot. However, one might have expected text pieces to come with such an ambitious project, but the story is all there is to be found! No explanation as to why the book was produced, nothing about Valiant's history, no word on the creators, just the story and that's all. It gives the books a slightly rushed feel, production-wise, even if the tale itself does not suffer from it.

Ably plotted by Charles Vess and scripted by Elaine Lee, drawn by John Ridgway, the series describes the events that follow the last battle between King Arthur and his nephew Mordred on the plain of Salisbury. It is a grim and tragic tale, one that has all the gloomy grandeur of Götterdämmerung, and it reads as if this was the final chapter in the story of Prince Valiant and the legend of King Arthur.

Lee and Ridgway are very good at conveying Valiant's sense of guilt and his cheerless resolve; at the same time, just like Hal Foster decades ago, they introduce other characters that help give color to a story that might otherwise have been altogether too dark. My one disappointment* is that Aleta is nowhere to be seen, and for a few issues I feared that Valiant's unhappiness might have come from his being a widower; luckily, a caption tells us that it is not so. In the absence of Aleta, we are still treated to the humorous husband and wife dynamics that Foster liked to highlight in his days, thanks to Prince Arn and his wife Maeve. Storywise, this is an excellent pastiche.

The art is not trying to ape Foster's style, but is true to its spirit; Ridgway treats us to beautifully stark landscapes of Scotland, great facial expressions, and despite the mandatory anachronistic knights in plate armour and Vikings with winged helmets, he makes this all look real.

I wish the story of Camelot had had a happier end, but as swan songs go this was very well done. And thankfully, we still finish on a high note, with no cheap deaths needed to provide drama.

An unexpected find, but one I am glad I came across.



*Actually there's also the way both Excalibur and the singing sword are drawn that annoys me. Ridgway probably tried to make them more easily noticeable by giving them a narrowed segment near the hilt, which (a) is not how these sowrds looked like for fifty years, and (b) makes them look very fragile.

4. MGM'S Marvelous Wizard of Oz


Publisher- Marvel/DC
Year 1975
Writer- Roy Thomas
Artists- John Buscema, Tony DeZuniga , the tribe





I was able to read the entire story for the first time online and it was pretty faithful to the movie. The story goes that Marvel and Dc Both wanted to publish a book adapting the classic movie that was broadcast on TV every year. They settled on the very first joint publishing venture and primarily used Marvel creators for the project. I also read somewhere that Big John Buscema was a huge WoO fan and drew the entire book from memory. Remember , this is before the days of Video tapes and those type of resources to use as a guide. Another poster suggested he used still photos as a source , but I like my version better. It’s more romantic.     Anyway , The finished product was a great read suffering only that it was minus the classic songs of the movies. This also proves a theory that I had that Big John Buscema could draw anything. Any Genre. Any time.

The Empire Strikes Back
Marvel Comics
Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson

Not the cover I had but pretty cool anyhow.
As with so many here, I see this as an almost flawless adaptation, if only the ongoing held to the same standard for long periods of time.
This appeals even more because when I was 17 or 18 I met a guy here in Godzone who had worked on the set in Norway where they filmed the Hoth battle. Got a pile of photos and call sheets etc from him and his fiancee who were extremely patient and gracious with my dorkish self.

I won't claim that every Barks story is a precious gem. Generally, his best stories do one of two things:

1. Take the ducks on a fantastic adventure that blends tremendous imagination and great humor

2. Tell a grounded, everyday story that unexpectedly humanizes Donald and/or the boys.

Marvel, very briefly, had a license from King Features Syndicate, to do comics of several of their strips.  Aside from Prince Valiant, they did 3 issues of The Phantom:  The Ghost Who Walks, 2 issues of Flash Gordon (with Al Williamson art), 2 issues of Mandrake and 4 issues of Phantom 2040 (from the Peter Chung animated series)




Marvel also did 4 issues of Defenders of the Earth, the animated series featuring Flash, Phantom and Mandrake, plus their kids, fighting Ming the Merciless, with pretty mediocre animation, back in 1987.

Marvel didn't really promote any of the books from King Features.  Don't know why the period was so brief; but, I kind of think King Features wasn't very happy with Marvel's work on these books, though they were fine.  May have been Marvel didn't like the hassle of getting KF approval and the books didn't sell that well.

(Note: from here on out, I'm posting on my iPad, so I apologize in advance for formatting errors and typos.)

4. Little Lulu
1948 Dell

(In a lot of ways, I’m using Lulu to stand in for Nancy and Peanuts and the other existing characters John Stanley worked on as well.)

I probably haven’t seen 5% of what John Stanley did with Marge Buell’s character, but I’ve enjoyed it all. Going from a single panel to multi-page stories, Stanley gave Little Lulu a lot of life, supporting characters, spin-offs, and consistently solid (and still funny) stories. He was like Mort Weisinger without contempt for his audience.
As a matter of fact, I may go so far as to actually start picking up reading copies of actual back issues next year (as long as they’re not more than a buck).