Cullen Murphy

On a quest in the Asian lands of Cathay, Prince Valiant encounters a fire-breathing mechanical dragon and the legendary adventurer Prester John. Armies converge, mountains crumble, and a father and son are reunited. Mordred escapes imprisonment and treacherously stabs Arn, who learns that Maeve is soon to give birth. Val discovers a lost colony and wrestles with a tusked whale off the coast of Greenland, but a spell overcomes the expedition on the Isle of Lost Youth. Plus, an introduction by Turkish/German artist Ertugrul Edirne and behind the scenes of a heavy-metal interpretation of Prince Valiant. Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. Starring a daring and gallant young hero, the series features epic swordfights, elaborate scenes of pomp and pageantry, and breathless plotting that always leaves the reader wanting more. Fantagraphics' deluxe editions, each collecting two years' worth of Sunday strips, boast superbly restored artwork that captures every delicate line and chromatic nuance of Foster's art.

On a quest in the Asian lands of Cathay, Prince Valiant encounters a fire-breathing mechanical dragon and the legendary adventurer Prester John. Armies converge, mountains crumble, and a father and son are reunited. Mordred escapes imprisonment and treacherously stabs Arn, who learns that Maeve is soon to give birth. Val discovers a lost colony and wrestles with a tusked whale off the coast of Greenland, but a spell overcomes the expedition on the Isle of Lost Youth. Plus: an introduction by Turkish/German artist Ertugrul Edirne and behind the scenes of a heavy-metal interpretation of Prince Valiant.

In Vol. 16, Arn goes berserk, and there are love triangles, slave rebellions, greedy governors, and more. In Vol. 17, Galan quests for a unicorn and King Arthurs sends Val on a mission. In Vol. 18, Val must win back the queen of (his) heart, Aleta.

The most visually opulent comic strip in the history of the medium celebrates its 50th anniversary with the marriage of Prince Valiant's son. Val goes in search of a northern spice route, which leads him into adventures among the Balts, the Greeks, the Lapps, and the Chinese. A Trojan Horse deception in reverse nearly wipes out Val's expedition, and a dreamlike encounter north of Cathay involves Yeti and other strange creatures. Back in Britain, Arn's bride strikes a blow against chauvinism and liberates the women of the village of Orr to exercise their true potential.

In Vol. 13, from the Middle East to the road to Rome, danger follows the noble Prince of Thule. In Vol. 14, Valiant fights battles large and small, and Prince Arn comes to the rescue. In Vol. 15, Arn lands on the New World, and Aleta is mistaken for a mermaid.

As this latest collection begins, Val and Arn are in Lappland, where they get involved with two twin brothers' struggle over succession. Arn consults a mystical hermit about whether his destiny intertwines with Maeve's, the daughter of an arch-enemy. With the sinister Mordred in control of Camelot, Val and Aleta seek to raise an army; this goal requires Val to capture a notorious outlaw, battle a troll, and find a hidden treasure. Arthur's forces come together at High Cross, and he wages an epic battle for the fate of Camelot, during which Arn becomes a knight of the round table. Also included, Prince Valiant writer Cullen Murphy and colorist Meg Murphy pay tribute to their mother, Joan, model for Aleta and other female characters for their father.

A poignant history of the cartoonists and illustrators from the Connecticut School For a period of about fifty years, right in the middle of the American Century, many of the the nation's top comic-strip cartoonists, gag cartoonists, and magazine illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut--a bit of bohemia in the middle of those men in their gray flannel suits. Cullen Murphy's father, John Cullen Murphy, drew the wildly popular comic strips Prince Valiant and Big Ben Bolt, and was at the heart of this artistic milieu. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group--Superman, Beetle Bailey, Snuffy Smith, Rip Kirby, Hagar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, Sam & Silo, Amy, The Wizard of Id, The Heart of Juliet Jones, Family Circus, Joe Palooka, and The Lockhorns, among others. Cartoonists and their art were a pop-cultural force in a way that few today remember. Anarchic and deeply creative, the cartoonists were independent spirits whose artistic talents had mainly been forged during service in World War II. Illustrated with never-before-seen photographs, cartoons, and drawings, Cartoon County brings the postwar American era alive, told through the relationship of a son to his father, an extraordinarily talented and generous man who had been trained by Norman Rockwell. Cartoon County gives us a glimpse into a very special community--and of an America that used to be.

Established by the Catholic Church in 1231, the Inquisition continued in one form or another for almost seven hundred years. Though associated with the persecution of heretics and Jews -- and with burning at the stake -- its targets were more numerous and its techniques more ambitious. The Inquisition pioneered surveillance, censorship, and "scientific" interrogation. As time went on, its methods and mindset spread far beyond the Church to become tools of secular persecution. Traveling from freshly opened Vatican archives to the detention camps of Guant namo to the filing cabinets of the Third Reich, the acclaimed writer Cullen Murphy traces the Inquisition and its legacy, showing that not only did its offices survive into the twentieth century, but in the modern world its spirit is more influential than ever. With the combination of vivid immediacy and learned analysis that characterized his acclaimed Are We Rome?, Murphy puts a human face on a familiar but little-known piece of our past and argues that only by understanding the Inquisition can we hope to explain the making of the present.

What went wrong in imperial Rome, and how we can avoid it: "If you want to understand where America stands in the world today, read this." -- Thomas E. RicksThe rise and fall of ancient Rome has been on American minds since the beginning of our republic. Depending on who's doing the talking, the history of Rome serves as either a triumphal call to action -- or a dire warning of imminent collapse. In this "provocative and lively" book, Cullen Murphy points out that today we focus less on the Roman Republic than on the empire that took its place, and reveals a wide array of similarities between the two societies (New York Times). Looking at the blinkered, insular culture of our capitals; the debilitating effect of bribery in public life; the paradoxical issue of borders; and the weakening of the body politic through various forms of privatization, Murphy persuasively argues that we most resemble Rome in the burgeoning corruption of our government and in our arrogant ignorance of the world outside -- two things that must be changed if we are to avoid Rome's fate." Are We Rome? is just about a perfect book. . . . I wish every politician would spend an evening with this book." -- James Fallows

It is from the discards of former civilizations that archaeologists have reconstructed most of what we know about the past, and it is through their examination of today’s garbage that William Rathje and Cullen Murphy inform us of our present. Rubbish! is their witty and erudite investigation into all aspects of the phenomenon of garbage. Rathje and Murphy show what the study of garbage tells us about a population’s demographics and buying habits. Along the way, they dispel the common myths about our “garbage crisis”—about fast-food packaging and disposable diapers, about biodegradable garbage and the acceleration of the average family’s garbage output. They also suggest methods for dealing with the garbage that we do have.

A prominent journalist reports on what the latest scholarship tells us about the women in Holy Writ -- and the women, ancient and modern, who have been left out of it. "The World According to Eve is a disarming, intelligent, and timely book for the broad audience . . . sly and enjoyable," said the New York Times Book Review of Murphy's keen and informed study. Jack Miles, the author of God: A Biography, hailed this timely volume as "a tour de force of enlightenment and entertainment.