2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[Max Headroom]

'Cauldron of Blood' has been reprinted in the trade 'Demon Killer' (albeit with a mistake), but 'Dragoncorpse' and 'Ring of Danu' never have (something I hope will be rectified somewhere in this Ultimate Collection series as these are the only ones in the whole of the Slaine story never to be published again).

[sintec]

even if some of the earlier stuff feels dated in the same way a lot of old 2000 AD does.

I knew going in that some of the material would be that way.  2000AD in the early days was aiming for a different audience and within a very different social context.  It's inevitable that some of that is going feel dated now, particularly to an adult audience.  It's mostly been pretty enjoyable so far (well maybe not the second half of Robo-hunter) although I'm not sure I'll be re-reading those volumes very often.

I'm glad to hear it's not all downhill and it's just had some slumps over the years.  With the Ultimate Collection mostly releasing stuff chronologically I was concerned we were going to get towards the end of the run and have 4-5 books of poor quallity Slaine to wade through in the last 12 months.  Sounds like that won't be entirely the case.

[abelardsnazz]

Just finished Zombo. It's all kinds of crazy, with seemingly random references to anything and everything, but it's never dull and Henry Flint's art is always fantastic. One volume may be enough though.

[Dark Jimbo]

Really nice to see the improved repro on Slaine vol.1 - the Warrior's Dawn story still suffers, and there's the odd page of Sky Chariots, but the bulk of it is massively improved on the Rebellion edition (which I sold just a few months ago ready for this version). Particularly pleased that the single-panel page of the skyblade warriors clashing is restored to its full glory!

[Magnetica]

even if some of the earlier stuff feels dated in the same way a lot of old 2000 AD does.

It certainly reads differently to the later stuff, but to me calling it "dated" has negative connotations that it doesn't deserve. The early books of Slaine are IMO as good as 2000AD gets (tied with stuff like Nemesis books 1,3,4,5,6).

Compare it to Invasion or MACH1. Now that's a whole other level of dated.

[DrRocka]

Odd you say that, Jimbo - for me the repro in this volume is the only thing that lets it down, particularly on the McMahon chapters. I wonder if it's an inconsistency, if you put two copies side by side there'd be differing levels of consistency?

[Dark Jimbo]

Odd you say that, Jimbo - for me the repro in this volume is the only thing that lets it down, particularly on the McMahon chapters. I wonder if it's an inconsistency, if you put two copies side by side there'd be differing levels of consistency?

It isn't great - still room for improvement for sure, but a big step up from the most recent Rebellion's Warrior's Dawn book.

[Mardroid]

I just went to my local W H Smith's to see if there was the latest issue of the Batman collection available. There wasn't.... but there was Slaine volume One of this series! First time I've seen the partworks series in my local so it's a nice surprise, especially as we're a few issues in now. Makes me wonder if someone in the area put in a subscription. He/she won't be getting this copy! 😁

I haven't read much of Slaine's earlier adventures before the Horned God, so this will be mostly new stuff, for me. Settled in the local coffee place with a coffee and some biscuits*, and about to have a look.... assuming I can get the wrapper off. 🤣 The book, not that biscuits.

*purchased, elsewhere. Hope they don't mind, I bought the coffee from them. Chocolate chunk cookies, just in case you in were interested.

[Grumpy Andrew]

Now I need to know how well those cookies went with the coffee.

[Mattofthespurs]

They do sound like good cookies.

[TordelBack]

Biscuit talk is best talk.

[Steve Green]

Hachette should do a biscuit-collection.

With a contentious jaffa cake extension.

[Mardroid]

Now I need to know how well those cookies went with the coffee.

They went very well, thank you.

As did the book, which I finished just now. (And those biscuits actually. A whole packet in two days. That's wrong, isn't it?) I was worried these earlier stories would feel very dated... but it was all good stuff, up there with much later stuff and better than a lot of the more recent stuff.

Some of the McMahon art was rather faint. (I'm referring to the literal shade of the line work here, a grey rather than a crisp black. Almost looks like it needs inking, but I don't think that's the case.) I'm not sure if that was a reproduction/source issue, but his later stuff in the Sky Chariots is much better.

Angela Kincaid's version of Slaine was great right from the beginning. A shame she didn't stick around for other stories, but I don't say that as a criticism of the other artists. They were all good. I particularly love Bellardinelli's depiction of the natural world. I spotted a couple of pine martens in one episode! They're pretty rare now.

A curiosity: I notice that Slaine's axe, Brain-biter changes in appearance in The Bride of Crom. In most of these earlier tales, including this story, he has the single axe blade ending in a point the other side, rather than the two bladed axe he uses in later stories (the one reproduced wonderfully by Planet Replicas).

In The Bride of Crom , he has the double bladed axe, he seems most famous for. He even climbs onto the Babds' house with it at the end of the episode. Then in Bride of  Crom episode 2 he is swinging the spikey axe... on that same roof. 😀

The first episode was drawn by Michael Bellardinelli after some McMahon work previously. I wonder if he had forgotten the type of axe Slaine used or just thought he'd try a different one, only to be told by editorial he had to change it back for the next episode. It certainly isn't just a change of style due to change of artist like the different takes on Dredd's lawgiver, since Bellardinelli drew the spikey axe previously .

Or maybe Slaine has two. Heh.

Interesting that the two bladed axe later became Slaine's default chopper.

[Magnetica]

Some of the McMahon art was rather faint. (I'm referring to the literal shade of the line work here, a grey rather than a crisp black. Almost looks like it needs inking, but I don't think that's the case.) I'm not sure if that was a reproduction/source issue, but his later stuff in the Sky Chariots is much better.

I haven't got the Ultimate Collection book so can't be certain what it looks like in that, but in the original Prog it did look how you describe. I think that was the look MaMahon was going for. It is also my understanding that Sky Chariots was actually drawn first.

Angela Kincaid's version of Slaine was great right from the beginning. A shame she didn't stick around for other stories, but I don't say that as a criticism of the other artists. They were all good.

My understanding was one of the reasons for this was she took an extra ordinarily long time to draw this episode. Something like a year and a half. But she is rightly lauded, especially by Pat (her husband at the time) for having the defined the look of Slaine and his world, all in that single episode.

A curiosity: I notice that Slaine's axe, Brain-biter changes in appearance in The Bride of Crom. In most of these earlier tales, including this story, he has the single axe blade ending in a point the other side, rather than the two bladed axe he uses in later stories (the one reproduced wonderfully by Planet Replicas).

In The Bride of Crom , he has the double bladed axe, he seems most famous for. He even climbs onto the Babds' house with it at the end of the episode. Then in Bride of  Crom episode 2 he is swinging the spikey axe... on that same roof. 😀

The first episode was drawn by Michael Bellardinelli after some McMahon work previously. I wonder if he had forgotten the type of axe Slaine used or just thought he'd try a different one, only to be told by editorial he had to change it back for the next episode. It certainly isn't just a change of style due to change of artist like the different takes on Dredd's lawgiver, since Bellardinelli drew the spikey axe previously .

Yes I noticed the changing axe when I re-read all this a couple of years ago. Differences between artists are common, especially on Dredd, but I did find it puzzling that the same artist would have such a variation.

(Assume you mean Massimo, not Michael.)

[Mardroid]

(Assume you mean Massimo, not Michael.)

Yes, sorry. That's who I meant.