Sláine, ranked part 14: World building

So this next batch are not the stories that invent Sláine's world, but they all do an AMAZING job of making you really feel like you're there, y'know? Not least because the art, in each case, is perfectly suited to the story, and brilliantly executed, too. 

Rank 14/60: The Bull Dance & Hero's Blood
by Pat Mills and Massimo Belardinelli and Mick McMahon

I guess this is as good a place as any to drop in the controversial image
that ended up appearing in print somewhere before the first episode of Sláine.
It's by Mick McMahon, and it's rather extraordinary.

Where to read it: Warrior’s Dawn
Original Run: Progs 344-347 (in the Year 1983; story 5 in sequence. Traditionally this is two separate tales, and I guess I could do it that way, but really Sláine's own situation just runs neatly from one into the other, so I'm choosing to elide the two. It wouldn't affect the scores anyway!)

The plot: As Medb and Slough Feg hatch a plot to bring down Sláine’s tribe up north, Sláine learns about a blacksmith who seems able to make iron weapons that are as tough as stone axes. His secret? He is using Sláine’s own blood to temper the metal...

Essential pre-reads: you can enjoy this story on its own, but it’s a direct follow-on from Bride of Crom (for the Medb stuff) and the Creeping Death (for the Sláine recovering from being sick stuff). (In case you're wondering, I've lumped those two stories together, too!)

Analysis: Basically another side-quest of a tale for Sláine, but there’s something deeply right about the feeling it gives of showing how our heroes stagger and stumble from one adventure to the next. Here we see Sláine slowly recovering from his brush with a zombie plague, while also getting the seeds of future travails to come from both Medb and Slough Feg. 

Medb and Slough Feg discuss Sláine's tribe, while Massimo B. GOES TO TOWN showing future generations how to illustrate a warp spasm. Nobody does it better.

But mostly we get some mucking about in deliciously detailed mud-and-stone huts and forges.

McMahon really nails the atmosphere, and indeed the architecture.

Specifically, Sláine being tied up and then escaping and getting into a big fight over an even bigger sword. Along with the existence of dragons and fantasy-style dwarves we also get a bit more insight into the magic that exists in this world. The idea that a human’s blood, not least that of a warped warrior, is a special tonic for iron weapons, is as beautiful as it is hilarious. I suppose one could argue that the overall plot of this 5-parter is fairly rote, but the ideas and the dialogue elevate it, as does McMahon’s way with posing his characters.

That's some lovely composition right there.
Art by Mick McMahon

Repercussions: It’s just about relevant that we learn Sláine really likes axes more than swords. More significantly, we bid farewell to Medb for the time being, who goes on to set up a plot that will be re-encountered in The King. At the very end, there’s a tiny bit of seeding for Sky Chariots, too.

Writing: 9/10
Art: 9/10 – not mentioned above, but Belardinelli’s prologue features some magnificent balletics from Medb as she vaults herself over a charging bull. BUT this same art is also an example of the sort of thign that turns some readers off the Italian master :(

Is it even possible to find photo-reference for this kind of thing, I wonder?
Art by Massimo Belardinelli

McMahon, for his part, stages some delightful layouts in his extended fight scenes, and draw the heck out of straw and stone – but he still hasn’t got a handle on how to draw Sláine himself so he looks the same from panel to panel, if you ask me...

Anyway, the point is made, that this is a story where everything is just about as good as a person can ask, and yet I have to leave room for scores to go higher...

Brainball count:
The Bull Dance: none! Sláine was off sick.
Hero’s Blood: a relatively chaste 2.

Rank 13/60: Treasures of Britain
by Pat Mills and Dermot Power

Ooh look! It's the Men in Black era. And a rare Ukko-centric cover, too.
Art by Paul Staples

Where to read it: Treasures of Britain

Original run: Progs 1001-1010 and 1024-1031 (in the Years 1996 and 1997; and for once I'm considering this whole thing as one chunk, because that's how it reads in the collection. No change in art, plot, theme or style. It's story 26 in sequence)

The plot: Sláine appears in the time of King Arthur, on a quest to retrieve the ‘13 Treasures of Britain’ for… reasons. Mostly to make sure they don’t fall into the hands of the Saxons or, worse, Guledig and the Cythrons. As Sláine completes the quest, we’re treated to various insights into the life and times of King Arthur.

Essential pre-reads: None. As with a lot of the ‘adventures in time’ stories, it might add to your enjoyment if you know something of the legend of King Arthur – or, conversely, as Mills is ever keen to subvert your expectations, that might get in your way!

Analysis: Although it ran in two separate chunks, with a fun comics aside in the middle, this more than any other split-saga feels like one continuous story, so I’m treating it as such. Same story, same characters, same artist, same tone. And frankly, all those things are firing on all cylinders. This is Dermot Power’s best work on Sláine, no contest. Certainly in a Bisleyesque mode, but here he’s learned more about how to pose his characters for a mix of storytelling, coolness and mythical majesty.

Seriously cool composition. Also, that helmet! 
Art by Dermot Power

Mills, too, seems at last to have a solid handle on what he wants to do with these Sláine tales that explore old Celtic/British legends – retell them his own way, but always through a lens of ‘what does the Earth Goddess make of it?’. Added to that, Mills is almost writing an essay based on what he makes of the King Arthur story as told by various people over the last millennium. This story starts and ends with the final showdown between Arthur and his ‘evil’ son Mordred, then in between darts around to pick out and analyse various famous, and not so famous, parts of the Arthur story. I’m not nearly as well-read as Mills on that stuff, which probably helps me to enjoy his weird views on it, rather than be annoyed that he’s ‘not doing it properly’ or whatever.

But probably the single biggest reason this saga is - I imagine, anyway – thought to be the best of the time-travelling ones is that it has more of an obvious ‘point’ in terms of Sláine’s overall saga. He’s not just hopelessly fighting off Saxons, he’s fighting his old foe Guledig, too. I definitely remember feeling a ping of joy when he showed up again as I was reading this in the original Progs.

Villains who cosy up to children are a go-to for Mills. So sinister!
Art by Dermot Power

All this adds up to quite a lot of exploration of Earth-goddess worship vs paganism vs Christianity vs Cythron-style evil, as ways of controlling humans. Earth Goddess = always right; pagans = OK but led by their own vices; Christians = basically evil, but only because they are being pushed into certain practices by Cythrons. And somehow Mills finds ways to judge almost all the main characters here – Arthur, Merlin, Mordred, Guinevere, Morgan Le Fay etc – so that at times all are both noble and wicked, led by their own desires but twisted by outside influences. Everything that occurs seems both fated and yet the result of human failings. It’s theologically FASCINATING I tell you.

