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Science-fiction comic series set on an Earth-like alien planet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, later shortened to The Trigan Empire, was a science fiction comic series written mainly by Mike Butterworth with artwork (initially watercolours, later gouache) by Don Lawrence, among others. It told the story of an alien culture in which futuristic technology, such as antigravity vehicles and energy ray weapons, was blended with architecture, dress, and customs reminiscent of ancient civilizations, the most obvious being those of Ancient Greece and Rome. The stories revolved around a strong and heroic leader who defended his empire from constant threats from both outside and within. The comic featured unique artwork by Don Lawrence in a painterly photo-realistic style.
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| The Trigan Empire | |
|---|---|
Tales From the Trigan Empire, 1989 | |
| Created by | Mike Butterworth Don Lawrence |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher |
|
| Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) Ranger and Look and Learn. |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | September 1965 – April 1982 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Mike Butterworth Ken Roscoe |
| Artist(s) | Don Lawrence Ernest Ratcliff Ron Embleton Miguel Quesada Philip Corke Oliver Frey Gerry Wood |
| Reprints | |
| Collected editions | |
| The Look and Learn Book of the Trigan Empire (1973) | ISBN 0-85037-104-X |
| The Trigan Empire (1978) | ISBN 0-600-38788-7 |
| Tales from the Trigan Empire (1989) | ISBN 0-948248-95-5 |
| The Trigan Empire (The Don Lawrence Collection) (2004-2008) (12 vols) | ISBN 90-73508-54-1 |
| The Rise and Fall of The Trigan Empire (2020- ) | ISBN 978-1-78108-755-8 |
The series initially ran from 1965 to 1982, dealing with the long-past events of an empire on the distant planet of Elekton. Heavily influenced by mythological tales, a number of the societies seemed to be based on ancient cultures that had existed in history. Chief among these was the Trigan Empire, apparently modelled on Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. This similarity even extended to Trigan City, the capital being built on five hills, in a similar fashion to the seven hills of Rome. The Trigans' clothing was similar to that of the Romans, with many of the populace dressed in toga-like garments, or in the case of the soldiery, in Greek or Roman-style armour. A similar likeness could be drawn with Hericon, the chief rival in power to the Trigans, whose appearance seemed to mirror that of elements of the Byzantine Empire, and the Persian Empire.
According to Butterworth: "The original Impetus was from that veritable genius Leonard Matthews, then my senior group editor when I was editing Sun and Comet. He threw the first introductory script at me and told me to take it from there. He had no idea where to further it but he knew where to look for a guy who did."
The first strip told of a spaceship crashing into a swamp on Earth, the crew frozen to death, with many written volumes inside in an unknown language. After many years, the spaceship is turned into the central attraction of an amusement park. Eventually, at a very advanced age, a scientist—Peter Richard Haddon—who has studied the books from the spaceship as a young man manages to translate the volumes, and begins to relate the tales.
The Trigans began as a nomadic tribe called the Vorgs, with no technology, initially under the leadership of three brothers, Trigo, Brag and Klud. Trigo persuades his more conservative brothers that in the face of changing events, namely the ambitions of the Lokan Empire, they must settle. The fledgling Trigan nation is established via a merger of the nomadic Vorgs and the technically advanced people of Tharv (who arrived as refugees to the Plains of Vorg after they were defeated by the Lokans) under the leadership of Trigo, with the trappings of a Romanesque civilization with swords, lances and Roman-style clothing, but with high-tech ray guns, aircraft and a high-tech navy. In a later story, the Trigans create a rocketship in months to fly to one of Elekton's moons. Several of the other civilizations show a similar blend of low and high tech.
The strip debuted in the first issue of the British magazine Ranger in September 1965 and then in the British Look and Learn magazine from issue #232 (June 1966) when the two titles merged after the 40th issue of Ranger. Both titles were weekly educational magazines designed for children; although mainly filled with educational features on life, history, science and technology, both contained a small comic strip section in each issue. Unusually for a British comic, the strip was printed in colour.
The series ran in Look and Learn until the title ceased publication with issue #1049, in April 1982, comprising a run of 854 issues in total, divided between the two magazines.
In addition to the weekly strips, a very small number of Trigan Empire stories were published in Ranger annuals and a Vulcan summer special.
In 1975–1976, the series thus far was reprinted in its original sequential order, in Vulcan, a weekly glossy-format comic, which reprinted the strips in full colour, albeit edited and resized, alongside colour reprints of other British comics serials of the 1960s.
