The Trigan Empire

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The writers and artists often got things wrong. A fleet of hundreds of aircraft was retconned into six aircraft between one episode and the next of the very first Story Arc. Trigo confronted a sabre-toothed tiger (the Sacred Yalt) wearing his breastplate and cloak; by the time he wriggled free of its claws, he was wearing the remains of a white shirt. And so on; but a fan could forgive that. Originally published in the anthology title Ranger from the first issue in September 1965, and Look and Learn from June 1966 until April 1982, the series told the story of an alien empire on the planet Elekton that was heavily influenced by history, particularly Roman. Created by Mike Butterworth, who died in 1986, and artist Don Lawrence, who passed away in 2004, the series’ mix of political intrigue and Lawrence’s lush painted artwork won a host of fans worldwide, and proved to be highly influential, inspiring a generation of comic book creators with its depth and beauty.

Although the strip has seen only limited English-language release it remains one of the most popular comic series in Holland and Germany, with over two million albums sold. Retcons and reboots galore. Facts could be changed whenever the story needed it. The Vorg calendar mixes names with numbers, e.g. "In the third year of Zemm..." or "In the month of Yuss of the solar year..." or "In the seventeenth year of Neva..." and we never find out how these time periods fit together. In addition to the weekly strips, a very small number of Trigan Empire stories were published in Ranger annuals and a Vulcan summer special. Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Both times a curse was put on Trigo, it was a fake. Once the arc even ended with unbandaging the "mummy" to reveal a person you'd never have suspected. And he almost got away with it, too! How We Got Here: On a huge scale; the very first story is about the last of the Trigans crash-landing on Earth.

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 in June 1976.

Easily Forgiven: Are you an invading civilization from another galaxy and nearly destroyed the Trigan Empire? No worries, Emperor Trigo forgives you and welcomes your entire people to join the empire and he'll even settle you on good land. Because it has none of the comic relief of Dan Dare, it can feel a bit dry but comic relief would absolutely sink the epic tone it almost always achieves. And as far as world building goes it’s pretty spectacular- the other races seem believable and mostly not stereotypes. And because it doesn’t have the Mekon popping up all the time you have a far more believable series of would be tyrants trying their chances. Much as ANOTHER sodding Lokan invasion can get a bit dull, those driving it do feel believably driven by vengeance and anger So, in some ways a historical oddity, but in others a celebration of the work of a master artist. Not all of you will want to collect all of these reissued volumes, but you should definitely dip into them to see the beginning of the world of graphic novels, a detailed world explored and constantly reimagined. Rule of Cool: Swords against guns? Surviving huge explosions? Nomads on funny camel-things against tanks? No problem, as long as it looks good and makes a fine story.An extremely LIMITED edition of just 500 copies per volume in English, the books are published in conjunction with foreign language editions. Obviously Evil: The Worst Man (yup that's his name) is a brutal Diabolical Mastermind who waged a highly effective terrorist campaign against the Trigan Empire and if Beauty Equals Goodness, this guy looks like a Frazetta Man got boinked by a werewolf and then gave birth to a butt-baby.

Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Maybe not the rape to fall in line with age restrictions, but the Trigan Empire would regularly get taken over by some foreign nation or Barbarian Tribe who'd happily bust up a lot of the local architecture and steal Trigan valuables. Never Say "Die": Actually, they never say "kill", always "eliminate" or "destroy" or occasionally "dispatch". They generally say "perish" rather then "die" as well. Even while shooting guns or swinging swords at their enemies, "Perish, curse you!" Thanks for the article Suat. I’ve been dimly aware of this strip for ages, so it’s nice to get good a write-up. 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. McMillan, Graeme (19 May 2019). "Classic British Comic 'The Trigan Empire' to Be Reissued". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 11 September 2022.All the tales are told efficiently and effectively, with a somewhat imperialistic morality which can jar modern readers from time to time, but Butterworth’s plots and ideas seem mainly designed to give Lawrence the change to paint something spectacular.