Trigan Empire

[HareBrain]

Who remembers this? Used to be printed as a two-page colour serial in a succession of children's magazines from (I think) 1960s to 1980s. As a ten-year-old, I loved it: fantastic science fiction, which seemed quite grown-up to me. This was mostly when Oliver Frey was drawing it, and it had a much more futuristic feel than the original Don Lawrence art.

 

[Danny McG]

Awesome series. I remember looking for info in late nineties (nostalgia trip) and some guy at the publishers told me they were then onto the fourth book of Trigo.
Nowadays there is a quite detailed Wikipedia entry for it with a lot more info available. Some kind of online forum for enthusiasts also.

 

[Danny McG]

I really thought there'd have been more enthusiasts of this great series. Couldn't wait Thursday mornings for Look and Learn (incorporating Ranger) magazine dropping through the letterbox

 

[HareBrain]

Don Lawrence has a site where you can buy collected editions:

Don Lawrence

I still have most of my old L&Ls in a box in the cellar, and keep meaning to put them in order and re-read the Trigan Empire stories again. One of those things I'll get round to when I'm dead, I suspect.

What year did you stop reading L&L, Danny? I wonder if we overlap at all.

 

[Danny McG]

I think 1972 or 1973.
Parents stopped getting it delivered a couple years earlier.
I did occasionally read it for a year or two after that but my interests moved onto disco and then punk.
Years later, as I've mentioned, I got all nostalgic and looked at it again but the artwork didn't seem as I remembered. Your reference about a different artist explains that.
I wonder if the old guy will ever finish his translations and warn the Earth about the menace that caused them to run here?

I see you went into this a few years ago
"Lost" Trigan Empire rediscovered!

 

[HareBrain]

I see you went into this a few years ago
"Lost" Trigan Empire rediscovered!

Gosh, I forgot that! Again, though, not much interest evident.

Years later, as I've mentioned, I got all nostalgic and looked at it again but the artwork didn't seem as I remembered. Your reference about a different artist explains that.

When I started, probably around 1975, it was just the end of the Don Lawrence period. To me, at the time, his artwork seemed a bit too retro and unsettling, and when Oliver Frey took over just after, I much preferred his more dynamic, sci-fi style. When his run ended, as far as I can remember they re-ran a few Don Lawrence stories, including the amazing Lost City, and I found I appreciated them a lot more. After that (or in between) there was a third artist whose name I can't remember, who wasn't nearly as good in my opinion.

 

[reiver33]

I can still recall several of the plots (swimming across the ismus, the killer who could turn himself into water, etc.) from the 70's!

 

[HareBrain]

swimming across the ismus

That rings a bell. Was that in the Oliver Frey period? The water one doesn't, though.

The three I remember most clearly were:

Superhuman ice-age guy and his sabre-toothed cat get defrosted and try to take over the world.

Mad guy invites people who'd done him over to a spaceship.

Digging machine gets self-awareness and goes nuts.

 

[Danny McG]

That rings a bell. Was that in the Oliver Frey period?

Digging machine gets self-awareness and goes nuts.

I remember reading that one and thinking "hah! Killdozer"

Killdozer! (short story) - Wikipedia

 

[reiver33]

The Emperor had been injured and to prove himself physically fit - and thus able to rule again - he was set a series of tasks. One of which was to swim from the ocean north of the isthmus to the one lying south - an impossible distance (the continent was dumb-bell shaped as I remember). The Wise Old Adviser suggested digging a canal across and swimming down that. When they went to blast (nuke?) a passage by means of air attack they found a nomadic people had migrated there on the basis of a prophecy. The Emperor has them dig the canal instead, while living amongst them - cue getting in touch with his spiritual side by living with these noble savages...

 

[HareBrain]

Hm, that doesn't sound familiar. I might have mistaken it for a "twelve tasks of Janno" kind of thing, which involved a long swim. A weird-looking shark was involved, also speedos.