Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, about a noble knight in the days of King Arthur, began in newspapers in 1937 and continues to this day. Foster (1892-1982) introduced illustrative techniques -- and the sensibilities and standards of such greats as Howard Pyle -- to the comics page. Realistic depictions and sophisticated compositions had been curiously absent before him.Fantagraphics' deluxe, full-color library editions of Prince Valiant each feature close to a year's worth of full-page Sunday strips, with this volume collecting strips from 1972-1973, written and roughed-out by Foster and finished by Foster's prodigious assistant, John Cullen Murphy, who took over much of the strip in 1971 and continues with it today.