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Hal Foster Layouts for J.C. Murphy Prince Valiant

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D. D. Degg March 16, 2022 1 minute 0 comments

In 1970 Prince Valiant creator Hal Foster was nearing 80 years and decided to slow down. After interviewing a few comic artists to take on the task of drawing Prince Valiant’s Sunday page he settled on John Cullen Murphy. Hal would (mostly) continue to write and layout the comic through the 1970s.

Nate D. Sanders Auctions is offering a number of Hal Foster’s preliminary sketches
Hal did for the 1971 pages from which J. C. Murphy would complete the drawn Sundays.

It is interesting to compare Foster’s layouts to Murphy’s finished pages.

This early in the collaboration Murphy stays close to Foster’s layouts,
only a slight head tilt or body adjustment here and there.

Prince Valiant © King Features Syndicate