Interesting parcelling of blame here  -but still a rather, shall we say, old-fashioned view of 'women'...
Art by Dermot Power

As for the actual plot details, well, it’s a quest built around recovering 13 treasures. Some are just there, others require a bit of effort to get hold of. Honestly I admire Mills’s facility with chopping and changing that pattern, and the idea that sometimes it’s what the treasure is that’s interesting; other times it’s about how our ‘heroes’ will acquire them. Two standouts for me are the clever sequence with a tent, and a fun sequence where Ukko has to do the hard bit while Sláine stands idly by.

Ukko's happy place
Art by Dermot Power

So yeah, you have a classically fun adventure, a whole bunch of learning, plenty of background mythology / theological pontification, and some insights into the Legend of King Arthur that you’d never find in a movie or indeed a serio-comic adventure strip. And I haven’t even mentioned how cool Sláine’s helmet looks (I think it’s one that Angie Kincaid originally designed for episode one, that Mills/she decided to ditch?)

Yes, you also gets yet more Mills attempting to show how feminist he is while actually being really quite chauvinist, but at least he shows you his working…

Repercussions: Well, in theory we get to see Sláine defeat the Guledig, but you sort of expect that he can’t really be killed. But maybe he is killed for good this time? (Spoiler alert - he will reappear later) Otherwise, Sláine continues not to grow as a character, but to confirm that he is right to always follow the Goddess, and that his ability to interpret what that means is unerringly correct…

Writing: 9 / 10
Art: 9 out of 10 Power is on fire - but even Power on fire is not the all-time best ever Sláine art ever...

Brainball count: 8 humans, plus: 1 animated statue, 1 were-dragon, and 1 arch-enemy
(also worth mentioning one impressively protracted bloody fight to a standstill in which no-one dies)

Rank 12/60: The Bogatyr
by Pat Mills and Chris Weston

Where to read it: DragonTamer (I can't swear it's in the digital edition, but it IS in the print one)
Original run: Prog 2111 (aka the end-of-year Prog from 2018; this is story 47 in sequence)

The plot: In a pub in New Troy (aka London), Sláine and Ukko meet an old magical enemy from Ukko’s home country. Comedy brawling and a bit of personal history ensue.

Essential pre-reads: None.

Analysis: Oh, man, it feels like we haven’t been to the pub with Sláine since episode 1!* Or maybe, more than the pub, it’s the city setting, where we definitely haven’t visited much. And it’s such a great setting, especially with Chris Weston grappling with what he had to assume was going to be his only chance at Sláine. The story itself is classic stuff – we get to enjoy Sláine and Ukko’s characters rubbing off on each other, we get a bit of a mythology lesson – in this case about the titular Bogatyr – and then we get a tasty fight between our man and a monster and it is BEAUTIFUL to look at.

Ukko as played by Bill Nighy - genius casting!
Art by Chris Weston

I admit I’m marking the writing down because the story is not trying to push any philosophical boundaries, but maybe I shouldn’t do that, but rather encourage Mills to have more fun writing silly stories.

Repercussions: None, sadly. Wouldn’t have minded a bit more of the secret history of Ukko the dwarf!

Writing: 8.5/10
Art: 10/10 - a crying shame that Weston didn't get any more Sláines to tackle, because he is just SUPERB. The best there's ever been? Well, we'll have to wait and see on that...

Brainball count: 1

*In fact, the Books of Invasions opens with a pub scene, too.

Rank 11/60 Dragontamer
by Pat Mills and Leonardo Manco

Sláine has had plenty of 'end of the saga' covers, but this might be the first
that gives Ukko the prominence he deserves!
Art by Leonard O'Manco

Where to read it: Dragon Tamer
Original run: Progs 2212-2219, 2221 and 2228 (In the Years 2020-2021. This is story 49 in sequence, and is the final story. If you're wondering how 49 stories get ranked out of 60, it's because I've split up most of the multi-book epics into their constituent parts. It make not make total sense, but I'm just following the Earth goddess on this, what can I tell you?) 

The plot: Having escaped Tory Island (at the end of the Brutania Chronicles), Sláine is heading New Troy – aka London – to confront Emperor Brutus. On the way, he stops to defend ‘proper’ Celtish towns and villages who are being marked for slaughter by the Emperor. Who has, you know, a fleet of dragons on his side.

Essential pre-reads: None. Honestly, as long as you get that Sláine = wandering hero who wants to preserve Celtic/Pagan/Earth Goddess traditions vs the oppressive forces of some kind of evil empire, you’re good to go. This story may follow on from the Brutania Chronicles, but the details of that saga don’t especially interfere.

Analysis: So, the final Sláine story. And it’s a good’un! Not least because new artist Leonardo Manco just goes well beyond his contracted duty to deliver art that he is personally proud of. Seriously, Mills makes a point of saying that Manco did a whole bunch of re-drawing at great length for free, a concept Mills had mocked in earlier Sláine sagas, but he still shows respect. It’s hard to rank Manco’s art, even against other legendary painters such as Simon Bisley, Greg Staples and Simon Davis. There’s something about his colours and brushwork that, frankly, makes me think of the sort of paintings you see in the National Gallery, only showing dragons fighting, or axe-based beheadings. Like if Botticelli painted the gory bits of the Greek myths, instead of the bits with naked Goddesses being born out of shells.

It is, frankly, astonishing. And it still works as comics, although even more than, say, the best of Glenn Fabry, I feel guilty for merely ‘reading’ it, rather than gazing upon each panel in wonder. But it IS a comic, and it IS meant to be read, to be skimmed over, and maybe gazed upon later.

Put THAT on your ceiling, art galleries of the world.
Art by Leonardo Manco

What about the actual story? Well, it’s based on what I feel has to be the most obscure legend Mills has unearthed yet. That’d be the ‘History of the Kings of Britain’ as written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12^th century. As far as I can tell, historians at the time, and indeed most historians today, have dismissed the book as basically entirely made up, especially the bits about Brutus of Troy. So OF COURSE Mills is going to defend those exact parts as a secret truth 😊.

Look, I have no idea how much Monmouth is in Dragontamer – it might well be just the names of people and the type of army and battle tactics they use, which are largely Trojan by way of Roman (based on a bit of Myth I do know – that Trojan Prince Aeneas, (Brutus’s ancestor) – who survived that famous 10-year War - was one of the early founders of Rome.)

ANYWAY this all takes a bit of a back stage to the other clear influence on DragonTamer – popular TV show Games of Thrones. Obvs a book series as well, but the timing of the Sláine saga suggests it’s the TV series that was more relevant. Basically, you’ve got battles going on in pseudo-historical Britain with lots and lots of dragons. And a mix of good guys who aren’t all good with bad guys who aren’t all bad, and have family struggles to boot. That sums up GoT and this book of Sláine pretty neatly if you ask me.

