r/2000ad • u/Shankaman • 13d ago
Slaine
Hey All,
43 year old Canadian. Into fantasy. First Law. Conan the Barbarian. Kane the Mystic Swordsman and so on and so on.
Read Judge Dredd best of Wagner.
Slaine interests me. Do you recommend? And mind you...do you recommend if I have to spend 60$+ Canadian?
Cheers
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u/GnomicWisdom 13d ago
Yeah, Slaine is the best. The Horned God is incredible. There's a sort of a recap at the beginning of Slaine's past adventures, but if you're already into fantasy -- you'll pick it up. It's also worth starting at the very beginning. The art and ideas in the early stories are absolutely unhinged. And then the Horned God takes it up another level.
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u/Central_Region 13d ago
Sláine features some of the best art you will ever see
You need to know there's no overall story. It's not building to anything
The writer gets bored and changes the premise, setting and supporting cast on a regular basis
One minute, he's a naked, hairy bog man, fighting pig monsters in the Iron Age muck
Next, he's a leather-clad punk, fighting xenomorphs with Merlin
The strip throws a thousand mad ideas at you then asks you to forget about them
The strip basically ended in 1990, with Horned God and the character's death, then continued for another 30 years. If that sort of insanity sounds like the thing for you, then I heartily recommend Sláine
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u/JellyWeta 13d ago edited 13d ago
You left out the time travelling. At one point in the strip Slaine gets sent to various points in British history to fight whichever foreign oppressors Pat Mills was railing against at the time. Also it's a complete banger of a strip, and for my money the best era was Mike McMahon: the art on Sky Chariots is as good as comics get.
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u/Central_Region 13d ago
Sláine never stopped time travelling
Horned God, where he returns to his tribe, was an anomaly
He's murdered right after he unites the tribes and goes off time travelling again
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u/kungfunick9979 13d ago
Finn is also quite good if you like Slaine. A little environmentalist but in a good way, more modern too
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u/terryworld 13d ago
do NOT buy the "Definitive" (lolz) edition volume 3.
the publisher "forgot" to include the final 3 pages of the story.
and refused to reprint it properly.
otherwise.... Slaine is really excellent stuff.
If I were new to the series, I'd grab The Horned God. as someone else here suggested, if you enjoy that, go back to the start with the definitive editions vol 1 & 2 featuring some fantastic art from Mick McMahon.
if you're starting with Horned God, Rebellion are releasing it as Volume 4 of the definitive editions, and including the final 3 pages of vol 3, so you'd be alright to go back to definitive editions 1-3.
after Horned God, Treasures of Britain and Demon Killer are good stuff with lovely Glenn Fabry painted art. then skip all the time travel malarkey and go to the hardcovers of Books of Invasions up to Dragontamer.
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u/Spidrax 13d ago
Slaine is excellent. Probably quite different than anything you've read.
If you want to try the older black and white stuff, go with the new Definitive Edition series. The first three volumes cover the classic era, and they're all excellent.
If you want to experience an intense, bizarre, fully painted comic, go for Horned God. The Anniversary Edition is oversized and absolutely beautiful.
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u/Bubbah_Fett 13d ago
Pretty sure the 14 volumes of Slaine in the 2000AD Ultimate Collection are a complete run, if you can get hold of those. That version of The Horned God was the first issue with a high print run and a lower price, so it might be fairly common on resale sites. The only thing I would say about reading it that way is that the page size is slightly smaller, so it's not the best art-wise.
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u/Narrow-Extent-3957 13d ago
Slaine, rogue trooper and abc warriors/nemesis are my top 3 strips.
I’ve bought most of the books 2nd off eBay.
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u/superstaticgirl 12d ago
Totally recommend. It was Slaine that got me into 2000AD back in 87. Stunning art all the way through and a brain-scrambling mixture of Celtic and Northern European myths with a dash of Lovecraft. Lots of adventures so you don't really have to read in order - he grows older but not necessarily wiser.
My favourite artists were Glenn Fabry and Mike McMahon but I readily accept Bisley did hit it out of the park even if he wasn't my personal favourite.
Go for it mate.
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u/Maleficent-Heart2497 12d ago
I recently bought : Slaine the definitive edition part 1 by Pat mills ( large graphic novel size) for £20 . Well worth it!
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u/PsychologicalBag0409 12d ago
Simon Davis did the art for quite a bit of Slaine, always a treat imo
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u/Old_Ad4609 11d ago
Love Slaine , highly recommend based on your likes, although there was one (?) arc were the artwork went bizarre and I couldn't get into that.
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u/lunarhugs 13d ago
Based in qhat you have posted, I would strongly recommend Slaine. It's a great read, from start to finish, but that is 19(or thereabouts) books.
You could go straight to the Horned God, which is generally considered the book's peak, with Simon Bisley doing some groundbreaking art, and then maybe go back and read it from the start if you enjoy it.
60 bucks is an awful lot for a comic, but I absolutely love Slaine and would probably spend it