Sláine, ranked part 19: Housekeeping

 ...Because nothing says 'Pagan Goddess-worship' like trying to tie-up loose ends.

A Langley Star Scan

Let's turn to the age-old question of 'Where to start with Sláine'?

Sláine Publisher Rebellion has THIS list of five collections to get you going.
1. Warrior's Dawn
2. Sláine the King
3. The Horned God
4. Demon Killer
5. Dragon Tamer

-hard to argue with the first three, especially when you factor in that the 'the King' collection actually opens with Tomb of Terror, so you get some mad D&D style goodness in there. But unless you're a big Fabry nut or really into Roman iconography, I wouldn't then jump to Demon Killer and Dragon Tamer. Frankly, I think a complete newbie (who is unlikely to be reading this blog, and certainly not this final posting first!!), you might have more fun jumping around a bit. How about...

1. The Horned God - because that's the collection you're most likely to find / have recommended to you anyway.
2. Sláine the Wanderer - because it gives a super fun flavour of the general 'Sláine and Ukko having random adventures' bit, but feels more modern than Horned God.
3. The King - because you get the bit of roleplaying-era Sláine, the atypical but fascinating Spoils of Annwyn, and the weirdly riveting political intrigue of The King.
4. Treasures of Britain - because it's the best of the 'let's retell British mythology the Sláine way'
5. Psychopomp - because you won't have a clue what's going on but you'll get some fun bits of Sláine's backstory, and the general sense that the series is a) mad and b) neverending.

Yeah, I haven't said anything about the Sláine RPGs or indeed that one Sláine novel.
I haven't played/read any of them...
Art by Jason Brashill

Anyway, never mind the practical stuff, what do people who've read ALL of Sláine actually think are the best ever Sláine stories? Although the scores in my ranking have shaken out one way, the resulting Top 10 is not in fact the same as my own personal favourite Sláine list.*

Admittedly I have not searched very hard, but I can't find much in the way of 'what's the best Sláine' chat on the internet. On the 2000AD forums, the closest people come to is discussion of 'should Sláine have ended with the Horned God'...

...Answer: NO, but it was close! With a few people saying it could’ve/should’ve ended after the Books of Invasions. (I have revised my own opinion after casting my own vote, I should say!)

Otherwise there's plenty of debate about who the best Sláine artist was...

...Answer: A tie! Between Glenn Fabry and Mike McMahon

with Simon Bisley in 3^rd, then Massimo Belardinelli in 4^th…
And after that it’s a free-for-all.

From reading around those and other threads, my suspicion is that a consensus list of most-loved Sláine stories, in chronological order, is:

The Time Monster
Sky Chariots
Sláine the King
The Horned God
The Swan Children
The Books of Invasions (although there were some serious complaints about the Moloch/Niamh rape scene)
-and there's quite a lot of love for the first Brutania Chronicles

The most divisive tale, many decades later, is STILL Time Killer/Tomb of Terror, with many who adore it and many who think it’s where the series went wrong!
I think many long-term readers have softened on the ‘Quantum Salmon Leap’ era (thanks Funt Solo for that gem!) – people I think on the whole are fond of Demon Killer (am guessing mostly for the art) and also ‘the Robin Hood one’ (aka Name of the Sword/Lord of Misrule).

There's one other place on the internet where a sort-of ranking for Sláine has occurred, the mighty Slings & Arrows website. Comics critic Jamie McNeil (No idea who he is, but he writes comic criticism with more authority than me!) has reviewed and rated all the GN collections:

Here’s his ranking of those collections. He's not a Glenn Fabry guy, I'm guessing.

4.5 stars:
The Horned God
Treasures of Britain
Books of Invasions 2

4 stars:
Warriors Dawn
Books of Invasions 1

3.5 stars:
Brutania 4

3 stars:
The King
Demon Killer
Lord of Misrule
Lord of Beasts
The Wanderer
Brutania 1 + 3
DragonTamer

2.5 stars:
Brutania 2
Book of Scars
The Grail War
Time Killer

For more long-form Sláine reads, do also check out:

The 1919 Review, which offers a four-part examination of Sláine, the whole lot of it, and with some far more thought-out insights than I managed.
Part 1 is all about how good the run up to the end of the Horned God is, except for Time Killer which he HATES. And then, he waxes lyrical about how the first part of the 'time-travel' era is, perhaps EVEN BETTER than the early days stuff. Hot take alert!

Sláine as Smash Hits pin-up star!
Art by Nick Percival

Part 2 is a detailed examination of the themes and historicity / mythoricity of Demon Killer. Fascinating!

Part 3 is behind a Wordpress paywall. If you wish, you'll find some righteous but FURIOUS anger at certain details of Books of Invasions, which I have to say I did not get at all from reading the story - and you'll also get his Top 5 stories, which I won't spoil.

Part 4 (also paywalled) is a pleasingly solid paean to DragonTamer, which I heartily endorse.

For a shorter, free-r read, check out this short but heartfelt defence of Sláine as a feminist comic

THE END

Art probably by Robin Smith?

*I'm hiding this down the bottom, just for fun, because I've attempted to splurge this out without thinking about it too much - my Top 10 favourite aka 'the Sláine stories I most look forward toreading again (and again) are: 1. Tomb of Terror 2. Bride of Crom 3. Horned God II 4. Secret of the Grail. 5. Sky Chariots 6. The Gong Beater 7. Odacon 8. Spoils of Annwyn 9. DragonTamer 10. Dragon Heist