History ComicStrip / PrinceValiant

%%* HeroicFantasy: Par for the course as an Arthurian romance.

%%* IntergenerationalFriendship: Val and Gawain.
%%* KnightInShiningArmor: But, of course.

* {{Textplosion}}: What you get when you don't use speech bubbles. Not that this is a bad thing.

''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'' is a [[NewspaperComics comic strip]] created by Hal Foster, run by Creator/KingFeaturesSyndicate [[LongRunner from 1937 to the present]] (Foster's last drawn strip was in 1971, though he continued to do scripting until 1980), that recounted the adventures of the eponymous Norse prince and his family and friends. The comic came out only in the Sunday paper and featured narration juxtaposed with illustrations rather than the usual thought and speech balloons. During most of Hal Foster's lifetime it occupied one whole page of the Sunday funnies. In the 90s it spun off into a Creator/MarvelComics limited series not set in Marvel continuity.

There have been two live action film versions, ''Film/PrinceValiant1954'', starring Creator/RobertWagner, and ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', starring Creator/StephenMoyer and Creator/KatherineHeigl. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfPrinceValiant'', with [[WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}} Robbie]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast1991 Benson]] voicing the title role, aired in 1991 on what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]]. It also inspired the ''Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'' TabletopRPG which was more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-style roleplay. He's also been a part of the King/[[Creator/DynamiteComics Dynamite]] comic book SharedUniverse, alongside fellow King Features action heroes ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', and ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.

There have been two live action film versions, ''Film/PrinceValiant1954'', starring Robert Wagner, and ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', starring Creator/StephenMoyer and Creator/KatherineHeigl. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfPrinceValiant'', with [[WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}} Robbie]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast1991 Benson]] voicing the title role, aired in 1991 on what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]]. It also inspired the ''Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'' TabletopRPG which was more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-style roleplay. He's also been a part of the King/[[Creator/DynamiteComics Dynamite]] comic book SharedUniverse, alongside fellow King Features action heroes ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', and ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.

* AfterTheEnd: Continental Europe is reduced to a post-apocalyptic wasteland after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Hal Foster clearly did a lot of historical research but he wasn't afraid to change things to suit the story. Contemporary historical figures make appearances, archaic place names (like Gaul for France for example) are used, the Western Roman Empire is still hanging on, paganism is still widely practiced in Europe and the clothing worn throughout the series is more-or-less grounded in the Dark Ages/late antiquity. However, popular anachronistic trappings common to Arthurian literature (such as stone castles, chivalry, jousting and the title of knight) are heavily featured. Justifiable, as these elements have become so ubiquitous to Arthurian mythology that their absence would invoke a sense of RealityIsUnrealistic and most of the castles are implied, if not outright stated, to be Roman strongholds.

* BeneathTheEarth: The subterranean realm of the Dawn People, whose storyline has Val traveling through it to rescue Aleta, encountering monsters and what-not, in something very reminiscent of an old-school ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' dungeon crawl.
* BetaCouple: Many of them. According to Creator/PhilFoglio, this is because Hal Foster realized the strip would still need regular doses of romance once Val and Aleta got married; so he kept introducing new supporting castmembers who could become enamored of each other.

* CorporalPunishment: Spanking is a common and accepted form of discipline, for both women and [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff children]] given the setting and the era of publication, usually taking the form of ComedicSpanking. Most infamously, Aleta is spanked by Val [[KinkySpanking and is apparently into it]]. She extends the same discipline to her children, with many an Arn-focused story arc ending with him being spanked by his mother. The cycle continues when he stays with a neighboring royal family, and is terrorized by a bratty princess: he not only spanks her himself; but tricks her into getting paddled, after a trap intended for him traps the queen instead! AuthorAppeal is apparent.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Beneath the bright and colorful surface and Camelot's chivalrous ideals, this is still DarkAgeEurope and it shows. Violence and bloodshed is near constant, civilization is hanging by a thread, continental Europe is crawling with barbarians and brigands and battle fields swarm with ghoulish peasants driven to desperation, looting corpses and picking off survivors. It's ultimately a kill-or-be killed world, where any attempt at a peaceful existence is doomed to failure. It sure looks pretty though.

* DarkAgeEurope: The setting of most of the stories though Val does venture out of Europe several times. The "dark ages" begin in earnest after Val and Aleta witness the sack of Rome but they're [[WhileRomeBurns too preoccupied to really notice or care]].

* DoingInTheWizard: Merlin explains to Val that magic is nothing more than scientific trickery.
** Averted, however, by several instances of true magic throughout the series.
* DrivenToSuicide: Empress Sadonia of Saramand when Val kills her son in front of her and she sees that his army has taken her city.
* TheDungAges: Mostly averted but the lands formerly controlled by the Roman Empire are reduced to this AfterTheEnd.
* {{Expy}}: One storyline introduced "Hugh the Fox", leader of a band of outlaws living in the woods. Hugh was clearly an Expy of RobinHood, complete with a "little" companion who challenges Val to a quarter staff duel.

* GodGuise: Aleta is mistaken for a sun goddess by Native Americans who have never seen a blonde woman before. She plays along for survival reasons, but not without some guilt, and it is revealed in the narration that this belief in a "fair god" will eventually lead to the downfall of Native American civilizations.[[note]][[HaveAGayOldTime "Fair" as in "light-skinned."]] This happened to the Aztecs, who mistook Cortez for their god Quetzalcoatl long enough to let down their guard to the Spanish.[[/note]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Val is initially shown to be prejudiced against common people. He gets over that but he still has the values of a fifth century warrior (see DeliberateValuesDissonance above).

* RapePillageAndBurn: Heavily implied in Val's assault on the city of Saramand. One of the most chilling examples of DeliberateValuesDissonance in the strip. Also what the Huns were planning to do to Andelkrag. It's just a grim everyday reality of Val's world.

There have been two live action film versions, ''Film/PrinceValiant1954'', starring Robert Wagner, and ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', starring Creator/StephenMoyer and Creator/KatherineHeigl. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfPrinceValiant'', with [[WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}} Robbie Benson]] voicing the title role, aired in 1991 on what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]]. It also inspired the ''Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'' TabletopRPG which was more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-style roleplay. He's also been a part of the King/[[Creator/DynamiteComics Dynamite]] comic book SharedUniverse, alongside fellow King Features action heroes ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', and ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.

* CorporalPunishment: Spanking is a common and accepted form of discipline for both women and [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff children]] given the setting and the era of publication, usually taking the form of ComedicSpanking. Most infamously, Aleta is spanked by Val [[KinkySpanking and is apparently into it]]. She extends the same discipline to her children, with many an Arn-focused story arc ending with him being spanked by his mother. The cycle continues when he stays with a neighboring royal family where he is terrorized by a bratty princess: he not only spanks her himself but tricks her into getting paddled after a trap intended for him traps the queen instead! AuthorAppeal is apparent.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Beneath the bright and colorful surface and Camelot's chivalrous ideals, this is still DarkAgeEurope and it shows. Violence and bloodshed is near constant, civilization is hanging by a thread, continental Europe is crawling with barbarians and brigands and battle fields swarm with ghoulish peasants driven to desperation, looting corpses and picking off survivors. It's ultimately a kill or be killed world where any attempt at a peaceful existence is doomed to failure. It sure looks pretty though.

* BadassBeard: Arthur has a pretty magnificent one. See BeardOfBarbarism for more examples.

* BadassMustache: Given the setting, many characters sport mustaches but Launcelot's in particular stands out.

* HeroicFantasy: Par for the course as an Arthurian romance.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Figures such as Attila, Gaiseric, St. Patrick, Justinian and Belisarius are incorporated into the [[KingArthur Arthurian]] milieu.
* HordesFromTheEast: The Huns, of course.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Val and Gawain.
* KingArthur: As in, "...in the Days of..."
* KnightInShiningArmor: But, of course.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Figures such as Attila, Genseric, St Patrick, Justinian and Belisarius are incorporated into the [[KingArthur Arthurian]] milieu.

* KingArthur: As in, "...in the Days of..."

Not to be confused with ''Little Norse Prince Valiant'', the English dub of ''Anime/HolsPrinceOfTheSun''.

* DrivenToSuicide: Empress Sadonia of Saramand stabs herself when Val kills her son in front of her and she sees that his army has taken her city. Similarly, the women of Andalkrag choose to face death rather than [[RapePillageAndBurn fall into the hands of the Huns]].

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Val is initially shown to be prejudiced against common people.

* RapePillageAndBurn: Heavily implied in Val's assault on the city of Saramand. One of the most chilling examples of DeliberateValuesDissonance in the strip. It's just a grim everyday reality of Val's world.

* BloodlessCarnage: Played jarringly straight, given how often characters are hacked by swords.

* LastBastion: Abdelkrag, the last stronghold holding out against the Huns who have ravaged Europe. After the fall of Rome, Camelot becomes the last Christian kingdom in Europe.