Mills has always been 2000AD’s best writer of villains (is he in fact the best in all comics? There’s a very good argument that he is!). And here, in his final 2000AD outing, he really brings the goods. Brutus is a delight, and the thing I’m most sad about the saga ending is we don’t get a couple more books of him pontificating and evil-ifying.

And he’s not alone! He has a drug-addled wife, and three sons of differing character. The best of these is the one who looks like evil camp Dragon Man, who is basically the protagonist of the second-half of the story.

Now that's an entrance! Elfric would be proud.
Art by Leo Manco

You’ll notice I haven’t said much about the story itself. Honestly, the plot mechanics are decent without being mind-blowing. What’s more interesting is the philosophising – once again, making this a delightful end-point for Sláine! On the one hand, you’ve got Brutus complaining that his war will soon be over, and he’ll get bored. On the other hand, you’ve got the (Celtic) Britons complaining to Sláine that every time he helps them win a battle, it makes things worse, and that even with his considerable help they kind of know they cannot win in the end. And you’ve got Sláine basically carrying on his classic line that this doesn’t matter, the way of the Goddess/Horned God is always to keep on fighting even if loss is inevitable, and so what if lots of people die along the way.

Look, if kids in 1977 said they wanted Cowboys and Dinosaurs, 
Pat Mills is working on the idea that kids today want Romans and Dragons. He's not wrong!
Art by Leonardo Manco

Sláine, ultimately, is a proper hero, but absolutely not a nice guy. And it’s fitting that his final tale should make this distinction nice and clear.

There’s one other major theme of this story, which feels kind of new for Sláine – and no doubt would (will?) one day be explored more by Mills. It’s the idea that curses pass on down the generations in any family, at least to 3 or 4 generations. In this story, that relates to the sins of Sláine’s parents (I guess?), but also very much to the sins of Brutus, who sees the fruit of his karma in his various under-performing children. Per previous Sláine stories, Mills suggests this is a classic part of Celtic lore, but I would’ve liked a bit more on that to emerge in the story, rather than just saying it – it’s one of those bits of mythology I’ve always found annoying. Sure, it helps to see a trilogy of tragedy in e.g. Ancient Greek Myths, but it just feels deeply unfair! And, frankly, not even slightly borne out by personal experience or the general account of history. I suppose because the general idea of a ‘familial curse’ seems to centre around concepts such as ‘greatness’ or ‘success’ which are alien to almost all people, and cannot account for the misfortunes of people who marry into a cursed family (unless they too are cursed, creating a crazy web of curses if you cross enough generations…). And in general, Mills seems to push the Horned God / Earth Goddess agenda of ‘sure, be ambitious, but don’t for a second think that the point of life is to become rich/famous.’

Anyway, getting off topic! DragonTamer is a beautiful and fascinating story, and by not actually ending, it brings about a truly fitting ending for our eternal hero, Sláine.

Repercussions: So, this is  -for now- the final Sláine story. Not designed to be such when it was written, and it really shows. You can pretty much see where Book 2 (and maybe 3) of this saga would’ve gone, with Sláine taking on Brutus's other kids and maybe wife, ending in a big showdown with Brutus himself. But, for all that, this is in fact as good a place as any to stop. 

Given that Sláine has, in his day, literally travelled through time to help Celtic-esque forces against various forms of ‘evil Empire’, and/or to explore British/Irish legends, there is no end to the stories one could tell. So why not just end in the middle of one such saga? You get to end on a high, you want more, and it rams home the idea that Sláine’s more existential fight (for the hearts and minds of us readers, and the world we live in today) is never complete.

Writing: 8/10

Art: 10/10 Yeah, we've reached the peak here haven't we. Haven't we??

Brainball count: 37 humans + 3 dragons

Next time: we're into the Top 10! And not many surprises, I shouldn't think!

 

Sláine, ranked part 13: All fun, all the time

I can't quite believe how FUN these next three stories are, and yet we're still not even near the top 10!

Rank 17/60 Red Branch
by Pat Mills and Simon Davis

Where to read it: The Brutania Chronicles 3
Original run: 2000AD 40^th Anniversary Special (in the Year 2017; story 46 in sequence I guess, although you could arguably slot it in before the final Brutania chronicle)

The plot: A flashback to Sláine’s days as a young Sessair warrior-in-training, not much explored since the REALLY early days when we saw boy Sláine learning his tricks in Warrior’s Dawn. Specifically, he engages in a contest to try to qualify for the elite ‘Red Branch’ unit.

Essential pre-reads: None.

Analysis: Written for a Sci-Fi special that had the theme ‘red’, this is one of the best stand-alone Sláine stories going. It tells a simple story about a beloved character, isn’t steeped in continuity and you don’t need to have read it to enjoy later stories. Also it's heaps of fun. I mean, thematically it’s more heavy-handed Mills-bashing of the public school old-boy network, but so over the top I can ignore this, and just appreciate a goof.

You’ve got this idiot who is so in love with the idea that he ‘deserves’ to be better than Sláine that he cuts off his hand, his foot and so on, and it’s never not hilarious.

Its this kind of delight in self-mutilation that is missing from the Saw movies.
Art by Simon Davis

The end.

Repercussions: None

Writing: 9/10
Art: 8.5/10 – Simon Davis is very much leaning in to the slightness and silliness of the whole thing. It’s not that he doesn’t bring his usual outstanding painting techniques to the whole thing, it’s just you kind of can’t do the realistic portrait style painting he does, while also showing ridiculous bodily injury without something breaking – but it all brings smiles.

Brainball count: 1

Rank 16/60 The Gong Beater
by Pat Mills and Clint Langley

Yup, the story in which Sláine beats a gong! (Although at the same time, Pat Mills' own Defoe character was using 'gong' as 17th century slang for dung, and I did wonder what Sláine was in for at first)
art by Clint Langley

Where to read it: Sláine the Wanderer
Original run: Progs 1635-1638 (in the Year 2009; story 40 in sequence)

The plot: On the way to nowhere in particular, Sláine bumps into a mysterious tower and is more or less conned into becoming a ‘gong beater’, who rings a giant gong in order to summon workers who can help restore the tower to its former glory. Except it’s a Cyth tower...

Essential pre-reads: None in particular, but it might help to have read e.g. Time Killer just to have some knowledge of who the Cyth are.

