Steve Winders reviews Michael Carroll and Tom Foster’s new graphic novel which continues the story of the ‘Trigan Empire’ that began in Ranger magazine in 1965 and ended in Look and Learn in 1982, but is still celebrated and reprinted today.
The Book: Published by Rebellion and retailing at £19.99, The New Adventures from the Trigan Empire Book I is a hardback graphic novel of sixty full colour pages. It is written by Michael Carroll, the creator of the award winning New Heroes series of superhero novels and writer of “Judge Dredd” and other strips for 2000AD and illustrated by Tom Foster, who also works on strips for 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in addition to illustrating covers for Commando comics.
The Background
Way back in September 1965, when Fleetway Publications launched Ranger magazine, its standout strip was “The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire”, about a civilisation on an Earth like planet called Elekton. The hero is Trigo, the leader of a nomadic people, who are threatened by their greedy neighbours from Loka. Over the course of the first twenty part adventure, Trigo leads his people to victory and creates an empire. While the Trigan Empire echoes that of Rome in its costumes, culture and even some of its technology, it quickly acquires the advanced technology of its allies and enemies and many stories have a strong science fiction base.
I was twelve in 1965 and read the early issues of the new weekly. I assumed the story would be finite. Not only was that suggested by the title, but the first episode shows an alien spaceship crash landing on Earth. The “human” crew are all dead, but the ship is loaded with journals describing the history of their people on another planet and a text box states that the crew were the “last of the Trigans, all that were left of a once mighty civilisation.” The stories that followed were the contents of those journals. I expected the strip would go on to show the development of this civilisation over many centuries, but although he aged over the course of the stories and they began to focus more on his nephew, Janno, we never got beyond Trigo – and he’s still there in this new book.
Ranger was absorbed into Look and Learn after only forty issues, but the strip continued until Look and Learn’s own demise in 1982. However the notion of the Empire “falling” was soon dropped as the strip became simply “The Trigan Empire”. Now at last, sixty years later, we may finally discover how the Empire fell, as Michael Carroll’s first tale reveals bitter rivalry between the Empire and the neighbouring state of Hericon and, even worse, there are several potential successors to the ageing emperor Trigo, with equal claims to the throne.
The Review
The new book echoes the start of the saga back in 1965. This time an Earth spaceship discovers a deserted space station, which is quickly identified as Trigan. The spaceship is way beyond our current capability, but the log date given is ‘2026-05-19’. Clearly it is set in an alternative reality – the one where the Trigan ship crashed landed on Earth many years previously! New Trigan journals are found in the station and the story that follows is the first of these.
These journals are the work of Janno, and he begins the first by suggesting that previous works were sometimes sanitised to present the Empire in a positive light. This allows Michael Carroll to tweak established information for the sake of his story if necessary and the prologue provides a strong start to the new novel, just as the first episode of the original was a strong and intriguing opening.
The story begins some years after the original strip ended. Trigo and Janno are much older, and Janno has an adult daughter. Carroll has created several new interesting characters, who feature prominently. Most notable among the new characters are Judelle, Janno’s sharp witted and self-assured daughter and Breon, the odious son of Nikko, the King of Hericon and a clear villain of the piece.
The plot concerns the abduction of Judelle and is exciting and engages the reader well. I read the whole book at one sitting, which is a good indication of how absorbing it is. The pace of the story is slower than in the original, but it is written for a different audience and presented in a different form. In both Ranger and Look and Learn the strip was a serial of two colour pages each week, written for boys from around eight to fourteen years old who wanted action and adventure without too much depth and characterisation. Carroll is writing for an older audience, which is not to say that young readers would not enjoy the new story, but characters have some long conversations, which reveal their feelings, beliefs and motivations.
The new story avoids the use of text captions to provide information or link scenes, which were a feature of the original and of strip stories in ‘Fleetway’s’ other publications at the time. Indeed, there are no captions. The only text is spoken by the characters and it works. I always considered Fleetway’s use of captions to be excessive. However, the new story, which bears the title “The Treaty of Eritza”, does capture the spirit of the original, and also makes effective use of unique elements from the planet Elekton where it takes place, most notably featuring the flying reptilian Zargots, who prove instrumental to a key part of the story.
The artist Tom Foster has a distinctive style. Like the original strip, illustrated by Don Lawrence, who was the first and longest running artist to work on the series, his pages are painted. However, his work is sketchier than Lawrence’s and his lines are much less defined. His colour work is darker and his backgrounds are far less detailed. Nevertheless, his style suits the story. He conveys the facial expression of the characters most effectively and his figure work is good. He remains faithful to the costumes, vehicles and the appearance of the continuing characters and his darker colours reflect the darker story.
At the start of the story, Janno tells his secretary that the Trigans have sent ships out into space to inform others of their history and culture. This statement casts doubt on the claim in the very first episode of Ranger that the crashed spaceship was carrying the last of the Trigans. It might have been one of the ships sent out by Trigo when the Empire was still very much alive.
The book ends with an intriguing epilogue, where Carroll takes the reader back to the Earth ship. Although their orders are to return to Earth, the Captain overrides them and sets off to find the Trigans instead!
Will the Earth ship find the Trigans? Is the Empire really about to fall? I recommend this book, and I look forward to the sequel.
Steve Winders
• Order New Adventures from the Trigan Empire – Book One from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Read Luke Williams review of The New Adventures from The Trigan Empire Book I
• EXCLUSIVE Trigan Empire Sneak Peek: Michael Carroll teases Rebellion’s new graphic novel!
• The Rise and Fall of The Trigan Empire collections are available to order from all good bookshops, AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Bookshop.org (Affiliate Link) | Treasury of British Comics Webshop
• Michael Carroll is online at michaelowencarroll.com | Follow his blog about British Comics and more, Rusty Staples
• Follow Tom Foster on BlueSky | Instagram
- About the Author
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Born in Preston, Steve Winders has been a lifelong fan of Dan Dare and Eagle and of Doctor Who since its first episode. He has written many articles about the 1960s Eagle, the various incarnations of Dan Dare and the fictional exploits of the Harris Tweed Appreciation Society for Eagle Times and its predecessors and regularly reviews new works about British comics for Down The Tubes and Steve Holland’s Bear Alley blog.
He has also written articles about another interest, Robin Hood, for the online Adventures of Robin Hood Appreciation Society Magazine.
Other interests include the American West, which was inspired by the famous Eagle strip, Riders of the Range, Astronomy and soccer. He is a supporter of Preston North End. He has taught for over 40 years, in Lancashire, Mid Glamorgan and Plymouth. He is married and has three children.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, Features, Reviews
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