Hal Foster 89494 225310308 2008-07-13T00:53:21Z SmackBot 433328 Date the maintenance tags or general fixes {{Otheruses4|the comic strip artist|the art critic and Princeton professor|Hal Foster (art critic)}} '''Harold ("Hal") Rudolf Foster''' ([[August 18]], [[1892]] in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]] – [[July 25]], [[1982]]) was a [[Canada|Canadian]]-[[United States|American]] [[cartoonist]] most famous as the creator of the [[comic strip]] ''[[Prince Valiant]]''. He worked as a staff artist for the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] in [[Winnipeg]] and moved to [[Chicago]] in 1919 where he studied at the [[Chicago Academy of Fine Arts]]. He subsequently worked as an illustrator before getting involved with ''[[Tarzan]]'', an adaptation of [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s novels. His impact on the comic was huge and is of great importance in the history of the field for his painstakingly realistic and exact drawings.{{Fact|date=July 2007}} After a while, he grew tired of adaptation and wished for something he had truly created himself. [[William Randolph Hearst]] long wanted Foster to do a comic for his papers. Hearst was so impressed with Foster's pitch for ''Prince Valiant'' that he promised Foster the ownership of the strip if he would start the series, a very rare offer in those days. The strip began in 1936. Hal Foster was recognized for his work with the [[National Cartoonist Society]] with the [[Reuben Award]] in 1957, the Story Comic Strip Award in 1964, the Special Features Award in 1966 and 1967, all for ''[[Prince Valiant]]'', the Elzie Segar Award in 1978, and the Gold Key Award (their Hall of Fame) in 1977. Foster was inducted into the [[Eisner Award|Will Eisner Award]] Hall of Fame in 1996, and the [[Joe Shuster Awards|Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creators]] Hall of Fame for his contributions to comic books in 2005 (The latter award was accepted on behalf of the family by an emotional [[Dave Sim]], a modern comic writer and longtime fan of Foster's work). Foster was inducted into the [[Society of Illustrators]] Hall of Fame in 2006. ==References== *''Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators'' by Brian M. Kane, Vanguard Productions, 2001, ISBN 1-887591-25-7. IPPY Award-winning biography of Hal Foster. ==External links== *[http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/foster.htm Illustrated biography by Brian Kane] *[http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp NCS Awards] *[http://www.toonopedia.com/val.htm Toonopedia on Prince Valiant] [[Category:1892 births|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:1982 deaths|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:American comics artists|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:American comics writers|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Arthurian literature|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Canadian comics artists|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Canadian comics writers|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Canadians of English descent|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Comic strip cartoonists|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:Eisner Award winners|Foster, Hal]] [[Category:People from Halifax, Nova Scotia|Foster, Hall]] [[Category:Reuben Award winners|Foster, Hal]] [[de:Hal Foster]] [[es:Harold Foster]] [[fr:Harold Foster]] [[it:Hal Foster (fumettista)]] [[nl:Hal Foster]] [[fi:Hal Foster]] [[sv:Hal Foster]]