Analysis: More classic-era-style fun, as Sláine, freed of any Invasions to repel, once again wanders around stumbling into random trouble, mostly of Ukko’s doing. There’s some pseudo-feminism in the form of a ‘strong female character’ not taking shot from man or monsters, there’s zombie Cythrons, and mostly what there is is SPECTACULAR design work from Langley on creating a gothic tower, taking notes from Kevin O’Neill and maybe Phillipe Druillet. And also even more SPECTACULAR art from Langley, who draws Sláine banging that mental gong first to wake the Cyth, then to vibrate them into gooey death.

Best use of sound effects since Mark Harrison and Arthur Ranson
Art by Clint Langley

Repercussions: None, really, except Ukko more or less end sup back in position as Sláine’s companion. I rather thought he had after the events of Carnival, myself, but apparently not.

Writing: 8/10 and it’s worth saying ,the biggest portion of this goes to the work done in dreaming up concepts that are just killer to look at. BIG part of a comics’ writer’s job!
Art: 9.5/10, and if it feels churlish to rate this art not quite at top marks, that’s only because the bar on Sláine is so very high. But for me, this is Langley at his very best.

Brainball count: 1 human, 1 cyth, 3 high cyth

Rank 15/60 Time Killer
by Pat Mills, Glenn Fabry (with a bit of help from Bryan Talbot) and David Pugh

Look, it's a bit odd to see Sláine with a gun. But he looks so happy! And the gun has
the mouth of a snarling monster, alright? What more do you WANT, people?
Art by Glenn Fabry

Where to read it: Time Killer
Original run: Progs 411-434 (minus a couple of Progs; in the Year 1985; story 10 in sequence)

The plot: on their way north, Nest and her friend Cador persuade Sláine and Ukko to stop at the fortress of the Ever-Living Ones, to help them in battle against other-dimensional monsters. It’s a long battle that involves Sláine mucking about in time.

Essential pre-reads: none. You really don’t need to know what has come before, although I suppose you might wonder why Slough Feg is presented as a big deal, and maybe want to know who some of the characters are – so maybe worth having read Bride of Crom and Dragonheist.

Analysis: this is where the controversy set in for Sláine. While the character of Myrddin clearly has a vast place in Welsh and English mythology (it’s pronounced Merlin, you see. And no, 8-year-old me did not know this either), this whole epic-length story is very much a detour from the main narrative to this point, and indeed it changes up the basic tone of what ‘Sláine’ as a series is about.

He's half good... and half-evil!
Art by David Pugh

Except that if you think about it, it doesn’t do that. So far, the whole saga has been about Sláine stumbling from one adventure to another, getting caught up in all sorts of weird and wonderful settings. Why not go from a flying longship to a dragon farm to a citadel besieged by time-displaced monsters and other-dimensional beings?

The difference is a) the trappings of this new setting are very much Dungeons & Dragons, not Conan the Celt, and b) the secret mythology in this story has the temerity to claim to explain some age-old conflict of Earth and all humans on it, which is the sort of thing that can rub people up the wrong way if you feel the author is making some sort of point…

On the grounds that this stuff was among my first exposure to Sláine, I had no problem at all with the new trappings, and I suspect on the grounds that I was still pretty young, I took the ‘secret history of Earth’ part in my stride, as something that I thought was a cool idea and didn’t think much more of.

Mostly, though, Time Killer is all about throwing idea after idea at the reader, at breakneck pace, with that added frisson of ‘an adventure in which YOU are the hero’. Picture this:

You’re riding a dragon to a hidden citadel then jumping in to fight prehistoric bone monsters who can liquefy your skin then you’re being told the secrets of the universe and sent through time to fight Vikings and being rescued by friendly sponge monsters before the sexy demon ladies eat you and then battle a New Wave popstar-gladiator who turns into a million melting babies while watched on by the most terrifying blob monster on three legs who is actually the father of your new wizard friend who needs you to go and kill a nine-dimensional god but first you’d better rescue your lady friend who’s about to be tortured so her pain can be harvested for science experiments.

You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll hurl! (and all in the space of two panels)
Art by David Pugh

Phew! The mid-80s was a joyful time of excess, but even the most bizarre and depraved video nasties couldn't muster THAT much action.

Purely on the level of action spectacle, coupled with big ideas, centred around a character who is willing not to overthink things, Time Killer is a TRIUMPH! And I won't hear otherwise. I guess I just wasn’t old enough to be annoyed about the use of leyser guns/swords vs giant axes, which seems to be a common gripe. That said, the art is a bit ropey at times, and for all that I love the wild abandon with which Mills is flinging out new characters, new settings and new ideas, it's not quite as coherent and satisfying as, well, 14 other Sláine stories I could name...

Writing: 10/10 I don’t care what people say, I love the presentation of loony lizard-people ideas, and the scientification of magic as a balance between good and evil things. It just makes sense, within the story, and the silliness it inspires is a delicious counterpoint to the violence.

Best uber-villain EVER!
Art by David Pugh (an unsung hero if ever there was one)

Art: 7-8/10  Early days here for both Glenn Fabry and David Pugh. Both deliver some 10/10 spectacular brilliance – in particular, designs for new villains Elfric and the Guledig (both by Pugh) - but also including Fabry’s leather-clad makeovers for Sláine and Nest. But there are places where you can see both struggling under the weight of just trying to be amazing all the time. Fabry loves to push around his characters’ facial expressions – when it works, it’s glorious, but there are times when he couldn’t quite get it to work. 

Sláine by way of Jack Nicholson
Art by Glenn Fabry

Poor David Pugh on the other hand is so much cartoonier in his face drawing style that his characters can have the feel of being weirdly off-model. No matter how amazing his background designs and indeed his clothes-drawing style.

Sláine by way of... Steven Seagal??
Art by David Pugh

Repercussions: There’s a version of Time Killer that was more or less inconsequential, with all the secret history of Cythrons and gods and whatnot being of no interest to Sláine, who is happy to get back to his Celtic roots. But that’s not what happens. Major villains Elfric and the Guledig continue to appear, and Mills is VERY keen to drive home that any non-Celtic / Gaia-type deity that affects Sláine’s world has its roots in EVIL ALIENS. These are the true sponsors of all invaders, from sea demons to Romans to Christian missionaries. And we will be reminded of this again and again. This may have roots in Celtic mythology somewhere??

Brainball count: I make it 31, including Elfric once – but there are several panels where our man is hacking away on top of various bodies, so it could be higher…

Next time: We've reached the point where Sláine art reaches its pinnacle, and the stories around them aren't half-bad either.

Sláine, ranked part 12: weird and wonderful

Into the top 20 (which is the top third of all Sláine stories) here, with a trio of beautifully illustrated, but perhaps slight, tales.

