The Legend of Zelda (Valiant Comics)

The Legend of Zelda is a comic published by, which is the parent company that owned the Nintendo Comics System in 1990 and 1991. In those years, they published a number of Nintendo franchise comics, including, Super Mario Bros., and Captain N: The Game Master. The Valiant Publishing line was founded in 1990 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. After 1991, Valiant ceased to publish Nintendo-related comics, except for trade paperback collections of some of the series later on.

issues ran February 1990 through August of that same year, and was penned by. The comics were sold at a newsstand price of $1.95 per issue. Each issue contained two 10-page stories, along with two bonus shorts, which were often times very humorous.

Plot Elements
The comics take place after the events of the original and. Link lives in North Palace along with Princess Zelda and King Harkinian, where he protects the Triforce of Wisdom from Ganon. The comics are reminiscent of in that it mirrors many of the plot elements; however, it takes on a more serious tone than the cartoons, as seen in the plots of The Power and The Price, where Link is corrupted by the Triforce of Power. Furthermore, not all of the issues focus on Ganon stealing the Triforce of Wisdom, as it varies from Link helping Queen Seline recover her powers from Ganon's minions and to Bagu confronting the young hero to save his two pet frogs.

Zelda, like the cartoons, takes a more protagonist role and fights along Link, sometimes even saving him, by wielding weapons such as her Bow. Link is seen once again trying to steal a kiss from the princess any time he saves her, but they always seem to get interrupted by Ganon's minions or Zelda changing her mind. Unlike the animated series, however, the comic makes it clear that Link and Zelda love each other, as they both seem to plainly state it several times throughout their adventures.

A new kingdom is also introduced in the comic, known as Calatia, which is ruled by Queen Seline. The land of Calatia is Link's homeland, and it is where his parents, Arn and Medilia, live.

Cancelled content
According to Valiant Firsts, there was an issue and a number of stories in production that were eventually scrapped for unknown reasons.

Cancelled Issue
Not much is known about the contents of this issue, but based on its cover, it would have been the seventh issue and have featured a story called Small Problem.

Cancelled stories

 * The Fortress - After being fatally wounded in battle, Link must locate a healer trapped within a fortress and gain her trust by risking what remains of his life before he dies.
 * Kiss Me, Princess! - Link must complete a special mission in order to earn a promised kiss from Zelda.
 * Point of View and Another Point of View - An earthquake spell cast by Ganon goes out of control, and Link and Zelda must stop him before it destroys Hyrule.
 * Small Problem - Not much is known about this story, but it appears that its plot would have focused on Zelda being shrunken by an evil wizard unrelated to Ganon.

Characters

 * Link
 * Princess Zelda
 * Ganon
 * Impa
 * King Harkinian
 * Queen Seline
 * Miff
 * Arn
 * Medilia
 * Catherine
 * Storm
 * Captain Krin
 * Watchman Erol
 * Cassiopia
 * Rus
 * River Man
 * Bagu

Enemies

 * Moblin
 * Daira
 * Stalfos
 * Octorok
 * Goriya
 * Iron Knuckle
 * Darknut
 * Darknut Prime
 * Moby
 * Dark Link
 * Thunderbird
 * Deeler
 * Wizzrobe
 * Zola
 * Gohma
 * Patra
 * Dodongo
 * Gleeok
 * Lynel
 * Wallmaster
 * Rope

Items

 * Magical Sword
 * Magical Shield
 * TLoZ (Valiant Comics):
 * Magic Compass
 * Zelda's Bow
 * Water of Life
 * Blue Candle
 * Trophy
 * Silver Arrow
 * Handy Glove
 * Power Bracelet
 * Magic Boomerang

Places

 * Hyrule
 * North Palace
 * Calatia
 * Underworld
 * TLoZ:
 * Rauru Town
 * Midoro Swamp
 * Palace on the Sea
 * Island of Hyron
 * King's Tomb
 * Death Mountain
 * Water Town of Saria

Release
There is some debate over how many Zelda issues were actually released, as there appears to be an issue #7, while issue #6 was never cataloged. The matter became further convoluted when the comics were re-released in 1991 in book formats, where the issues were placed in different orders, and the matter was even further complicated by the discovery of a cancelled seventh issue. The reason for there not being a documented sixth issue is that there were only five Zelda issues in all. The seventh issue was actually part seven of the Nintendo Comics System line, which had nine issues in all.