There were a number of reprints in hardback format. In 1978, Hamlyn Publishing in the United Kingdom printed a hardback collection of early Trigan Empire stories titled simply The Trigan Empire; this was reprinted in the United States by Chartwell Publishing. Other than Lawrence's signature being visible on the title-page art, neither he nor Butterworth are credited in this edition. A later collection, also in hardback, was printed by Hawk Publishing in 1989 as Tales from the Trigan Empire. Both the Hamlyn and the Hawk books presented edited versions of the stories; most notably, in the Hawk book there are sometimes entire pages that have been left out. Several stories were repeated in both collections, but The Trigan Empire collection has the earliest, showing the establishment of the Empire.
In 2004–2008, the stories drawn by Don Lawrence were reprinted by the Don Lawrence Collection in luxury hardback limited editions. These editions contain the complete stories, without any of the omissions that were a feature of the earlier reprints, particularly the Hawk Publishing book. They were not reprinted from Look and Learn; in many cases they were printed from the original artwork, and used revised fonts to make the text easier to read.
The rights to The Trigan Empire were bought by Rebellion Developments in 2018.[1] Initial plans were to publish the sequence drawn by Lawrence in four volumes; a first volume appeared in March 2020, a second in December 2020, and a third in July 2021.[2][3] The second and third volumes included stories from the 1960s and early 1970s not illustrated by Lawrence, raising the question whether serials drawn by other artists during the later years of the strip would be included in subsequent volumes.[4] The fourth volume (2022) similarly included serials from the mid-1970s drawn by artists other than Lawrence. A fifth volume (2023) completed Lawrence's own sequence in order of original publication and also included six of the ten stories illustrated by Oliver Frey. The sixth volume, announced for publication in July 2025, will include the four remaining stories illustrated by Frey and nine stories illustrated by Gerry Wood.
From its start in 1965 until 1976, the series was mainly created by writer Mike Butterworth and artist Don Lawrence. For stories in two Ranger annuals and some fill-in serials, other artists made a contribution. During a sabbatical, Philip Corke replaced Don Lawrence. From mid-1976 until the end of 1977, Oliver Frey was the artist. In 1978, Ken Roscoe took over the writing, and concluded the series with artist Gerry Wood.
Although there were no official titles for most of the stories, the following table lists the commonly used names in order of first publication.
| # | Title | Writer | Artist | Pages | First publication |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Victory for the Trigans" | MB | DL | 40 | from Ranger 18-09-1965 until 29-01-1966 |
| 2 | "Crash in the Jungle" | MB | DL | 6 | from Ranger 05-02-1966 until #23 - 19-02-1966 |
| 3 | "Elekton in Danger", a.k.a. "The Falling Moon" | MB | DL | 28 | from Ranger 26-02-1966 until #37 - 28-05-1966 |
| 4 | "The Invaders from Gallas" | MB | DL | 18 | from Ranger 04-06-1966 until Look and Learn #237 - 30-07-1966 |
| 5 | "The Land of No Return", a.k.a. "The Legend of Hellas" | MB | DL | 10 | from Look and Learn #238 - 06-08-1966 until #242 - 03-09-1966 |
| 6 | "The Wise Man of Vorg" | ? | ER | 8 | Ranger Book 1967 (available from 08-10-1966) |
| 7 | "The Lokan Conspiracy", a.k.a. "The Revolt of the Lokans" | MB | DL | 26 | from Look and Learn #243 - 10-09-1966 until #255 - 03-12-1966 |
| 8 | "War with Hericon", a.k.a. "Truce with Hericon" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #256 - 10-12-1966 until #264 - 04-02-1967 |