Rank 20/60: The Brutania Chronicles 3: Psychopomp
by Pat Mills and Simon Davis

"Kiss my bow" doesn't have the same ring to it.
Art by Simon Davis

Where to read it: The Brutania Chronicles 3
Original run: Progs 1979-1988 (in the Year 2016; story 45.3 in sequence)

The plot: Sláine must variously contend with: ‘the Primordial’ (human champion of the Cythrons), Slough Gododin (human-ish villain and self-proclaimed ‘Psychopomp’), memories and revelations about his mother and father(s), and the rescue of Sinead, and finally the mysterious Zana – a true earth mother…

Essential pre-reads: None. Well, you probably want to read the previous two Brutania Chronicles, but honestly this would be quite a fun one just to dive into.

Analysis: Look, as you can tell from the rather awkward plot summary, this is quite a fiddly book – but it’s pretty interesting, and MUCH more successful than the Primordial (the previous part of the Brutania series) at combining fighting and action alongside exposition and pontificating. It doesn’t reach the heights of a Simple Killing, but does at least boast an outstanding design for Slough Gododin, the main villain, who has shed his human skin to become part-Cythron, part rotting corpse.

In your FACE!
Art by Simon Davis

What this book is really about though, is pushing emotions. Slough Gododin takes delight in raising Daddy issues with Sláine. Specifically, he pulls a Mamma Mia on him – turns out, Sláine has three possible dads! And almost certainly ‘Roth’ his presumed father for many years and many sagas, was not his biological dad. However, instead of singing Abba songs and calling to mind fond memories of his Mum’s former lovers, Sláine goes the angsty route. 

In-story, I don’t buy this for a minute. Sláine has never really shown any sense that he NEEDS a family name to carry on, or that he was traumatised by his childhood. Out-of-story, this is in fact THE most personal thing Mills has ever written about – he says as much in his intro to ‘Kiss my Axe’, and with that knowledge it makes this story more compelling. So I can forgive it, even if it feels like an omission not to have some sort of aside about how important family names/lineage was in Mills imaginary Celtic world – the sort of thing he used to chuck in in stories gone by?

I suppose he makes up for this a bit by giving Gododin – literal as well as spiritual son of Slough Feg -his own daddy issues to confront.

Mills is not just fixated on male lineage, thankfully. In fact, he devotes a significant portion to memories of his mother Macha, and not just the bit where she dies. There’s a whole thing about her teaching Sláine how to use a bow, and boy, in the back-half of Psychopomp we get to enjoy Sláine really going to town with the arrows.

Macha is a dab hand with the arrows
Art by Simon Davis

And then the other big revelation within the story is about new character Zana, a mysterious ‘wild woman’ who obviously has some power to put the wind up the rule and anti-Khaos obsessed Cythrons. Spoiler warning here, in case you have forgotten / have never read this story…

…but Zana turns out to be, I think, a Neanderthal-esque figure, a ‘true’ human untouched by the spiritual evils of Christianity other-dimensional beings. To emphasise the point, she looks like an organ-utan (and let’s allow the artistic license that these tropical rainforest creatures just would not survive in a damp, cold place with few trees like Great Britain).

But that’s not all! This book is just brimming with ‘points Mills wants to make’. There’s at least one more, I haven’t brought up yet, and it’s another spoiler…

…Sláine gets his old buddy Gort, who was revealed to be the Primordial in the previous cliffhanger ending, to turn against his Cythron masters. He even gives a speech about it, basically saying that as an elite boy from an elite school he was SO well trained that they gave him the seeds of betrayal, even as they taught him to obey without question. I’ve complained in the past that the picture Mills paints of public schools doesn’t tally with my own experience – but, here at last, I DO see some truth in it, and that warms my cold, non-conformist heart.

Honestly, the lush greens and RED blood really help make all this chat easier to swallow.
Art by Simon Davis

Repercussions: WELL. Within the context of the Brutania Chronicles, quite a lot happens here, but essentially it's about setting the stage for the final part to come, in Archon. On a more big picture note, this book is really where the Sloughs kind of reach the end of their time as major forces for evil in Sláine's life. And I guess on a REALLY big picture note, you could argue that here we learn the true secret of 'real' humans vs 'fake' human infected by Christianity inter-dimensional lizard people. (as I'm no longer 8 years old, this revelation was less exciting to me than e.g. when I first learned about Cythrons in Time Killer)

Writing: 8/10
Art: 9/10 (and again, a reminder that I'm not faulting the art here, just grading with an eye on the fact that Sláine art - indeed Davis's own Sláine art - somehow still finds room to be EVEN BETTER)

Brainball count: 24 as seen on-panel – but in this story there are quite a lot of images of Sláine doling out violence where we don’t actually see the victim of said violence, so you could probably double that number. If you like watching people getting deaded by arrows, this is the book for you.

Rank 19/20: The Swan Children
by Pat Mills and Siku

You can never go wrong with an evil snake lady.
Art by Siku

Where to read it: Lord of the Beasts
Original run: Prog 1112-1114 (in the Year 1998; story 35 in sequence)

The plot: It’s a version of the legend ‘Children of Lir’ as told with Sláine in the ‘Lir’ role.

Essential pre-reads: None.

Analysis: So, once editorial dictated that Sláine should quit bumbling through time, encountering UK legends/historical events, Mills cast his eye around for other myths he could fit into the Sláine milieu. Mills himself says he’s rather proud of this one, and as I recall readers at the time also wanted more of this sort of thing. Also, Siku on art duties is really pushing the abstract, hyper-exaggerated tendency his art always has...

Look at the warp spasm on that! McMahon eat your heart out.
Art by Siku

If there’s a problem with The Swan Children, it’s that this is an extremely rare case where I’d heard a version of the myth before reading the Sláine story. And it's a little odd chucking Sláine into the mix as his general style of gruff, violent but also pontificatin’ comics doesn’t quite fit in my head with this melancholy tale of old King Lir (yes, the same as that other King Lear, I think?).

Basically, there’s these three children and they get cursed/blessed by being turned into swans, while Sláine is kind of in the background, and it’s beautiful and sad, and Siku paints the heck of out both the beauty and the sadness. I can’t quite imagine what other Sláine stories in this vein might have been, had Bish-Op given the nod, but it’s a neat contrast to the rather sillier ‘lost tales’. It’s typically easy to rate these more poetic/serious stories higher than the comedy ones, and that's not always fair, but I think having both flavours is the real trick. 

That said, this one does deserve it’s reputation as being a) the best of the 'lost years' and b) the one most people actually remember, even if they might not remember exactly what happens.

Repercussions: none, if you just ignore the idea that Sláine ever had any kids other than Kai...

