The comic 2000 AD in August of 1983 gave us Sláine Mac Roth, the feral warrior who fought ancient demons and demigods. The stories are all loosely based around Celtic mythology, so are full of primeval gore, guts and bloody axes. With of course strong elements of Robert E. Howard’s ‘Conan the Barbarian’ in there too. At the start of the series Sláine was a wanderer, banished from his tribe, the Sessair. He explored the Land of the Young (Irish Tír na nÓg) in the company of an unscrupulous dwarf called Ukko (Finnish for “old man”, and the name of the Finnish pagan Thunder god), fighting monsters and mercenaries in the fantasy tradition.
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Sláine, 2000AD are running a brand new Slaine series, ‘The Book of Scars’. Which reunites the most well known original artists Simon Bisley, Mick McMahon, Clint Langley and Glen Fabry.
Each Sláine artist was/is diverse gaving each story it’s own distinct look . Simon Bisley obliterated comic art boundaries of violence and nudity with the incredible full-colour paintings for Sláine: ‘The Horned God’. Which showed the comic was not just for kids. So it is great to have him return to the strip that made his name.
Glen Fabry gave us the fine detailed pen and ink illustrations on the H.P. Lovecraft inspired ‘Time Killer’ and Sláine: ‘The King’.
Mick McMahon gave us spectacular woodcut style etchings which gave the story much more of a sense of history and time.
And of course Clint Langley gave those great demonic characters in ‘Lord of Misrule’ and later photo-realistic digital illustrations in the ‘Books of Invasions’.
The story begins in 2000 AD Prog 1844, with Clint Langley’s tribute to the late Sláine artist Massimo Bellardinelli in ‘The Wickerman and the Bride of Crom’ (see below). It is available now from UK stockists and next month in the US, as well as 2000ADonline.com
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