| 9 | "Revolution in Zabriz" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #265 - 11-02-1967 until #273 - 08-04-1967 |
| 10 | "The Lokan Invasion", a.k.a. "Vannu's Poison" | MB | DL | 12 | from Look and Learn #274 - 15-04-1967 until #279 - 20-05-1967 |
| 11 | "The Revenge of Darak" | MB | DL | 22 | from Look and Learn #280 - 27-05-1967 until #290 - 05-08-1967 |
| 12 | "The Three Aliens", a.k.a. "The Alien Invasion" | MB | DL | 14 | from Look and Learn #291 - 12-08-1967 until #297 - 23-09-1967 |
| 13 | "The Brief Reign of Sennos the First" | MB? | RE | 8 | from Ranger Book 1968 (available from 28-10-1967) |
| 14 | "The Reign of Thara", a.k.a. "Battle for Trigan City" | MB | DL | 38 | from Look and Learn #298 - 30-09-1967 until #316 - 03-02-1968 |
| 15 | "Voyage to the Moon Bolus", a.k.a. "The Invasion of Bolus" | MB | DL | 30 | from Look and Learn #317 - 10-02-1968 until #331 - 18-05-1968 |
| 16 | "The Three Princes" | MB | DL | 62 | from Look and Learn #332 - 25-05-1968 until #362 - 21-12-1968 |
| 17 | "Poison from Outer Space", a.k.a. "The Alien Dust" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #363 - 28-12-1968 until #370 - 15-02-1969 |
| 18 | "The Lost City" | MB | DL | 24 | from Look and Learn #371 - 22-02-1969 until #382 - 10-05-1969 |
| 19 | "The Terror of Mount Spyx" | MB | RE | 16 | from Look and Learn #383 - 17-05-1969 until #390 - 05-07-1969 |
| 20 | "The Invisibility Ray", a.k.a. "False Accusation" | MB | DL | 14 | from Look and Learn #391 - 12-07-1969 until #397 - 23-08-1969 |
| 21 | "The Deadly Formula", a.k.a. "The Ultimate Weapon" | MB | DL | 10 | from Look and Learn #398 - 30-08-1969 until #402 - 27-09-1969 |
| 22 | "The Tyrant" | MB | DL | 26 | from Look and Learn #403 - 04-10-1969 until #415 - 27-12-1969 |
| 23 | "The Red Death" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #416 - 03-01-1970 until #424 - 28-02-1970 |
| 24 | "The Puppet Emperor" | MB | DL | 28 | from Look and Learn #425 - 07-03-1970 until #438 - 06-06-1970 |
| 25 | "Trigo's Five Tasks", a.k.a. "The Five Labours of Trigo" | MB | DL | 46 | from Look and Learn #439 - 13-06-1970 until #461 - 14-11-1970 |
| 26 | "The Menace From The Sea", a.k.a. "The Menace from the Deep" † | MB | DL | 24 | from Look and Learn #461 - 14-11-1970 until #473 - 06-02-1971 |
| 27 | "The Giant Rallus", a.k.a. "The Rallu Invasion" | MB | DL | 14 | from Look and Learn #474 - 13-02-1971 until #480 - 27-03-1971 |
| 28 | "The City of Jewels" † | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #480 - 27-03-1971 until #488 - 22-05-1971 |
| 29 | "The Imposter", a.k.a. "The Unscrupulous Servant" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #489 - 29-05-1971 until #496 - 17-07-1971 |
| 30 | "The Duplication Machine", a.k.a. "The Duplicator" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #496 - 17-07-1971 until #505 - 18-09-1971 |
| 31 | "The Masked Raiders", a.k.a. "Revenge of a Friend" | MB | DL | 22 | from Look and Learn #506 - 25-09-1971 until #516 - 04-12-1971 |
| 32 | "The Prisoner of Zerss" † | MB | DL | 20 | from Look and Learn #516 - 04-12-1971 until #526 - 12-02-1972 |
| 33 | "The Miniature Killers of Zelph", a.k.a. "The Black Duke" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #527 - 19-02-1972 until #534 - 08-04-1972 |
| 34 | "The Hypnotist", a.k.a. "Doran the Hypnotist" | MB | MQ | 12 | from Look and Learn #535 - 15-04-1972 until #540 - 20-05-1972 |
| 35 | "The Wish Fulfiller", a.k.a. "The Black Box" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #541 - 27-05-1972 until #549 - 22-07-1972 |
| 36 | "The Fiendish Experiment", a.k.a. "The Hydro Man" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #550 - 29-07-1972 until #558 - 23-09-1972 |
| 37 | "The Curse of King Yutta" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #559 - 30-09-1972 until #567 - 25-11-1972 |
