Prince Valiant Volume 2: 1939-1940 (Vol. 2) (Prince Valiant (Fantagraphics))
In these installments of the celebrated comic strip, the young prince joins King Arthur’s Round Table, returns to his homeland of Thule to help his father retain his throne, and journeys to Rome with Sir Gawain and Tristam to battle the Huns. The oversize pages, while smaller than those of the broadsheet newspapers where the strips originally appeared, fittingly display Foster’s meticulous line work and the epic scale of his creation. Although Valiant still appears in a handful of newspapers, it’s now greatly reduced physically and artistically; these early episodes are a reminder of its past glories. --Gordon Flagg