European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Continued from Page 18 Canada. He uses old photographs and travel Magazine pages for the backgrounds and often employs Polaroid portraits of himself to study a gesture pose. Or Light effect. \ the characters themselves Are plucked from real life. One was based on Murphy soil Burner repairman and another the blackmailer Alaric on philosopher Bertrand Russell. Longtime fans of the strip note that Murphy a drawing is crisper in line but less detailed Thanos terms Prince Valianta the worked with a Brush a Murphy said of his a a a predecessor. A i use a pen and Ink mostly a even this technique is old fashioned today cartoonists use markers and drawing pens resulting in Murphy a favorite British made pen nibs longer available in the United states. As for the Issue of detail when Foster began Prince Val it ran the size of a full Page of the new York times. Today most of the 350 newspapers that y Cany it run the strip less than one third of that size Quot or smaller. The painstaking detail of an earlier Era is neither practical or possible any More. Yet the series remains one of the Best drawn comics in the newspaper business and one of the Best written. Author Cullen Murphy is a medieval history major and an accomplished essayist which gives him insight into both the sixth Century and the human psyche. And its this combination of history and personality a with Large doses of fantasy a that give Prince valiant its Appeal. A a there a More than one genre of a Prince valiant. Story a Cullen noted. A a it a not always Good is. strips often Deal with Val a family including his wife Aleta two sons two daughters and the myriad others who surround a Prince of King Arthurs court. Some of the strips pursue a joke or some comic moment though never in the form of a traditional punch line. Others give Brief history lessons or go off on flights of mythic fantasy. The seeming endless variety of it a a ant strip was established by Foster who once gave a whole Page King features Cullen Murphy standing and John Cullen Murphy work on new adventures for the Prince. Over to to the killing and skinning of a Rabit by the Princess eldest son Arn and often depicted the mighty Val perplexed stymied or simply enchanted by his wife and children. It horrid a a vision of restless adventure is a one of the fixtures of Val a character a said Murphy who admits that even he sometimes is a a seized by a Story line. But Complex and Subtle emotions Are also a Staple of the strip. Readers Over the years have accompanied Val through family calamities and external dam Gers that have required patience wit and finesse to escape testing not just our hero but also the writing acumen of Foster and the Murphys. The comics longevity bears out the popularity of its intelligence. A people like language a observed the younger Murphy a when its used Well it can bring a smile to their paying homage to the Prince during his More than half Century in the funny pages Prince valiant has inspired a lot of fans but r perhaps none As Loyal As Rick Norwood of Mountain Home Tenn. Quot a the 52-year-old mathematics teacher has been Reading the strip since he was 12, and has founded the friends of Prince valiant in his Effort to reprint in Book form Hal Fosters cartoon series. Ten years ago Norwood spent $40,000 of his own Money to reproduce All of the 1937 Prince variants in their full color full size original Broadsheet for. Mat. Five years later head saved enough to publish the 1938 episodes and three years ago this time with financial support from the a friends a he issued the 1939 strips the third volume of the set. Each volume Sells for $150, and the first two years Are sold out. A it seemed a shame to me that you Sec the strip the Way Foster intended a Norwood said. Really though its a labor of the fondest love from a Reader who sees the strip As one part a exotic excitement and one part enduring literature on the order of Shakespeare a the tempest. A a it a beautifully drawn and intelligently written a a Norwood said. A a there san idealism mixed with an understanding of How the world really works a recognition of human frailty and human suffering with a character who believes in old fashioned things like Honor and spending time with the old princ amp variants has it convinced Norwood of their enduring Quality. A sometimes classics disappoint us a he said but not so Reading Fosters old strips a a in a amazed that All the old thrill is still Timothy Cahill what a in Vogue does no to represent what people Wear Andy Rooney if a Man and a woman decided they wanted to dress fashionably they might buy magazines like Vogue Mademoiselle Esquire and. Then look through the fashion Section of their sunday newspaper. The Man could come away thinking that All american men Wear double t breasted Georgio Armani suits and flowered silk ties with two Points of a carefully folded White Linen handkerchief sticking out of the pocket. On his feet head think he should be wearing slim pointy toed Alligator loafers made in Italy a with hassles. The woman might Rush out to buy a scoop necked dress Cut Down to Here on top of a tight fitting Little skirt Cut up to Here. Shed deck herself out in a Flut Tery ruffles on a Chiffon Ungaro dress or perhaps an outfit consisting of a a red Bra and Black Petticoat Over a Lagerfeld sheer stretch skin these r items Are in my new York times today. For underneath shed get herself some revealing snippets of lace to Weart As panties and a brassiere that makes her look like More than she is. Ail items Are designed to make her look like the miss Macri Ca built models. A Man and woman wanting to be fashionable would buy bottles and tubes of lotion by the dozen. They a get creams to make their skin Beautiful just like the skin of women in the Magazine ads. They a buy Gallons of salves and Balm that prevent aging soften their hands eliminate wrinkles and inhibit Chipping and sunburn. There a be ointments they could rub in to make their thighs Slimmer and for the Man a patented nostrum to make his thinning Grey hair Fuller More luxurious and Black. Each Day before venturing out the woman would douse herself in lancome Chanel and Guerlain perfumes just like the models in the magazines. It always seems to me that the perfume and underwear ads Are More Apt to attract men who done to use that kind of perfume or Wear that style underwear than women before and after shaving the Man would apply colognes to his face and then before dressing head reach for another bottle of fragrant liquid designed to inhibit perspiration by clogging the pores in his armpits. Considering what clothing ads look like its surprising How Many of us go around looking like slobs. Those suits in the ads done to fit any Man i know and the lotions done to make All women soft Slinky alluring and fragrant. Balding Gray men still look As though they re losing their hair and Blond women still look As if their hair would be Cloud Gray if they stopped soaking it in yellow colouring mixture. The ads done to reflect the Way men and women. Really dress because there a not much Money to be made in the everyday clothes people Wear. For one thing most of our clothes Are 6 years old. You done to see Magazine models in 6-year-old clothes. One fashion trend in be noted and Haven to seen anything written about is the tendency of men to remove their jackets As soon As they get someplace. Even in fairly Good restaurants men arrive wearing the Gucci look in Milan Italy. Now York Timos jackets but they slip them off and hang them Over the backs of their chairs before they sit Down. There a a new dress code for air travel. It used to Bajhat a flight was a special event in Peoples lives and they dressed for the occasion. Now airline passengers dress As if they were boarding a greyhound bus. Fashion is fun to look at in the ads but it has Jio thing to do with the Way people dress when they get up in the morning. Tribune Media services a = Andy Rooney is a Lormer stars and stripes reporter. August 7, 1994 sunday a i 5 y pc Ltd Page 19
