Not in a million years! Even though the print quality and lettering style hints at a British book; that would've just suggested
Doctor Who: there's a real
Sutekh feel to it. (
Pyramids of Mars was 1975, so well could've been an influence.) Even the title hints at the Doctor, but nope! From 1988,
Slaine the Berserker #7, reprinting "Time Killer" from 1985's
2000 AD #411/
#412/
#413, written by Pat Mills, art by Glenn Fabry. (We saw those progs a couple months back, with
Halo Jones!
I've read a little bit of
Slaine, but not enough; and as a foreign devil I'm not as well-versed in Celtic folklore. Which is probably why he doesn't have the same following in America that
Judge Dredd does, since it feels like he should have more overlap with Conan fans. Maybe he does: I hit a vein of these in the dollar bins a while ago, and I don't recall ever seeing them before! This particular issue feels like the serial was taking a more sci-fi bend, with the heroes drawn away from their usual quest northward to Slaine's homeland, into a battle between the alien Cythrons and the "Ever-Living Ones." The Cythrons were using "one of the root races of men," Diluvials as their troops, fierce monsters with bony exoskeletons, who liquify their foes with sonic vibrations! Slaine does pretty well against them, before appropriating a forbidden "leyser gun" to blast them! As he battles the Cythron commander, his ride, the dragon Knucker, kills a dragon on the other side, and makes Slaine an enemy: Mogrooth. But they might be forced to work together against the Cythrons, even though Slaine would rather have his skull as a trophy...
Also this issue: a couple progs of
Blackhawk, a Nubian Roman centurion turned alien arena gladiator. This month, Blackhawk and his alien sidekick Ursa make a daring if not particularly well thought out escape, as they get as far as an escape ship before realizing neither of them had any idea how to pilot it. (From 1979's
2000 AD and Tornado #136/
#137, written by "Alvin Gaunt" (Alan Grant!) and art by Massimo Belardinelli.) The Wiki there mentions it was one of three strips from
Tornado that survived the merge with
2000 AD, but it feels pretty standard, which why he might be best remembered for complaining to
2000 AD's editor Tharg the Mighty about not getting a revival, when Ace Garp got one! I definitely like Blackhawk better than
Ace Trucking, Co. though.
I'm still amazed at the concept of Glenn Fabry interior art, as I'm used to his traditional painted covers, so this is definitely a surprising revelation for me. Makes wonder what his non-painted art looks like now then as surely it's had to have progressed from what it looks like here.
ReplyDeleteBlackhawk huh? A little too on the nose isn't it? How did DC not find this out & sue them for using the Blackhawk name?
Eh, DC didn't really care about Blackhawk again yet in the 70's when this story first started. Plus, European trademark laws are a bit more lax I believe- something like that. They've gotten away with similar names for different premises before.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that this one came up when it did- 2000 AD just did a podcast to memorialize Alan Grant, plus there were a couple of strips in their recent Christmas special (including an Ace Trucking one!) that did the same. I think your issue with Ace Trucking may be similar to why Slaine doesn't have as much traction over here- it's a somewhat more European concept.
But yeah, this one was a real right turn for Slaine. The story before and after were both real D&D style quests (the one after even had an RPG that went along with it). That's just Pat Mills for you though- sometimes he'll get stuck on an idea and will shift one of his series to fit it in. It happened all the time with Nemesis the Warlock.
I’m guessing since he was such a minor character that was only widely seen overseas, there wasn’t much point in getting the lawyers involved. Had this been during the 40’s & 50’s though I’d imagine they might not have been so inclined to let it go.
DeleteNot sure they'd have known about it in the 40's and 50's- I don't think DC or Marvel even were aware of the British comics industry until the late 60's/early 70's.
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