PRINCE VALIANT

It may seem strange listing “Prince Valiant” among Canadian creations, but Hal Foster was born in Canada and spent all his developing years here. He only moved to the U.S. when he was a mature artist.

Prince Valiant created by Harold Foster for King Features Syndicate first appeared on February 13, 1937. As early as 1934, Foster had proposed the idea to United Feature Syndicate which had turned him down.

Carefully plotted and laid out far ahead of time, this story was an organic whole reflecting the vicissitudes and joys of a hero’s life as well as the legendary times and society around him – which is the strip’s greatest narrative achievement. The action however moves slowly, due partly to Foster’s rather weighty text, partly to the static composition of his pictures (a fault most apparent in the last two decades.

The son of the exiled king of Thule, Valiant attaches himself as squire to Sir Gawain before becoming a full fledged knight of King Arthur’s Round Table. Brave and sometimes reckless he will fight for the glory of the king and for his own renown against the Saxons and the Huns who have come to invade Britain. He will roam the globe, all across Europe and to the Holy Land, as far away as the jungles of Africa and the forests of the new world in search of glory or the pursuit of Princess Aleta, queen of the Misty Isles” whom he will finally marry in 1946 and who will give him four children. Having thus become a pater familias Valiant will gradually fade out of the strip which becomes the playground of his elder son Arn.

Prince Valiant is clearly in the tradition of the novels of chivalry. This is the Europe of legend and folklore of which Foster’s achievement as an interpreter and chronicler of medievel lore is formidable. Prince Valiant is awesome as a work of illustration and fiction, but lacks rhythm and pacing and thus fails to be a trailblazer of the same magnitude as Foster’s earlier Tarzan.

In 1971 Foster relinquished the drawing of the strip to John Cullen Murphy – which only accelerated the feature’s steady decline of the last decades.

A series of seven novels faithful adapted from Prince Valiant and illustrated with a profusion of drawings from the strip have been published by Hasting House, and there were also a number of Prince Valiant comic books. In 1953 movie director Henry Hathaway adapted Prince Valiant to the screen with Robert Wagner in the title role and Janet Leigh as Aleta.

MEDIUM:

BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:

Content scrapbook & Cover front.:

Prince Valiant Scrapbook. Car., Hal Foster. Bill Crouch Junior, 1981. Facsimile Manuscript Limited to 1500 copies.

Content serial & Cover book front:

Prince Valiant, Car., Hal Foster. Fantagraphic Books,

v. 01: The Prophecy. Fall 1987. v. 02, The Singing Sword. Summer 1988. v. 03, Knights of the Round Table. Fall 1988. v. 04, The Menace of The Hun. November 1988. v. 05, The Sea King. Spring 1989. v. 06, Journey To Africa. Spring 1989. v. 07, The Roman Wall. August 1989. v. 08, Price Of Thule. January 1990. v. 09, Journey To The Misty Isles. June 1990 v. 10 Aleta. September 1990. v. 11, Intrigues At Camelot. December 1990. v. 12, The New World. Summer 1991. v. 13, The Sun Goddess. Summer 1991. v. 14, Sword & Sorcery. September 1991. v. 15, Young Geoffrey. December 1991. v. 16, Love & War. Spring 1992. v. 17, Return From Rome, Winter 1992. v. 18, The Stolen River, Spring 1993. v. 19, Duel In Ireland. Summer 1993. v. 20, The Pilgrimage. Fall 1993.

v. 21, Prisoner Of The Khan. Winter 1993/1994. v. 22, Homeward Bound. Winter 1993/1994. v. 23, Kings Of Cornwall. Winter 1995. v. 24, The Red Stallion, Spring 1995. v.25, The Curse, Summer 1995. v. 26, Lithway’s Law. Summer 1984. v. 27, Eternal Quest. Winter 1985. v. 28, Savage Girl. Fall 1985. v. 29, Monastery Of Demons. Spring 1986. v. 30, Arn Son Of Valiant. Spring 1987. v. 31, A Joust For Aleta. Summer 1987. v. 33, Tillicum’s Counsel. Spring 1998. v. 34, Mordred’s Revenge. Summer 1998. v. 35, Doppleganger. Fall 1998. v. 36, The Dead Warrior’s Sword. Spring 1999. v. 37, Adventure’s Of Sir Gawain. Summer 1999. v. 38, Prince Arn’s Exploit. Fall 1999. v. 39, Knight’s Blood. Spring 2000.

