Slaine Query

[Emperor]

...which Time Killer gives as being the the three rays of power: the attributes of knowledge, truth and light.  It first appears on a borrowed Hero Harness in the arena in Cythrawl, and then becomes part of his kit.

That was one of my favourite Sláine scenes as a nipper... (Although to be fair there were so many.)

Note it is also a "three up, two down" symbol - the opposite to the sign of the horns (which recalls the inverted pentagram with its two upper points) which has links with the 23 enigma and beyond it the Law of Fives. See also the chat Spider-Man and Doctor Strange have at the end of Brendan McCarthy's Spider-Man: Fever, which has a lot of other occult ideas in like Crossing the Abyss and Chorizon.

It also makes you wonder what the Scouts are really about...

See also the Arwen:

Arwen - The arwen, also known as the symbol of three rays, was a symbol of the balance between male and female energy. The arwen, with three rays that were parallel to each other, was often used in jewelery. The first and last rays signified the powers of the 'male' and 'female' respectively. The middle ray signified the balance and equality of the other rays. Most of the experts of Celtic symbols and meanings, have interpreted that the arwen is a symbol that implies balance, between two opposing powers in the universe.

www.ancientsymbolsonline.com/celtic_symbols.html

[edit: Interesting it is seen as a symbol of order, which would contrast it with the crooked, outward-pointing arms of chaos, I assume.]

[Emperor]

Second question first:  the Drune Lords' symbol is the triskele, its real-world existence exhaustively waffled about here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskelion

In the story, it derives from the Cythron leader the Guledig's three-arms-on-a-big-fat-head body shape, and gets explicitly-if-vaguely linked to the Swastika at some point during Time Killer.

Prog 418 fact fans.

Here is the bit about the swastika from prog 418:



There is a more direct use of the triskelion by the Nazis here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskelion#Third_Reich_and_supremacist_uses

[Davek]

Thanks Emporer for that additional info re. the Arwen. 

As said above I am planning to read Time Killer for the first time very soon...

[James Stacey]

most importantly how has this thread existed so long without input from the mayor

[Emperor]

Kidnapped by the Cyth again, probably.

Thanks Emporer for that additional info re. the Arwen. 

As said above I am planning to read Time Killer for the first time very soon...

Should be fun, I remember at the time it was a change of gear for the story but one I really enjoyed. The main downside is that Glenn Fabry couldn't get it all done as David Pugh's art, while fitting stylistically with Fabry's, is a bit shaky (looking back on it when skimming through the other day and there are panels where he drops the ball), then again it was early work from him. It doesn't detract from the strength of the story though.

[Davek]

Kidnapped by the Cyth again, probably.

Thanks Emporer for that additional info re. the Arwen. 

As said above I am planning to read Time Killer for the first time very soon...

Should be fun, I remember at the time it was a change of gear for the story but one I really enjoyed. The main downside is that Glenn Fabry couldn't get it all done as David Pugh's art, while fitting stylistically with Fabry's, is a bit shaky (looking back on it when skimming through the other day and there are panels where he drops the ball), then again it was early work from him. It doesn't detract from the strength of the story though.

I've read Tomb of Terror and enjoyed that although wasnt overly keen on the Cythron main guy (forget his name now - little blob on legs!) and thought the same about some of Pugh's art.

Its Treasures of Britain after Time Killer for me (will have to read it all in order one day!) ...

[JOE SOAP]

Guledig.

[Davek]

Guledig.

Thats the one - got to be the least worrying bad guy Slaine has come up against 

[Emperor]

I'd imagine I'd be very worried if I met him in real life.

[SuperSurfer]

I really enjoyed that period of Slaine. Loved the scene when Slaine used a bad guy as a battering ram.

I actually preferred Pugh's art to Fabry's at the time. Now I know Fabry would have been considered technically superior to Pugh but I liked the boldness of Pugh's art.

[TordelBack]

Me too.  His perspective and proportions were (and remain) a little odd, but I just loved the energy and the expressions.  Fabry's stuff is beautiful and probably ties with Bolland for the most technically precise art to ever appear in the Prog (Ranson and Davis are up there too), and I just love looking at his environments, facxes and costumes, but it is somewhat static in comparison to Pugh's rambunctious gurning and bulging. 

[SuperSurfer]

...Pugh's rambunctious gurning and bulging.

Brilliantly put. Sheesh, all I could think of was "boldness".

[Dandontdare]

I really enjoyed that period of Slaine.

I, on the other hand, thought a decent fantasy strip has totally jumped the shark during that period - I mean when dildo-hatted Merlin starts handing out ley-ser pistols (ley lines- geddit?) and essentially playing a big game of dungeons and dragons through time - gimme a break!

Well, if the story was naff, at least the art was pretty. (which is something I've said often about Slaine over the decades, including the Clint Langley period)

[SuperSurfer]

... when dildo-hatted Merlin starts handing out ley-ser pistols (ley lines- geddit?) and essentially playing a big game of dungeons and dragons through time - gimme a break!

Ah the ley-ser pistols. Indeed. Forgot about those.

Can't imagine they are the next must have product from Planet Replicas.

[Ancient Otter]

The last time Titan put out Slaine collections, Pat Mills mentioned in one of them about a French comic called Les Armées du Conquérant which he said was a big influence on him for Slaine. I got this recently and this thread reminds me I should do scans for the board soon.

I haven't a lick of French so I haven't a clue what the story is about but art wise, close to Bryan Talbot during The Adventures of Luther Arkwright era.