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Sláine #3
Slaine: The King
Now available in paperback, writer Pat Mills (Marshal Law) is joined by artists Glenn Fabry (Preacher covers) and Mike McMahon (Judge Dredd) to bring you a world of mists and magic and the ultimate Celtic warrior, Slaine! This classic tale of sword and sorcery introduced 2000 AD readers and the comics world at large to a hero who makes Conan look like a boy scout. It was also the first part in what was become an epic saga chronicling the adventures of Slaine. Exiled from his tribe, Slaine is forced to roam the land of Tir-Nan-Og with his dwarf, Ukko. Ahead of him lie terrifying ordeals that will require all of Slaine's famed warrior strength if he is to return victorious and claim his rightful place as King!
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Pat Mills
747 books200 followersPat Mills, born in 1949 and nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since.
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 29, 2020
Containing the conclusion of the main story in the previous book, Sláine, Ukko, Nest and a group of warriors and a sorcerer are now facing the awakening of one of the old gods worshipped by the evil Cythrons, beings who have been 'harvesting' the aura of humans over vast periods of time to awaken their gods so that they may break out of their prison on ancient Earth and sow chaos in the galaxy.
With the completion of that tale, Sláine (and Ukko) travel with Nest to a strange and unusual country to fulfil a series of tasks and challenges as he prepares for the role of becoming king of his people. Now healed of his injuries after battling the Cythrons, Sláine continues his journey north back to his tribe, bearing with him a magical cauldron that can serve food; and death. Sláine's tribe is, by now, is under the heel of northern conquerors who came out of the cold. After a ritual that chooses Sláine as their new king, he prepares his tribe to throw off their conquerors and to rid their land of them. That would be the focus of the next book.
This book fleshes out some of the role of the various gods and goddess worshipped by the various tribes, both in the north and south of the land. While we may be more used to 'idealised' gods that are only good or bad, in Sláine's time the gods and goddess have various aspects or forms that interact with humanity and expect worship, sacrifices, wars and death to satisfy their various aspects. This add depth to Sláine's world, making it a more fascinating world to explore.
With the completion of that tale, Sláine (and Ukko) travel with Nest to a strange and unusual country to fulfil a series of tasks and challenges as he prepares for the role of becoming king of his people. Now healed of his injuries after battling the Cythrons, Sláine continues his journey north back to his tribe, bearing with him a magical cauldron that can serve food; and death. Sláine's tribe is, by now, is under the heel of northern conquerors who came out of the cold. After a ritual that chooses Sláine as their new king, he prepares his tribe to throw off their conquerors and to rid their land of them. That would be the focus of the next book.
This book fleshes out some of the role of the various gods and goddess worshipped by the various tribes, both in the north and south of the land. While we may be more used to 'idealised' gods that are only good or bad, in Sláine's time the gods and goddess have various aspects or forms that interact with humanity and expect worship, sacrifices, wars and death to satisfy their various aspects. This add depth to Sláine's world, making it a more fascinating world to explore.
June 23, 2022
Things get really good, Mills is starting to introduce a more interesting side to Slaine. Fabry's art is also insanely great.
April 27, 2022
A real classic but Kindle version has issues. . . .
I can still remember that wonderful day when my Mum bought home 2000 AD issue number 1 saying " I saw this new comic, thought you might like it more The Beano! "
Oh yeah, she was right (Mums always are) Saturday was the best day of the week in the 70s, we actually had a whole hour of childrens TV every Saturday morning, an entire hour! We had cartoons, Swap Shop, daft game shows and then Laurel & Hardy or over to BBC2 to watch Big Daddy defeat The Giant Haystacks yet again.
By the time our TV for the week was over Mum would be back from her weekly shop at the new supermarket in Cherrybrook that had 3 tills, 3! Can you imagine it?
The most important item Mum bought home was of course my copy of 2000 AD.
I would vanish to my bedroom and absorb every page, every image, every word like dry wood sucking up creosote.
This comic was quite literally life changing to me, aged 8 I was introduced to an entire plethora of characters and Worlds that I had never conceived before.
I was obsessed with Dinosaurs and was considered weird for it, a teacher at Furzeham Primary once asked " who cares about some stupid monsters that used to live when we were in caves? "
2000 AD had the fantastic Flesh series featuring all my favourite Dinosaurs which was a source of great pleasure but the greatest story, the best characters and my favourite art was in Slaine.
Being Welsh/Scottish this story struck a chord no other could, my Grand-dad used to tell me stories of the great Celtic heroes, Bran (whose bones now reside in the Tower of London and who still keeps his raven grounded there today) and the greatest Irish hero of all time, Cuchullain, a warrior of such fearsome repute he would warp in battle, changing appearance to some fearsome beast, slaying all foolish enough to stand before him.
So my joy was immense finding a 'version' of such a warrior in Slaine.
It was written for kids so is not too violent, does not contain bad language or nudity and is simply a fun adventure for kids to follow.
You could even class it as educational as you learn about Glastonbury, Arthurian legends, Celtic legends, tribalism and the history of Great Britain.
So come on Mum's, do your little boy a favour, introduce them to a classic from another age, a different century entirely and buy these comics.
Amazon does not have the entire catalogue on Kindle which is a shame and the original paper comics are obviously now collectors items ( when I think of the boxes full of old 2000 Ad's that got binned it knocks a decade off my life) and the way comics work on Kindle makes them more of a pleasure to read, as you swipe each image the next appears unexpectedly, akin to watching TV, rather than seeing a full page in its entirety you get one frame at a time but with this particular comic their are issues.