Content serial & Cover dust jacket front:

Prince Valiant In The Days Of King Arthur. Car., Hal Foster. Nostalgia Press Inc. 1974.

Prince Valiant Companions In Adventure. Car., Hal Foster. Nostalgia Press Inc. 1974.

SOURCE:

Article book:

The World Encyclopedia of Comics, Ed., Maurice Horn. Chelsea House Publishers, 1976: “Prince Valiant (U.S.)”, Writ., Maurice Horn. 565.

GALLERY:

From Prince Valiant v. 4: The Menace Of The Hun, Nov. 1988: Front cover.

From Prince Valiant: Companions in Adventure, 1974: Front Cover.

PRAIRIE DOG EXPRESS

A cartoon strip created by editorial cartoonist Curt Shultz who self syndicated it in Canada and the U.S.

 

POURQUOI IL N’Y EUT PAS DE CANARD AU DINER

A cartoon half page that first appeared in “La Ruche enfantine” the children’s section in La Presse 20 February 1904 in response to the success of “Les aventures de Timothée” in La Patrie. It is attributed to Auguste Charbonnier.

SOURCE:

Article periodical:

inks: Cartoon & Comic Arts Studies, 4-2, May 1997: “An Introduction to the Canadian Newspaper Comic.” Writ., Kenneth Barker: 18-25

Internet:

Archived Newspaper Strips of the 20^th Century – Québecois.” Library & Archives Canada/Bibliothèque et Archives Canada. www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/comics. Accessed 3 Oct. 2017..

POULTON Michael

WORK:

ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK TEXT:

Content novel & Cover dust jacket wrap around:

Luke Baldwin’s Vow. Writ., Morley Callaghan. Macmillan Co. of Canada Ltd., 1974.

POULIN Stephane

A Québecois writer and illustrator of children’s books.

WORK:

WRITER & ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK TEXT & GRAPHIC:

Content story text & Cover book front:

Benjamin & The Pillow Saga. Annick Press Ltd., 1989.

POTTERTON PRODUCTIONS                                                                                        Location: Montréal.                                                                                                            Owner: Gerald Potterton, Peter Sander and Murray Shostak

It was established in 1968 and based in Montréal. It produced both live action and animated films.

Owned by Gerald Potterton, Peter Sander and Murray Shostak it was the first company in Canada to develop an original TV Special The Selfish Giant for a U.S. Network. It closed in 1974.

SOURCE:

Article book:

Cartoon Capers: The History of Canadian Animators. Writ., Karen Mazurkewich. McArthur & Co., 1999: 96.

Internet:

“Gerald Potterton.” Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. N.p. 18 Jan. 2014. Accessed. 30 June 2014.

POTTERTON Gerald

Animator, writer, illustrator and painter; producer and director of both animated and live action films.

He was born 8 March 1931 in London England and attended Hammersmith Art School. An animator at Halas and Batchelor in London England, he worked as an assistant and in-betweener on the feature Animal Farm.

Impressed by the National Film Board film makers of The Romance of Transportation, he hired on at the NFB in 1954 and settled in Canada in 1955. He teamed with Grant Munroe to make a simple cel animation film instructing air crews about the dangers and side effects of hyperventilation at high altitudes. Huff and Puff (1955) was so funny, marketing wanted to release it to movie houses but the RCAF wouldn’t grant permission for its release. Potterton’s second NFB film Fish Spoilage (1955) obviously an instructional film, was a hit on the festival circuit. The degree to which Potterton and other NFB animators pushed the envelope was shown by Potterton’s choice of music for Fish Spoilage. Instead of using traditional jigs or pop songs, he allowed composer Eldon Rathburn to use a contemporary jazz score.

Potterton and other NFB animators often structured their instructional films as parodies of popular feature films. For Do It Now: Don’t Wait For Spring, a series of films about smoothing out labour demand, the animators styled them after Peter Seller’s The Goon Show. Another film, It’s a Crime (1957) directed by Koening and animated by Potterton, spoofed The Third Man. According to Karen Mazurkewich, My Financial Career 1962) a famous Stephen Leacock short story animated by Potterton, was the best example of the animator’s dry wit and versatility. It won Best Animated Short at the 1962 San Francisco International Film Festival and was nominated for the Best Animated Short Film at the 36^th Academy Awards. Potterton’s Christmas Cracker (1963) was also nominated for an Oscar.

In the early 1960’s Potterton branched out into directing live action films making The Ride (1963) in which he also acted and The Railroader (1965), which he also wrote and co-edited with Jo Kirkpatrick. In 1968, he returned to animation working on The Yellow Submarine (1968)in Britain.

In the late 1960’s Potterton left the NFB, and with partners Peter Sander and Murray Shostak founded Potterton Productions. Their first film was a special Pinter’s People (1969) a live action film directed by Potterton, for NBC-TV. The second film was a salvage operation of a Russian epic Dr. Appelite 66 which became Tiki Tiki (1970). The company then undertook a series of high caliber made for television films based on the children’s stories of Oscar Wilde and Hans Christian Anderson. The first half hour film The Selfish Giant (1971) produced by Potterton and directed by Sander was nominated for an Oscar. Next came The Rainbow Boys (1973), a live action film written and directed by Potterton. It  was a mild success. Potterton then produced The Happy Prince (1974) The Little Mermaid (1975) and The Christmas Messenger (1975). This was followed by Child Under a Leaf which was a flop and emptied the company’s coffers. Potterton sold his shares and the company closed 1974.

Potterton continued his career in animation and live action films which included working as an associate director on Raggedy Ann and Andy (1977) and a supervising director on Ivan Reitman’s Heavy Metal (1980). In 1987 he was animation director for a series of Wizard of Oz films. In the early 1990’s he directed several live action films. As of 2014 he was living in Cowansville in Quebec.

WORK:

ANIMATOR:

FILM ANIMATION:

My Financial Career. Writ., Stephen Leacock. Co animator, Grant Munro. Producers, Colin Low & Tom Daly. National Film Board, 1962. Film, 06m, 30 s.

The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones. Writ., Stephen Leacock. Producer, David Verrall. National Film Board, 1983. Film, 07m, 48s.

SOURCE:

Article book:

The Art of the Movie Heavy Metal, Ed., Susan Cohn. New York Zoetrope, 1981..

Cartoon Capers: The History of Canadian Animators. Writ., Karen Mazurkewich. McArthur & Co., 1999: 41- 43, 99-101, 235-236.

Take One’s Essential Guide to Canadian Film. Ed., Wyndham Wise. University of  Toronto Press 2001: “Potterton Gerald”: 171.

.” a handbook of Canadian film. Writ., Eleanor Beattie. Peter Martin Associates Ltd/Take One, 1973: “Gerald Potterton”: 173-174.

Article periodical:

Heavy Metal, 4-8, Nov. 1980: “Flix: Heavy Metal on Film.” Writ., Bhob. 7-9.

Miriad, 5, Autumn 1981: “Gerald Potterton.” Writ., Ken Williams: 19-21.

Internet:

“Gerald Potterton.” Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. N.p. 18 Jan. 2014. Accessed 30 June 2014.

 

POTLATCH PUBLICATIONS                                                                                            Address: 2 Campview Road Stoney Creek, Ontario. Formerly 35 Dalewood Cresc. Hamilton, Ont.                                                                                                                  Owner/Publisher/Editor: Robert F. Nielson.                                                                        Art Director: Mary Trach-Holadyk, formerly Mary Trach.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s this company through its books and periodicals was an important promoter of emerging Canadian cartoonists and illustrators. In it one sees the early work of Ian Carr. Here one can see Michael Cherkas perfecting his cartoon style, and the earliest partnership between him and Larry Hancock which will produce the remarkable novel Silent Invasion and short story collection Suburban Nightmares. In these publications you can watch the evolution of the art of Martin Springett, still probably contain the best available collection of his early work. Lynn Johnston’s “For Better Or For Worse appears in an embryonic form in Potlatch Publications. Some of the earliest appearances of Arn Saba/Katherine Collins, and “Neil The Horse” appear in these publications. Tom Nesbitt flared here then vanished. The work of Michael Eddenden who later became an established editorial cartoonist. Potlatch in addition to “Jasper The Bear” provided us with other aspects of James Simpkins work.

Although Potlatch Publications is no longer as active in the cartooning/illustration field, it continues to publish authors in the Hamilton area.

PRODUCT:

BOOK GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Potlatch presents The 1980 Comics Annual. Ed., Ian Carr. 1979.

BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:

David we’re Pregnant. Car., Lynn Johnson. 1975.

Dear Teacher: A collection of parents, letters to their children’s teachers. Compiled by Emile & Diane Lizé. Illus., Tom Nesbitt. 1980.

The Slob’s Handbook. Writ., Elliot Dunlop. Illus., Tom Nesbitt. 1979.

When’s the last time you cleaned your navel?” Car., James Simpkins. 1976.

 

BOOK TEXT & GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Canadian Children’s Annual, … Ed., Robert F. Nielson. Art Dir., Mary Tach.
…1975. 1974. …1976. 1975.	… 1977. 1976. … 1978. 1977.	… 1979. 1978. … 1980. 1979.	… 1981. 1980. … 1982. 1981.

Canadian Children’s Annual, 1983. Ed., Robert F. NNielson. Art Dir., Mary Tach-Holadyke. 1982.

POSTER:

Canadian Children’s Annual 1975, Monster Map. Illus., Laura Urquhart. 1974.

Canadian Children’s Annual, 1976, Killer Sharks and Sunken Gold. Illus., D. Matthews.

Canadian Children’s Annual 1977, Gypsy Joe’s World. Illus., Edeger Gonzales. 1976.

Canadian Children’s Annual 1977, Fairies Tales. (?) Illus., Laura Urquhart. 1976.

Canadian Children’s Annual 1979, Merlin’s Dream. Illus., Martin Springett. 1978.

Canadian Children’s Annual 1980, The City of Criij in the Kingdom of Zudd. Illus.,Tom Nesbitt. 1979.

Canadian Children’s Annual, 1981, The Pirate. Illus., Paul McCusker. 1980.

Canadian Children’s Annual 1982, Fact or Fancy. Illus., M. Springett. 1981.

SUPPLEMENT:

The Canadian Children’s Annual presents Flobs in Space: A Puzzle Story. Story by Michael Eddenden & Puzzles by Marie Whitehead. 1982: 1-24. (This was a Supplement booklet attached to the back cover of Canadian Children’s Annual 1983.

SOURCE:

Correspondence:

Email 20 September 2017, from Robert F. Nielson.

Email 29 September 2017 from Robert F. Nielson.

 

POTLATCH PRESENTS THE 1980 COMICS ANNUAL

See POTLATCH PUBLICATIONS

 

PORK KNIGHT

This Dark Knight Parody was created by cartoonist Rob Walton with assists from Dean Motter, Ken Steacy and Anthony Van Bruggen.

MEDIUM:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:

Content story:

Pork Knight 1-1, no date. Toronto: Silver Snail Comics Ltd., 1986: “This Little Piggy.” Design and layout by Rob Badali and Dean Motter. Car., Rob Walton: 1-32.

Cover front:

Pork Knight 1-1, no date: Illus., Rob Walton & Anthony Van Bruggen.

Cover back:

Back: Pork Knight 1-1, no date: Illus., Rob Walton & Ken Steacy.

Cover back inside:

Back inside., Pork Knight 1-1, no date. Illus., Anthony Van Bruggen.

.SOURCE:

Article newspaper:

Toronto Star, 27 February 1987: “Here’s your guide to superheroes of Canadian comics”: D6.

GALLERY:

Illus., Rob Walton & Ken Steacy. Pork Knight, 1-1, 1986: From back cover.

Car., Rob Walton. Pork Knight, 1-1, 1986.