* GodGuise: Aleta is mistaken for a sun goddess by Native Americans who have never seen a blonde woman before. She plays along for survival reasons, but not without some guilt, and it is revealed in the narration that this belief in a "fair god" will eventually lead to the downfall of Native American civilizations.

* CorporalPunishment: Spanking is a common and accepted form of discipline for both women and children given the setting and the era of publication, usually taking the form of ComedicSpanking. Most infamously, Aleta is spanked by Val and is apparently into it. She extends the same discipline to her children, with many an Arn-focused story arc ending with him being spanked by his mother. The cycle continues when he stays with a neighboring royal family where he is terrorized by a bratty princess: he not only spanks her himself but tricks her into getting paddled after a trap intended for him traps the queen instead! AuthorAppeal is apparent.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Beneath thee bright and colorful surface and Camelot's chivalrous ideals, this is still DarkAgeEurope and it shows. Violence and bloodshed is near constant, civilization is hanging by a thread, continental Europe is crawling with barbarians and brigands and battle fields swarm with ghoulish peasants driven to desperation, looting corpses and picking off survivors. It's ultimately a kill or be killed world where any attempt at a peaceful existence is doomed to failure. It sure looks pretty though.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: A variation. The series is supposed to be based on the writings of Val's friend and biographer Arf Geoffrey.

* CorporalPunishment: Common and accepted given the setting and the era of publication. Aleta in particular does not hesitate to spank her children.
** ComedicSpanking: in one arc, Arn is staying with another royal family and is constantly being terrorized by the young princess. Eventually she plants an elaborate trap in his room but ends up accidentally trapping her mother who takes her to her room and spanks her with a hair brush, much to Arn's satisfaction.

* BloodKnight: Val lives for battle and bloodshed, at least in his younger days. He mellows out as he gets older.
* BloodlessCarnage: Played jarringly straight, given how often characters are hacked by swords.

* BloodKnight: Val definitely loves a fight.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Hal Foster clearly did a lot of historical research but he wasn't afraid to change things to suit the story. Contemporary historical figures make appearances, archaic place names (like Gaul for France for example) are used, the Western Roman Empire is still hanging on, paganism is still widely practiced in throughout Europe and the clothing worn throughout the series is more-or-less grounded in the Dark Ages/late antiquity. However, popular anachronistic trappings common to Arthurian literature (such as stone castles, chivalry, jousting and the title of knight) are heavily featured. Justifiable, as these elements have become so ubiquitous to Arthurian mythology that their absence would invoke a sense of RealityIsUnrealistic and most of the castles are implied, if not outright stated, to be Roman strongholds.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Beneath thee bright and colorful surface and Camelot's chivalrous ideals, this is still DarkAgeEurope and it shows. Violence and bloodshed is near constant, civilization is hanging by a thread, continental Europe is crawling with barbarians and brigands and battle fields swarm with ghoulish peasants driven to desperation looting corpses and picking off survivors. It's ultimately a kill or be killed world where any attempt at a peaceful existence is doomed to failure. It sure looks pretty though.

There have been two live action film versions, ''Film/PrinceValiant1954'', starring Robert Wagner, and ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', starring Creator/StephenMoyer and Creator/KatherineHeigl. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfPrinceValiant'', with [[WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}} Robbie Benson]] voicing the title role, aired in 1991 on what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]]. It also inspired the ''Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'' TabletopRPG which was more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-style roleplay. He's also been a part of the King/[[Creator/DynamtieComics Dynamite]] comic book SharedUniverse, alongside fellow King Features action heroes ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', and ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.

There have been two live action film versions, ''Film/PrinceValiant1954'', starring Robert Wagner, and ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', starring Creator/StephenMoyer and Creator/KatherineHeigl. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfPrinceValiant'', with [[WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}} Robbie Benson]] voicing the title role, aired in 1991 on what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]]. It also inspired the ''Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'' TabletopRPG which was more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-style roleplay. He's also been a part of the King/Dynamite comic book SharedUniverse, alongside fellow King Features action heroes ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', and ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.

There have been two live action film versions, ''Film/PrinceValiant1954'', starring Robert Wagner, and ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', starring Stephen Moyer and Katherine Heigl. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfPrinceValiant'', with [[WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}} Robbie Benson]] voicing the title role, aired in 1991 on what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]]. It also inspired the ''Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'' TabletopRPG which was more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-style roleplay. He's also been a part of the King/Dynamite comic book SharedUniverse, alongside fellow King Features action heroes ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', and ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.