Writing: 8/10
Art: 9/10 – Siku’s one Sláine effort, and as with his work on e.g. Judge Dredd, you sure do notice that it’s Siku’s work, he’s so far out there in his style. Shame not to get more, but on the other hand I can’t see this style working for a more classic axe-fighting / giant battle-scene story.

Brainball count: 2 sea demons, in a flashback, plus one serpent creature (which technically doesn’t die)

Rank 18/60: The Mercenary
by Pat Mills and Clint Langley

Double-size scan thanks to this round-up by Funt Solo.
Art by Clint Langley

Where to read it: Sláine the Wanderer
Original run: Progs 1714, 1714 and 2011 (the end of year Prog from 2010; story 43 in sequence)

The plot: In the build-up to a battle between Formorians and free people, we’re treated to the spectacle of Murderball – a game Celts were said to play right before a battle in order to intimidate their enemies.

Essential pre-reads: None.

Analysis: Ah, Murderball! A concept Mills apparently learned of from a buddy – who gets a credit in the story – and is one of those things so perfect for Sláine, and indeed comics-as-history-lessons, that the only shame is it’s all over too quickly. I suppose a game in which the only goal is to get a ‘ball’ (read: human head) over one or other goal line isn’t really going to take that long to play out. And although it might’ve been fun to get some classic sports comic action, Mills and Langley wisely limit themselves to a delightful bit of ‘who’s on the team’ action, and then a bunch of scrum-scenes with added death and gore.

...a bird? A plane? Monty Python's Flying Circus?
Art by Clint Langley

But just think! If this had been unearthed and gifted to Massimo Belardinelli in the early days, you can bet this story is one people would still talk about now. Rather than being a story where I imagine people go ‘Oh yeah, that was a bit of fun, wasn’t it’ before promptly forgetting it ever existed. This story is great! Even better if you're 10 years old, I have to imagine!

There's also fun to be had on the sidelines of the Murderball match, with the real baddies of the story being those who wouldn't dare actually play the game.

The human collaborator is a classic Millsian minor villain.
Art by Clint Langley

Repercussions: Well, for anyone who cared (I didn’t), bad guy Crom Dubh from the Carnival storyline gets his end here in a suitably delightful fashion. Also Sláine bumps into Nest again which is nice, but their reunion doesn’t go anywhere long term.

Writing: 8/10 – there’s hardly a plot here, but the setting is neat and the casual character design is classic Mills
Art: 9/10, those magnificent crowd scenes, come ON!

Brainball count: possibly none? Sláine himself doesn't provide the 'ball'. There’s one human who may just be very badly hurt at the end, and then the head of a demon that was already beheaded and is ultimately splatted en masse, rather than by Sláine’s own hand...
But don't let that fool you - this is a delightfully violent tale :)

Sláine, ranked part 11: You won't find comics like this anywhere else

Up next, an experiment in narrative and game-play, and an art-stravaganza...

Rank 22/60: Tomb of Terror
by Pat Mills, David Pugh, Glenn Fabry and Garry Leach

A Sláine's-eye view of the world
Art by Antony Jozwiak

Where to read it: Sláine The King
Original run: Progs 447-461 (In the year 1985-1986; story 11 in sequence. Well, it's kind of TWO stories, but they both count as story 11)

The plot: Sláine and his companions quest and battle their way through a tomb to find and hopefully kill an interdimensional god-being.
Also, there are two versions of this story, one a traditional comic, one a game in which YOU are Sláine. The stories aren’t identical, but reading the comic helps you work out what decisions to make in the game, and fundamentally they are tackling the same narrative.

If you play this game as Ukko, choose the 'run away' option...
Art by Garry Leach

Essential pre-reads: this follows on directly from Time Killer. Do read that first.

Analysis: It’s hard for me to be objective here, as it’s this specific story that was my first introduction to Sláine, hitting at a time when I was also just getting into both Dungeons & Dragons and Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. It’s a kind of dungeon crawl with a mix of puzzles, traps, battles and atmospheric settings. So on that level, for me age 8 it was literally perfect.

There's even a singalong version
Art by David Pugh

There’s also quite a lot of time given over to character moments, especially in the ‘room of vices’. Frankly, this story is pure adventure. There’s a very clear plot, a well-defined set of characters, and the expectation that not all will survive to the end. There’s not really any history, and the ideas in this tale are more along the lines of trying to imagine impossible things, such as what it might look like to be confronted with a nine-dimensional being. The fact that it gets remotely close to unlocking that imaginative leap is just plain brilliant. 

I think it's the coiled tubes that really sell how WEIRD this monster is.
Art by Glenn Fabry

But I will say that this is more of an exercise in fun plotting alongside neat character beats, rather than aspiring to any grand narrative. Is that better than the other way around? Kinda. It remains, in all honesty, my favourite Sláine adventure (the comic version, that is; not so much the VERY DIFFICULT game version…)

Writing: 8-10/10 (8 for the game, which is frankly too hard; 10 for the comic and the concept)
Art: 7-9/10 Fabry here is getting better all the time, but only gets to draw 4 episodes. However, these episodes include setting up the general snarling but playful tone of the whole thing, and of course the final epic showdown with a 9 dimensional being. 

Before he became King, Sláine was a dude who really loved his job
Art by Glenn Fabry

Pugh is more obviously rushed in places, and some of his work with faces is rather jarring next to Fabry - but he brings the goods week on week, when it comes to the backgrounds, the clothing, the monsters and the general sense of 80s gooeyness. It’s kind of perfect for this story, except for the places where it’s not. It’s also worth noting that Fabry is forced to draw the Guledig in a couple of panels and he just can’t, while it remains Pugh’s finest hour.

Pugh also knows how to make Elfric look like a raging creep, and he's no slough at drawing architecture, either.

Brainball count: 6 monsters, 1 giant rat, 4 zombies, 3 bugs, 2 evil ‘humans’, 1 eldritch god.

-that’s in the story version. In the game, you can actually avoid lots of fighting, but also need to fight and kill sometimes to get your warp rating up - but if you take on too many you’ll surely lose. Frankly, you're pretty much guaranteed to die, not a game to expect to complete on your first run-through!

I haven't commented much on the game version. Suffice to say, it has some rather specific rules about warp rating, it's often quite hard to guess which options you 'should' choose, but on the fun/clever side Mills makes it especially tricky to pin down what Sláine would do - sure, he often barges into fights, but he's not stupid, so don't try playing this game as a barbarian whatever you do!

