Slaine

Sláine is one of the titles published in Two Thousand AD, focused on the fantastical adventures of Sláine mac Roth, an Irish Celt who can best be described as as a cross between Conan the Barbarian and Cúchulainn, the mythological Irish hero from the Ulster Cycle.

Initially an outcast exile for his seduction and impregnation of the intended future bride of the Sessair tribe's king, the strong-willed Niahm, Sláine roamed the Land of the Young with only his axe to defend him and the perverse dwarf Ukko for company. Rescuing a maiden doomed to sacrifice in a Wicker Man earned him her eternal enmity, for she was the witch Medb, disciple of the Lord Weird Slough Fegh, and devotee of Crom Cruach. When he returned to his tribe, Sláine became their king and the High King of the Tuatha de Danaan, leading wars against the demonic Formorians and Golahms, and traveling through time at the behest of Danu to interfere with the prehuman alien gods known as the Cythrons.


 * Action Girl: Quite a few, Niamh being the most prominent. The fact that Celtic people didn't have quite as many hang-ups about assertive warrior-women as most others is milked for all it's worth.
 * Alien Space Bats/Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: A Time Travel arc has Danu using Sláine to champion her cause through the ages, which has him helping out Boudicca and William Wallace (an amusingly closer to history version than the one from Braveheart) and being the actual Robin Goodfellow.
 * An Axe to Grind: Sláine's primary weapon is his massive stone-headed axe.
 * Anti-Hero: Sláine on a good day is a type 3, though he probably averages out at a type 4. On a bad day he's the "good guy" pretty much only because he kills even worse people stone dead.
 * Badass: He regularly takes on whole armies and eldritch abominations (even whole armies of eldritch abominations at times) and comes out on top, mostly through raw brutality - or supernatural powers that push that raw brutality Up to Eleven.
 * Black and Gray Morality: The villains in the series are monstrous, but the morality of the "heroes" is pretty twisted sometimes, adhering as it does to primeval Celtic codes. For example, to celebrate the victorious conclusion of the first war against the Formorians, King Gann mac Dela's own tribe sacrifice and eat him.
 * Blade on a Stick: When the axe is not available or not suitable, Sláine wields a massive spear called a Gáe Bolga, noted for its wickedly barbed tip and intended to be driven deep into an opponent's gut. There is also one of the Four Treasures of Danu, the Sun Spear, which never misses and always returns when thrown, and constantly thirsts for blood.
 * Catch Phrase: "He/I didn't think it too many." after either Ukko or Sláine recounts some tale in which he slaughters people in large quantities.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?
 * Eldritch Abomination: Avaggdu, Crom Cruach, Cythrons, Fomorians, Golahms, and Els all count to differing degrees.
 * Evil Eye: The leader of the Fomorians, Balor of the Evil Eye, natch.
 * Fan Service: Appart form the copious bloodshed, there's also the fact that many if not most female characters are scantily-clad über-babes.
 * Frazetta Man: The Avanc from the Horned God arc, though he turns out to be a Last of His Kind Woobie.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: Protagonists and antagonists both do this on a regular basis.
 * Gladiator Revolt: Sláine orchestrated a revolt amongst the Cythrons' human gladiators.
 * Gorn: Lots and lots of people and things are splattered all over the place.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Not a good thing here, as they tend to take after their more monstrous parent - Elfric, the most prominent, is a thoroughly depraved Humanoid Abomination.
 * Human Sacrifice: Used by both protagonists and antagonists alike.
 * I Call It Vera: Sláine's axe goes by the charmingly apt name of "Brainbiter".
 * Jerkass: Ukko manages to be a little bastard by both modern and in-story moral standards. He tends to remain mostly loyal to Sláine throughout, probably due to having a good sense of self-preservation.
 * Lovecraftian Superpower/One-Winged Angel: Sláine's "warp-spasm" causes him to mutate into grotesquely ugly forms while gaining incredible strength, resilience and bloodlust.
 * Night of the Living Mooks: Invoked by the "good" guys with the cauldron-born undead, who are used for the greatest battles (mostly against the Fomorians).
 * Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Averted. Dwarves in Sláine are ugly, rude, mostly hairless, lecherous, greedy, goblin-like creatures. They're thieves and scavengers, not warriors.
 * Our Elves Are Better: They're alien beings from the "Els-Where", dimensions that exist at right angles to our own. Malevolent ones are called "Dev-Els", while relatively neutral ones are called "Ang-Els".
 * Ralph Wiggum: Avaggdu. So terminally stupid that when tricked into biting his hands, he doesn't notice they're his and starts devouring himself until there's literally nothing left.
 * Rated "M" for Manly: Sometimes verging into Testosterone Poisoning. And it is awesome.
 * Religion of Evil: The cult of the Drunes established by the Lord Weird Slough Feg; any religion that has anything to do with the Cythrons.
 * Sidekick: Ukko the dwarf to Sláine, mostly a mix of Sarcastic Devotee, Poisonous Friend, Servile Snarker and (not so) Lovable Traitor. So yeah, he's pretty much a jerk 24/7.
 * Three Faces of Eve: Sláine's patron goddess, Danu, is a triple goddess who appears as Maiden, Mother and Crone. She also claims that she was originally supreme deity over all, but the Druids have worked to reduce her power by elevating male gods over her.
 * The Vamp: Medb really enjoys using her feminine charms to get her way.