| 38 | "The Lost Years" | MB | DL | 22 | from Look and Learn #568 - 02-12-1972 until #578 - 10-02-1973 |
| 39 | "Journey to Orcadia", a.k.a. "Atomic Disaster!" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #579 - 17-02-1973 until #587 - 14-04-1973 |
| 40 | "The Secret of Castle Doum" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #588 - 21-04-1973 until #596 - 16-06-1973 |
| 41 | "The House of the Five Moons" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #597 - 23-06-1973 until #605 - 18-08-1973 |
| 42 | "A National Emergency", a.k.a. "The Outlaw Planet" | MB | DL | 10 | from Look and Learn #606 - 25-08-1973 until #610 - 22-09-1973 |
| 43 | "The Palace of Peril", a.k.a. "The Glass Palace" | MB | DL | 4 | from Look and Learn #611 - 29-09-1973 until #612 - 06-10-1973 |
| 44 | "Evil from Outer Space", a.k.a. "Terror from Tarron" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #613 - 13-10-1973 until #620 - 01-12-1973 |
| 45 | "The Curse of the Sun Worshippers", a.k.a. "The Sun Worshippers" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #621 - 08-12-1973 until #629 - 02-02-1974 |
| 46 | "The Zootha Vorgs", a.k.a. "The Rogue Planet" | MB | MQ | 10 | from Look and Learn #630 - 09-02-1974 until #634 - 09-03-1974 |
| 47 | "The Sea Creatures", a.k.a. "The Melting Ice Caps" | MB | PC | 20 | from Look and Learn #635 - 16-03-1974 until #644 - 18-05-1974 |
| 48 | "The Youth Serum", a.k.a. "The Elixir of Eternal Youth" | MB | PC | 16 | from Look and Learn #645 - 25-05-1974 until #652 - 13-07-1974 |
| 49 | "The Assassin", a.k.a. "Zith the Assassin" | MB | PC | 16 | from Look and Learn #653 - 20-07-1974 until #660 - 07-09-1974 |
| 50 | "The Deadly Seeds", a.k.a. "The Alien Seeds" | MB | PC | 14 | from Look and Learn #661 - 14-09-1974 until #667 - 26-10-1974 |
| 51 | "Emperor Z", a.k.a. "The Stone of Vorg" | MB | PC | 20 | from Look and Learn #668 - 02-11-1974 until #677 - 04-01-1975 |
| 52 | "The Heat Controller", a.k.a. "The Weather Controller" | MB | PC | 16 | from Look and Learn #682 - 08-02-1975 until #689 - 29-03-1975 |
| 53 | "The Time Traveller", a.k.a. "The Man from the Future" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #690 - 05-04-1975 until #698 - 31-05-1975 |
| 54 | "The Rocketeer", a.k.a. "The Mission of Lukaz Rann" | MB | DL | 20 | from Look and Learn #699 - 07-06-1975 until #708 - 09-08-1975 |
| 55 | "The Convicts", a.k.a. "Torga's Mind Controller" | MB | DL | 18 | from Look and Learn #709 - 16-08-1975 until #717 - 11-10-1975 |
| 56 | "The Gambler", a.k.a. "Nastor, the Faith Healer" | MB | DL | 12 | from Look and Learn #718 - 18-10-1975 until #723 - 22-11-1975 |
| 57 | "The Ultimate Collection", a.k.a. "The Millionaire" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #724 - 29-11-1975 until #731 - 17-01-1976 |
| 58 | "The Dryaks", a.k.a. "The Green Smog" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #732 - 24-01-1976 until #739 - 13-03-1976 |
| 59 | "The Nobes", a.k.a. "The Lost Valley" | MB | DL | 16 | from Look and Learn #740 - 20-03-1976 until #747 - 08-05-1976 |
| 60 | "Atomic Fallout", a.k.a. "The Fallout Menace" | MB | DL | 10 | from Look and Learn #748 - 15-05-1976 until #752 - 12-06-1976 |
| 61 | "Vengeance!", a.k.a. "The Disappeared", a.k.a. "The Satellite Mystery" | MB | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #753 - 19-06-1976 until #760 - 07-08-1976 |
| 62 | "The Zallus", a.k.a. "The Labours of Janno", a.k.a. "Janno's Desert Ordeal" | MB | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #761 - 14-08-1976 until #768 - 02-10-1976 |
| 63 | "The Street Sweeper", a.k.a. "Fortune and Consequences", a.k.a. "The Deception of Krusi" | MB | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #769 - 09-10-1976 until #776 - 27-11-1976 |
| 64 | "The Time Machine", a.k.a. "Janno's 'Out-of-Time' Mind" | MB | OF | 10 | from Look and Learn #777 - 04-12-1976 until #781 - 01-01-1977 |