Rank 21/60: The Killing Field and Sláine, the Mini-Series
by Angie Kincaid, Pat Mills and Glenn Fabry

If ever there was a Prog cover that marks the point where 'You know, this comic
maybe isn't really for kids any more,' THIS is surely it.
Art by Glenn Fabry

Where to read it: Sláine the King
Original run: Progs 582 and 589-591 (In the Year 1988; These could arguably count as two separate stories, but thematically they're very similar, and in a sense both of them are more like stop-gaps between 'The King' and 'The Horned God' so I'm considering them collectively as story 17 in sequence) 

The plot: After being crowned king, Sláine leads his tribe into a successful military campaign against the Formorian sea demons, and then grows bored waiting to organise an even bigger campaign, with help from other tribes, to drive the Formorians away for good.

Essential pre-reads: Sláine the King

Analysis: look, this short sequence is barely a story, it’s perhaps more accurate to say “this is as much as Glenn Fabry got done with what might’ve been ‘Sláine the King part 2’, and it's FAR too beautiful not to print.” There’s something to be said for describing these pages as more like fine art than comics. First there’s the gloriously horrible vignette of Sláine marching across a pile of bodies that he either dispatched personally, or ordered to be killed as part of the attack he led. (This is the gist of The Killing Fields, which is billed as a prologue to the long-awaited 'Sláine the King' continuation)

THIS is the pile of carcasses that would please Slough Feg...
Art by Glenn Fabry

Then there’s the more contemplative sequence of Sláine waiting around on his throne eager for more killing. It’s not so very far from a sequence from the Bayeux Tapestry, as opposed to a story for a kid’s adventure comic.

Sláine is actually quite often bored, like a kid on a rainy seaside holiday who doesn't want to read the Summer Special for a tenth time.
Art by Glenn Fabry.

Repercussions: not much, to be honest – the action here is literally summarized and repeated in the Horned God. With that in mind, you could consider this as a comics-equivalent of a musical number in a show. You don't especially progress the plot forward, by by golly you DO summarise the mood and the emotions of it all.

Writing: 7/10 – it’s almost not fair to rate the writing on such as short episode as this. BUT it’s also worth acknowledging that the story, including the art coupled with it, wouldn’t exist if someone hadn’t worked out a basic scenario. There’s a reason Angie Kincaid gets a writing credit on The Killing Field even if it only includes a tiny handful of words. Presumably the scenario itself, and a certain amount of the way to tell it, was her work.
Art: 10/10 More Fabry wonders – it’s arguably even better than his Sláine the King work but I can’t score higher than 10/10 can I. Can I??

Brainball count: Tough to say! The Killing Field shows a literal mound of corpses, with the implication that Sláine has killed most if not all of them – but they’re mostly human? (I mean, he was meant to be killing sea demons, ideally not humans - did something go wrong..?). He punches one out, presumably a fatal blow, so it’s either 1 or many.
In the ‘mini-series’ that follows, he warps out and the text says he kills 30, but the picture shows maybe 5 if you’re being generous. The text goes on to suggest a far higher body count at Sláine’s hands, too.

 I’m starting to wonder if this text-based exaggeration is more of Mills showing how Celts liked to aggrandise their achievements, rather than a literal suggestion of Sláine’s prowess. He has often said how his vision for Sláine was to show the world of the Celts as they felt it (glorious, fantastical, filled with riches), rather than how it actually was (cold, damp and mud-huttish).

Next time, an eclectic collection of weird and wonderful tales when basically everything is firing on all cylinders.

Sláine, ranked: part 10 - The shock of the new

 A bit of a coincidence, this, but we have three Clint Langley stories in a row. I know we've had a few of his efforts already, but this seems the place to really make the point that when he kicked off the absolutely epic four-year-long Books of Invasions cycle at the very end of 2002, it was a big deal. We'd not had any Sláine for close to three years, and reader fatigue with the series overall seemed high - at least, as far as one can tell just from reading the Prog and readers' letters within in.

This was promised as a proper return to roots (after the relative failure of the 'Lost Years' sequence, which I think readers liked quite a bit but editorial wasn't into, and the Secret Commonwealth which just didn't satisfy readers or editorial or even Pat himself).

It was also heralded as the big new art find since Simon Bisley, which is a BOLD claim. Your mileage will vary on that, but frankly, the photoshop stylings that Clint Langely brought to bear (VERY different from his earlier cartooning on Lord of Misrule) really did feel pretty shocking and different. It had a ring of photo-comics to it, but slathered in such detailed fantasy art that it remains very hard to tell where the photo-reference ends and the painting begins. But is it any good? Read on for my impressions...

Rank 25/60: Books of Invasions 1: Moloch
by Pat Mills and Clint Langley

The ultimate piercing
Art by Clint Langley

Where to read it: The Books of Invasions Vol 1
Original Run: 2000AD Prog 2003 (the end-of-year Prog from 2002), then 1322-1326 (mostly in the year 2003; story 38.1 in sequence)

The plot: No longer High King of Ireland, but returned to that time and place, Sláine learns that the Formorian sea demons are still causing trouble, and aids in the fight back against their leader Balor, and a new champion, Moloch of the many blades.

Essential pre-reads: Sláine the King and The Horned God would really set you up for this, just to give a sense of the long-running enmity with the Sea Demons, and also Sláine’s relationship with Niamh.

Analysis: Widely hailed as a return to form, this first of the ‘Books of Invasions’ series is notable for a) involving lots of big battles and b) the return of artist Clint Langley, but using a radically new and rather European-comics style. Specifically, the artist has used photos of himself and various friends/models to play the characters, and has painted them – one assumes digitally – into the fantastical world of Tir Na Nog. It’s both impressive and a little off-putting; there’s just no getting around the use of photos of human faces that lock each panel into a sort of rictus of an expression, somehow less fluid than the illustrated versions, even when those expressions match a line of dialogue perfectly. It’s no coincidence that the most notable art achievements are all about new villain Moloch, who has no trace of humanity about him.

Many arms, many swords, many spikes, full to the brim with EVIL.
Art by Clint Langley

Moloch really is a fantastic new creation. Based on a character from the original Celtic legends, but one has to imagine twisted beyond recognition by Mills and Langley. He’s as good a pantomime villain as Mills has conjured up, and that’s saying a lot. He has great dialogue, lots of barbed swords, weird numbers of knees, and a piercing through the eyeball. Indeed, he’s one of those figures so memorable, I could have sworn he’s around for ages – but in fact, he gets killed fairly soon in Book II of this cycle.

