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Sideshow Vote - To warp or not that is the question

Started by broodblik, 16 February, 2022, 04:05:43 AM

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broodblik

Slaine is surely one off 2000AD's well known and one off the most popular characters. It ran for a phenomenal 38 years in the prog. When The Horned God was released in the prog it was deemed as one of the best stories to grace the pages of the prog, to put it bluntly it was awesome.

Now many arcs later and on a few occasions, I have heard that Slaine should have ended with The Horned God saga. So here is the question for all:
-   Yes, it should have stopped: he should have kissed his axe
-   No, it should have continued: he didn't think it too many
-   Huh!!!, who is Slaine?

So cast your vote and say you say
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Funt Solo

#1
Well, The Horned God is overrated. I'm glad Slaine continued after that (on balance), because I really enjoyed the artistic output of some of the later books. Simon Davis's Slaine work is just excellent, as is Clint Langley's. Storywise, it does tend to meander and repeat itself, but it's often still very interesting. The examination of mental illness in The Brutania Chronicles made up for the SHOUTY DISEMBODIED GOD VOICE, for example.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Colin YNWA

Well I've made my feeling very clear elsewhere about Slaine and while I'm happy its continued for those that love it. Its had some lovely art, but that could have been used on other more interesting strips. To be honest its had some I don't like. No doubt its so popular and unique in the Prog that its brought readers and healthy sales in collections and more. Add to that the fact that I like some of the stories after Horned God, particularly the Roman chopping one.

So there are positives.

But this is a vote about how I feel and for me that's easy. The thrill has been baggage for the longest time and the highs in no way out weigh the lows so for me I say YES it should have stopped.

SmallBlueThing(Reborn)

If it had stopped at The Horned God, we would never have had The Books of Invasion, which are probably my most-beloved Slaine highlight. But even a bad Slaine story (of which there are a few) is better than most other strips, so the fact that it reached a peak early is no reason not to give this particular hoary old idea the contempt it deserves.

I'm of the mind that Judge Dredd's best ever story is The Apocalypse War, and it should never have continued past that. See how silly that is? (Though I do partially agree with it and Dredd mostly bores me stupid these days).

SBT

Richard

Slaine has always been hit and miss for me, both before and after The Horned God. If it had stopped there, we wouldn't have had The Swan Children, which I loved. So my vote is I'm glad it continued.

IndigoPrime

In hindsight, Sláine needs better editing. And I don't mean that as a slight on any Tharg: I mean, it needs a writer who's able to respect and respond to criticism, and adjust their work accordingly. There's a lot of good in Sláine, but also a lot of slog. It's astonishing how it can veer from the wonderful opening chapter of Brutania to what then followed.

I'm not sure the comic would have benefitted from axing the series after Horned God, but I'm also not sure the UC benefitted from collecting the entire run. I suppose it had no option, given the importance of the character to the Prog, but between Horned God and Invasions could so easily have been nothing at all (with the odd highlight, such as Swan Children, used as additional material in the back of a skinny volume). Then again, Mills would then have probably gone even more warp-spasm at Hachette had that been the case.

broodblik

So you still have a change to cast your vote I will it on Wednesday
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

JayzusB.Christ

I'm going to go with yes, it probably should have stopped after the Horned God.  I did enjoy some of what came after but his story was told then.   The Books of Invasions - well, great art obviously but there was no Ukko and Slaine had become a bit preachy.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Timothy

There has been some good stuff after HG, but nothing truly great. And there has been a lot of dross. I think it should have stopped on that high. The tale was told and it would have been a satisfying end. The end we did finally get seemed rushed.

Jim_Campbell

Frankly, they should have shut down the whole of comics after Sky Chariots. Comics should just have collectively looked at that and said "Yup. Doesn't get any better. We might as well all go home." [spoiler]:-)[/spoiler]
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

broodblik

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 20 February, 2022, 11:28:10 AM
Frankly, they should have shut down the whole of comics after Sky Chariots.....

Mmmm, just imagine the only reading material on Sunday afternoon Algebra 101 and for the adventurous Latin for Beginners
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

WhizzBang

No, it should have continued: he didn't think it too many

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: broodblik on 20 February, 2022, 01:00:36 PM
Mmmm, just imagine the only reading material on Sunday afternoon Algebra 101 and for the adventurous Latin for Beginners

Perhaps I shouldn't have put that smiley under a spoiler block...
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

The Legendary Shark

Quote from: broodblik on 20 February, 2022, 01:00:36 PM

Mmmm, just imagine the only reading material on Sunday afternoon Algebra 101 and for the adventurous Latin for Beginners


O quam cito transit gloria Sláine.

(-   Yes, it should have stopped: he should have kissed his axe.)

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