on this U.S. postage stamp, Prince Valiant, his hair shaped like a black helmet and wearing a red cape, has his arm around his love, Aleta, dressed in green, a castle in the background

Prince ValiantHal Foster

In the days of King Arthur

The Nordic Kingdom of Thule is overthrown. The King and Queen live in exile in Britain with their young son Valiant, but after his mother dies the prince leaves home in search of Camelot to serve King Arthur, truth, justice, honor, and friendship as a Knight of the Round Table.

There be dragons

There be a dragon like a plesiosaur that our young prince must fight. There be marsh monsters and witches. There be sea monsters and giant crabs. There be alchemists and charmed swords, and magic from the hands of Merlin and Morgan le Fay. There be Muslims. There be costumes and technology from ten or more centuries later, but, after all, this is a comic-strip romance. The story that unfolds is a story of nobility and the human spirit in a cruel and violent world and is truer than many a dream.

Our favorite plesiosaur

Naturally Nessie is shy considering how the violent young Valiant treated her.

Romancing romance

The prince falls in love with Ilene but so does Prince Arn of Ord. The prince falls in love with Aleta, Queen of the Misty Isles, even though she’s a “cruel sorceress,” because she puts up a good fight. After Val and Aleta marry, a series of supporting characters pick up torches.