More Moloch! We demand MORE!
Art by Clint Langley

Before that, Moloch gets the (dis)honour of committing one of comics’ worst crimes – raping and killing the wife of the main character. If you just read this story in isolation, it’s eye-rolling stuff. Trying to give Mills the benefit of the doubt, it's not as if Niamh ONLY exists for this moment, she’s been the star of the show in many previous stories, and has her own character arc both with and without Sláine. It’s also not the case that Sláine ‘needed’ something like this happen to motivate him. In fact, the point is to show that Moloch is a lying scumbag who will renege on literally any deals made. Still, the whole thing leaves rather a bad taste in the mouth.

Luckily, this subplot is not the whole of the story. There’s some classic Sláine action at the start, with our hero and his dwarf getting into bar fights, then getting annoyed with politicians, and generally smiting his foes, and despairing about how Ireland was so much better before those dirty Formorians came and ruined it. Big Dave, eat your heart out.

A man without an axe? What's it all coming to, eh?
Art by Clint Langley.

Repercussions: death of Niamh, and also of Balor, who somehow had never got around to being killed before now.

Writing: 8/10
Art: 8.5/10 People’s mileage varies on Langley’s computer style, and to my mind he would improve on the technique later – but in fact, his basic Sláine, his backgrounds, and by golly his Moloch are all super impressive.

Brainball count: 7 sea demons + one arch-enemy

Hot on it's heels, here's the very next part of the cycle...

Rank 24/60: Books of Invasions 2: Golamh
by Pat Mills and Clint Langley

More scanning/splicing prowess from Funt Solo to get this whole wraparound.
Art by Clint Langley

Where to read it: The Books of Invasions Vol 1
Original run: Progs 1350-1355 (in the Year 2003; Story 38.2 in sequence)

The plot: A new wave of invaders plague Tir Na Nog (Or is it just called ‘Ireland’ at this point?). But this time they’re human – almost. It’s the lost tribe of Atlantis, who have bonded with a new type of Formorian sea-demon. The leaders of the group are weird sort-of hybrids, where a sea-demon has literally mounted their human host, and controls their actions. But, because these are evil creatures, the human in question still retains their own mind and faculties and morals. These mixed-up creatures are the titular ‘golamhs’. Sláine, in between bouts of grief and fighting with Moloch, is unkeen to share Ireland with them, but the High King Sethor may have different opinions. Debates and more battles ensue.

Essential pre-reads: All the action picks up directly from where Moloch left off, you’d definitely want to read that first (kind of hard not to, as they’ve always been bundled together in any collected editions anyway)

Analysis: I mean, the golamh concept and visual execution is just top tier Pat Mills /Clint Langley craziness, can’t overstate how awesome and horrible it is. 

These humans entered their bond willingly, but they sure ain't happy about it...
Art by Cline Langley

And for a book about a barbarian killing monsters with axes, I’m always delighted at how much fun Mills brings to the scenes of Sláine arguing with rival Kings about the best way to react to an invasion.

Sláine makes leadership sound so easy, doesn't he...
Art by Clint Langley

This might be the most satisfying individual read of the Books of Invasions. There’s this killer concept at the heart of it, which is given plenty of time to breathe. There’s also Sláine’s grudge-match with Moloch. And then there’s the mix of politicking and battling that is the essence of Sláine (at least, when he’s not in wandering around mode). Drama, emotions, and plenty of killing.

Repercussions: We first meet Gael and Odacon, who end up being essentially the main hero and villain of the whole Books of Invasions cycle. We get to hear a bit more about Kai, Sláine's son. Moloch, already a mighty vollain after just one story, meets his end.

Writing: 9/10
Art: 7.5/10 – Much as the Golamh concept is incredibly realised, it’s not quite as stylish as Moloch. And also the shock of the new in Langley’s style doesn’t quite sustain this second book, where he’s working out a few kinks. But, you know, every now and then there’s a panel or sequence or widescreen epic vision that is just IMMENSE. So, on balance, I'm ranking this story just above the first part.

Brainball count: 17, + 1 arch-enemy

...and now skipping right to the end, here's

Rank 23/60: Books of Invasions epilogue: Carnival
by Pat Mills and Clint Langley

Ukko's back! He has been missed, I can tell you.
Art by Clint Langley

Where to read it: The Books of Invasions Vol 3
Original run: Progs 1469-1475 (in the Year 2006; story 39 in sequence)

The plot: Sláine comes across a travelling Carnival, which is run by Ukko and includes his now-adult son Kai. Together, they solve a murder mystery.

Essential pre-reads: None – although it’s all presented as a kind of epilogue to the Books of Invasions – I guess because it reunites Sláine with Ukko and Kai? But really I think you can enjoy this one totally on its own, even if you;'ve never read any Sláine before. I guess it might help to have read The Shoggey Beast, for reasons that will become clear...

Analysis: It’s back to the ‘wandering around and having random adventures’ type of thing – hooray! It’s also another chance for Mills to show off his way with throwing us hosts of new characters who feel really properly well-realised, only for them to appear for literally this one story, never to be seen again. This WAS the norm for British comics once upon a time, and much as I wish it was still the norm, writers today are just too weary of this for whatever reason, and it has become so unusual that even when an old master does it, it sticks out as odd. Not a complaint about this story! Just an observation that happened to occur to me now.

I, for one, want to know MORE about Shock-head Red...
Art by Clint Langley

Less typical of comics then or now, Carnival is also a murder mystery. These rarely work well in comics (see also; Rick Random; Nemesis & Deadlock). Carnival is predicated on wondering ‘which of the many possible candidates is a secret shoggy, and why do they have it in for a certain person?’.

Sadly the solution to the mystery is rather muffed because the character in question turns out to secretly be the mother of her victim – only either Pat forgot to tell Clint this ahead of time, or else Clint only has access to women in their 20s to take reference photos of, because they sure do look more like sisters than parent/child. Heigh ho. (I'm withholding scans here so as not to spoil what little surprise may remain for anyone who hasn't read this) Still, as an actual plot resolution it’s OK, makes some thematic sense I guess? And also the mystery is not really the focus of the story, which is much more about reuniting Sláine with both Ukko and his son Kai, and how they react to the weird goings on around them.

Did Conan ever solve murder mysteries? Bet he didn't.
Art by Clint Langley.

Repercussions: Ukko is back! And he’ll more or less resume sidekick duties from here on. Also we get to check in on Kai which is nice. And the real enemy of the story, Crom Dubh, makes a come-back later in the saga, although he’s not terribly consequential as Sláine villains go.

Writing: 8.5/10
Art: 8/10 – look, that trouble with the relative ages of two characters aside, there’s some lovely character and creature design here.

Brainball count: 1 monster

(Those paying attention may note there's one more 'Invasions' book, and plenty more Clint Langley, still to come) But before that, we're going back to the 1980s for a couple of big experiments that are, in their own way, bright and bold success stories...