A five-volume series reprinting The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, a landmark 1960s science fiction series which rivalled Game of Thrones in popularity and was the precursor to every mythic sci-fi adventure to come! Under the leadership of Trigo, the Vorg tribesmen band together to resist the Lokan invaders, forming a new country, The Trigan Empire. Featuring an extraordinary combination of the Roman Empire and ancient Greece, Trigo's story is told in ground breaking fully painted artwork.
Here is [the beginning of] what Wikipedia has to say about it:
"The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, later shortened to The Trigan Empire, was a science fiction comicseries 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."
Is anyone here familiar with this series? Now that it's available in the U.S. I'm thinking about buying it and am looking for some personal opinions.
Replies
I've read a few episodes of this in some ofthe British annuals that my parents used to bring me from their trips to Canada.My recollection is that the sotry had some bizarre and interesting xoncepts in it.
In its best period this was a very good feature, in writing and art. It was about a Rome-like empire with advanced technology on another planet. Initially the principal hero was the hard-nosed Emperor, Trigo. Later it was his reckless nephew, Janno, who was a pilot in the air fleet. Some stories had one-story heroes.
The feature mostly appeared as a two-page serial. A couple of non-serial stories appeared in annuals. The art was painted. It first appeared in a well-produced comic called Ranger. When this ended it moved with some of the other features to a children's educational magazine, Look and Learn, where it long outlived the others. Some stories were reprinted in the 1970s in a reprint comic called Vulcan.
Lawrence was the main artist for the first decade but there were fill-in stories by other artists. Wikipedia's page on the feature here has a story index that notes these. The quality of the writing and art declined badly in the later 1970s, after the original creators had both departed.
Lawrence didn't do the stories in the Ranger annuals, but an annual-like collection with two early stories (and no other content) appeared in 1973. A thicker collection appeared in 1978, and a giant-size hardcover in 1989.
In comics the artist plays a big role in selling fantastic content, just as model work and special effects do in movies. Under Lawrence "The Trigan Empire" came across as wonderfully imaginative. Early on the Trigans were very obviously Romans mentally, and the stories involved the building of the Empire or overcoming of threats to it. Reading these stories together you might find them repetitive. Over time the Trigan civilisation became more advanced and the stories got more fantastic and varied. The main characters were well-characterised, especially Trigo. The storylines were compelling, often starting with intriguing hooks.
The Wikipedia page says the current Rebellion collections collect the stories from 1965 to 1977. That takes in part of the run of Lawrence's first successor, Oliver Frey. His work on the feature was less polished than Lawrence's, but dynamic, and I like it too.
My guess is the collections end with Butterworth's departure. He also wrote mystery novels. He's a different person to the Michael Butterworth who wrote the Space: 1999 novelisations.
The feature was popular in Europe, and collected in albums. Lawrence went on to do a successful Dutch album series called Storm. Some reading this may remember the volumes translated in the 1980s.
Painted instalments of another Ranger/Look and Learn SF serial, "Jason January, Space Cadet", were collected in 1980 in a volume called Space Wars: Fact and Fiction. It was written on a more juvenile level.
The mix of ancient civilisation, SF and physical action in the film Giant of Metropolis (1961) is like an early-period "Trigan Empire" story's.
Chuck Dixon mentioned "Trigan Empire" on his message board as something they were taking account of when he was writing Brath for Crossgen.
Dates from online.
I'm pretty sure thati t was Look and Learn that I saw.
Thanks, guys (especially Luke). The fifth volume is solicited for the first time in Diamond's latest Previews catalogue, along with the first four volumes being "Offerred Again." I didn't take not of these the first time through, but this time the solicitation caught my eye. I've been impressed with the British comics I have seen, most especially Dan Dare, but others as well. (Regarding that feature, I did not find repetition to be a problem; because they had only two pages with which to advance the plot, the story barrelled forward headlong.) Because the first four volumes have already been released, my LCS may already have them on the shelf and I just don't know it. I'll check this Wednesday and, if they're in stock, I will likely try the first volume. In the meantime, if anyone alse has an opinion on The Trigan Empire, I'd be happy to hear it.
Here's what I decided (just in case anyone was curious). My LCS had the first volume in stock and I flipped through it. It's really think and a good value for the price, but I am just not in the mood to read it at the present time. That genre's not really my thing. I bought the first volume of Jack Katz's First Kingdom in 2013 (10 years ago now!) with the intention of buying the others later, but I still haven't read it. That happens every once in a while, but I think I'd buy fewer titles "on spec" if I simply had the opportunity to see them first and didn't feel the need to pre-order. I'll put The Trigan Empire" on my list of "Things to Consider" whenever I have a light week... if I ever have a light week. (Today was a PS Artbooks dump.)
I was curious, because if you went for it that would nudge me in that direciton, too!