Author's collection. © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
|
Author's collection. © King Features Syndicate, Inc. |
Prince Valiant did not advance the comic book form the way The Spirit did - in structure and form it was basically an illustrated story - yet how beautifully illustrated it was! For sheer gorgeous pageantry, with knights and horses, jousts and castles, it was and remains unsurpassed. The talented artist, Hal Foster, supposedly modeled Val's wife Aleta on his own wife, Helen. As we remarked in discussing some of the other comics pieces, these artists were not into the scene, they merely reflected the values of the era in which they drew these works. Evidently as of November 22, 1959 (the date we believe this page first appeared), it was still considered all right for a man to spank his wife if she were bratty enough, as Aleta is here. In a scene so romantic that it could easily have been scripted by Eve Howard of Shadow Lane , she unfairly berates Val for accepting another quest from the king, and then slaps his face. He responds by kissing her and then giving her the spanking she surely deserves. She tacitly admits his right to take this action in the final panel with Val on his way, where she muses "Oh you magnificent beast! Only come back safely to me once more, and you may spank me as much as you wish." [!] Oh, those were the days! |
|
03/12/2010 update: Doc Ken recently featured the spanking panel shown above, together with an altered version of the original strip done by Funbun, and we were reminded that we had Funbun's alteration of the reprinted strip in our files, so here it is. We apparently operate on the same wavelength as Funbun, because we always like his alterations, especially the way he bares and rounds the bottom (bare is best!). |
|
Back to HOME page |
|
Back to COMICS page |