SLÁINE: THE HORNED GOD

The Return Of The King

RELEASED 27 MAY (Digital/limited edition hardback; paperback 3 September)

Publisher Rebellion

Writer Pat Mills

Artist Simon Bisley

In 2000 AD’s lengthy history, there are certain landmark stories that carry a weighty reputation, and only a few are as distinctive and memorable as Sláine: The Horned God. One of the first 2000 AD strips to embrace full colour and fully painted artwork, this epic saga now returns in a new collection.

First published from 1989–90, it sees the tale of axe-wielding Celtic barbarian Sláine shift into a different, more ambitiously mythic gear. The story picks up with Sláine as the newly crowned king of his tribe, and follows him as he embarks on a quest to recover four legendary treasures that will unite the warring tribes of the Land of the Young. The resulting intrigues pitch Sláine against the schemes of the witch Medb, and writer Pat Mills uses this conflict to take a typically subversive approach to heroic fantasy, while still serving up plenty of violent mayhem and knockabout humour.

While the script and the overall storytelling is engaging throughout, it’s the visuals that are the real highlight. Simon Bisley’s art remains a benchmark of crazed style and gonzo inventiveness, coming across like a drug-fuelled cross between Frank Frazetta and an Iron Maiden album cover.

Frequently imitated over the years but rarely equalled, Bisley’s art is an astonishing feat in comic art, giving the story a hallucinatory edge that’s frequently outrageous but also doesn’t blunt the story’s darker, more mythic moments.

It all adds up to a relentless, over-the-top comic experience. Saxon Bullock

Pat Mills created Sláine as a “polar opposite” to the establishment heroes he grew up with, like Biggles and Bond.