John Cullen Murphy and Hal Foster Prince Valiant Sunday Comic Strip #1802 Original Art dated 8-22-71

John Cullen Murphy and Hal Foster Prince Valiant Sunday Comic Strip #1802 Original Art dated 8-22-71 (King Features Syndicate, 1971). When Hal Foster decided to retire from his Prince Valiant strip, it turned out to be a gradual process that took over ten years to complete. In 1971, Foster began actively seeking another artist to carry on the strip. Arthritis had begun to affect his drawing, and eventually he decided that John Cullen Murphy, creator of Big Ben Bolt, would be his successor. Sunday #1788, which appeared on May 16, 1971, was the last strip completely written and illustrated by Foster. For the next nine years, Foster continued to do layouts, write, and color the feature. Working from Foster's scripts and penciled breakdowns, Murphy finished this beautifully detailed Sunday. This strip was cut between each panel tier and then taped together on the back of the paper. The conjoined tiers combine to form an image area measuring approximately 16.5" x 24.5", and aside from two missing pasted-on captions, the art is in Very Good condition.