The frames are not always centered correctly meaning some of the image or some words are cut off so you must expand to a full page view but most annoying of all is that it does not always display each frame in order, it somehow goes, 1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 5 . . 4 . . 6, if you see what I mean, this is obviously annoying and is the first and only time I have seen this in a Kindle comic.
It is not the fault of Pat Mills or any of the amazing artists so I will not detract a star, 2000 Ad is worth a thousand stars, it is an Amazon problem and one I hope they can rectify as it does decrease the pleasure of reading this classic as it does become disjointed.
Regardless of this issue I still can not recommend these comics enough, whether they are new to you or like myself is an awesome blast from the past.
Do yourself or your kids a favour and introduce them to real British Hero, Slaine The Horned God!
I can still remember that wonderful day when my Mum bought home 2000 AD issue number 1 saying " I saw this new comic, thought you might like it more The Beano! "
Oh yeah, she was right (Mums always are) Saturday was the best day of the week in the 70s, we actually had a whole hour of childrens TV every Saturday morning, an entire hour! We had cartoons, Swap Shop, daft game shows and then Laurel & Hardy or over to BBC2 to watch Big Daddy defeat The Giant Haystacks yet again.
By the time our TV for the week was over Mum would be back from her weekly shop at the new supermarket in Cherrybrook that had 3 tills, 3! Can you imagine it?
The most important item Mum bought home was of course my copy of 2000 AD.
I would vanish to my bedroom and absorb every page, every image, every word like dry wood sucking up creosote.
This comic was quite literally life changing to me, aged 8 I was introduced to an entire plethora of characters and Worlds that I had never conceived before.
I was obsessed with Dinosaurs and was considered weird for it, a teacher at Furzeham Primary once asked " who cares about some stupid monsters that used to live when we were in caves? "
2000 AD had the fantastic Flesh series featuring all my favourite Dinosaurs which was a source of great pleasure but the greatest story, the best characters and my favourite art was in Slaine.
Being Welsh/Scottish this story struck a chord no other could, my Grand-dad used to tell me stories of the great Celtic heroes, Bran (whose bones now reside in the Tower of London and who still keeps his raven grounded there today) and the greatest Irish hero of all time, Cuchullain, a warrior of such fearsome repute he would warp in battle, changing appearance to some fearsome beast, slaying all foolish enough to stand before him.
So my joy was immense finding a 'version' of such a warrior in Slaine.
It was written for kids so is not too violent, does not contain bad language or nudity and is simply a fun adventure for kids to follow.
You could even class it as educational as you learn about Glastonbury, Arthurian legends, Celtic legends, tribalism and the history of Great Britain.
So come on Mum's, do your little boy a favour, introduce them to a classic from another age, a different century entirely and buy these comics.
Amazon does not have the entire catalogue on Kindle which is a shame and the original paper comics are obviously now collectors items ( when I think of the boxes full of old 2000 Ad's that got binned it knocks a decade off my life) and the way comics work on Kindle makes them more of a pleasure to read, as you swipe each image the next appears unexpectedly, akin to watching TV, rather than seeing a full page in its entirety you get one frame at a time but with this particular comic their are issues.
The frames are not always centered correctly meaning some of the image or some words are cut off so you must expand to a full page view but most annoying of all is that it does not always display each frame in order, it somehow goes, 1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 5 . . 4 . . 6, if you see what I mean, this is obviously annoying and is the first and only time I have seen this in a Kindle comic.
It is not the fault of Pat Mills or any of the amazing artists so I will not detract a star, 2000 Ad is worth a thousand stars, it is an Amazon problem and one I hope they can rectify as it does decrease the pleasure of reading this classic as it does become disjointed.
Regardless of this issue I still can not recommend these comics enough, whether they are new to you or like myself is an awesome blast from the past.
Do yourself or your kids a favour and introduce them to real British Hero, Slaine The Horned God!
Shelved as 'graphic-novels'
March 31, 2014February 8, 2021
The best of the early black and white Slaine collections, Fabry‘s art is fantastic and the stories are the most consistent and compelling so far.
November 11, 2018
Comparing this edition and the previous edition of Slaine, one thing is staggering: How quickly and how much the art of Glenn Fabry developed. From clumsy and try-too-hard to sweet and fluent and detailed goodness. Only for that art you should buy and read this.
The stories flutter from tedious boredom to good, violent, mysterious fun. But then again. this is written by Mills. To me, his stories are normally more boredom, so in this one, he is surprisingly good.
Not bad, not bad read at all.
The stories flutter from tedious boredom to good, violent, mysterious fun. But then again. this is written by Mills. To me, his stories are normally more boredom, so in this one, he is surprisingly good.
Not bad, not bad read at all.
December 28, 2019
Slaine goes against the supernatural Cythrons, Elfric, ancient gods and other adversaries. Great mysteries and world building from Pat Mills as well as some character development away from the Conan template.
June 29, 2022
Great art by Glenn Fabry
April 10, 2024
Brilliant turns of phrase and a simple yet wonderful interjoining series of tales of Slaine and Ukko make this a book I reread almost very year. Mills in the master of balancing so many elements and being able to make you chuckle at his dark humour and wonder at his ability to turn simple acts into glorious sentences that make you want to write like he does.
August 28, 2012
The Celtic Conan! Wonderful art by Glen Fabry, fun story and such laconic dialogue. Really liked the use of Celtic mythology too.
January 3, 2009
How do books get an average rating of over 5? But 14!!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews