Tom Yeates has been selected to take over the art chores on the classic Prince Valiant comic strip. He posted the brief announcement at his blog, that included this quote: "Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz have been doing fantastic work on the strip, and Yeates hopes to maintain that high quality in the tradition of Hal Foster."

Writer-artist Hal Foster created Prince Valiant in 1937.

I worked briefly with Tom on a Tarzan mini-series back in the 1990s and got to see his original art up close. It’s beautiful stuff and he’s an excellent choice to replace Gianni on the strip.

Mark Schultz (from the classic indie comic Xenozoic Tales) remains at the strip’s writer. Yeates’ first strip is scheduled to debut on Sunday, April 1.

I’m in!

[And if you're at all interested in Hal Foster's classic run on the strip from the very beginning, be sure to check out the reprint hardcovers that Fantagraphics is doing.]

[Artwork: Prince Valiant by Schultz and Yeates, © King Features]