| 65 | "The Frozen People", a.k.a. "Sedda's Plot" | MB | OF | 20 | from Look and Learn #782 - 08-01-1977 until #791 - 12-03-1977 |
| 66 | "Abdication", a.k.a. "The Imperial Walkabout" | MB | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #792 - 19-03-1977 until #799 - 07-05-1977 |
| 67 | "Dr. Mazaratto's Elixir" | MB | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #800 - 14-05-1977 until #807 - 02-07-1977 |
| 68 | "The Digger", a.k.a. "The Ghost in the Machine" | MB | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #808 - 09-07-1977 until #815 - 27-08-1977 |
| 69 | "The Stolen Plans" | MB | OF | 8 | from Look and Learn #816 - 03-09-1977 until #819 - 24-09-1977 |
| 70 | "The Curse of Zonn", a.k.a. "The Manipulators of Chaos" | MB | GW | 12 | from Look and Learn #820 - 01-10-1977 until #825 - 05-11-1977 |
| 71 | "Battle for Survival", a.k.a. "Cato Attacks" | ? | OF | 16 | from Look and Learn #826 - 12-11-1977 until #833 - 31-12-1977 |
| 72 | "The Killer" | KR | GW | 20 | from Look and Learn #834 - 07-01-1978 until #843 - 11-03-1978 |
| 73 | "The Rival", a.k.a. "Eruption!" | KR | GW | 16 | from Look and Learn #844 - 18-03-1978 until #851 - 06-05-1978 |
| 74 | "The Trigonium Thieves" | KR | GW | 16 | from Look and Learn #852 - 13-05-1978 until #859 - 01-07-1978 |
| 75 | "Chase For a Traitor" | KR | GW | 12 | from Look and Learn #860 - 08-07-1978 until #865 - 12-08-1978 |
| 76 | "The Voyage of the Perici", a.k.a. "Sub Mission" | KR | GW | 12 | from Look and Learn #878 - 11-11-1978 until #883 - 16-12-1978 |
| 77 | "The Flowers of Forgetfulness" | KR | GW | 28 | from Look and Learn #884 - 23-12-1978 until #897 - 31-03-1979 |
| 78 | "Rebellion in Daveli" | KR | GW | 28 | from Look and Learn #898 - 07-04-1979 until #911 - 07-07-1979 |
| 79 | "A Tragic Misunderstanding", a.k.a. "Ice upon Hericon" | KR | GW | 24 | from Look and Learn #912 - 14-07-1979 until #923 - 29-09-1979 |
| 80 | "The Zabriz Conspiracy" | KR | GW | 26 | from Look and Learn #932 - 01-12-1979 until #944 - 23-02-1980 |
| 81 | "Trigan's Deadly Peril", a.k.a. "Shipwreck Peril" | KR | GW | 22 | from Look and Learn #945 - 01-03-1980 until #955 - 28-06-1980 |
| 82 | "The Skorpiads" | KR | GW | 28 | from Look and Learn #956 - 05-07-1980 until #969 - 04-10-1980 |
| 83 | "The Zolt Exodus" | KR | GW | 32 | from Look and Learn #983 - 10-01-1981 until #998 - 25-04-1981 |
| 84 | "Terror of the Skorpiads" | KR | GW | 28 | from Look and Learn #999 - 02-05-1981 until #1012 - 01-08-1981 |
| 85 | "Search Mission", a.k.a. "The Quest of Fidelius" | KR | GW | 30 | from Look and Learn #1013 - 08-08-1981 until #1027 - 14-11-1981 |
| 86 | "Alien Mission", a.k.a. "Bad Moon Arising" | KR | GW | 24 | from Look and Learn #1028 - 21-11-1981 until #1039 - 06-02-1982 |
| 87 | "Mercy Mission", a.k.a. "Desert King" | KR | GW | 20 | from Look and Learn #1040 - 13-02-1982 until #1049 - 17-04-1982 |
Stories marked † began in the same issue as the final episode of the preceding story. Not included in this table is the text story "They Came From out of the Night" with illustrations by Don Lawrence. This anonymous story, also known as "The Underworld of Vuldar", was published in a Vulcan Holiday Special on July 1st 1976.[7]
The stories have been collected into volumes a number of times:
Two radio plays were produced in Dutch, "The Mysterious Meteorite" and "Lumbwabwa the Usurper".
Movie rights for a feature film based on the strip were optioned in 2009. In December 2011 it was revealed that a script existed and that the film's producers were holding meetings in England to find a director.
Time Inc had a TV series in development in 2017 with 10 episodes written but production halted when Rebellion acquired the rights.[8]
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