Illustrator John Cullen Murphy passed away yesterday morning at the age of 85. Murphy, as we reported here, recently drew his last Prince Valiant Sunday page after 34 years on the job and before that, he did a long stint drawing Big Ben Bolt. He was a widely respected artist, both for his comic strip work and his magazine illustration. You had to be good to follow Hal Foster on Prince Valiant, and most folks thought he was a worthy successor. Here's the newspaper obit, here's an interview with Murphy, here's another interview with him, here's a 2001 online chat with him and here's an interview with his son. Earlier this year, Murphy's passing was reported erroneously in a comic news magazine. Sad to hear the story wasn't so much erroneous as a few months premature.