EXTRACTS: Don Lawrence Art (illustrators special) © 2018 The Book Palace (144 PAGES in Full edition)

of ‘De Opkomst en Ondergang van het Keizerrijk Trigië’, the ‘Trigan Empire’ strip having been a popular part of the Dutch weekly Sjors since 1968. Whilst many British artists were aware that their work was reprinted widely, both domestically and abroad, few realised the extent of the syndication. In March 1976, Lawrence attended Comics 101, Britain’s first convention celebrating British comics, held at the Mount Royal Hotel, where he was introduced to Ervin Rustemagic, a Yugoslavian agent who had been dealing with the Dutch publisher Oberon over the syndication of ‘The Trigan Empire’. At the same convention, IPC—as Fleetway had become—gave Lawrence a special award recognising him as their best artist at the convention. Returning home, Lawrence contacted his agent Danny Kelleher and demanded a raise in his rates. Kelleher’s request was met with such a desultory offer that, impulsively, Lawrence quit. With a large family to support it was a decision he instantly regretted. But good fortune smiled on him and Kelleher phoned back the same day with news that a new Dutch weekly paper to be called Eppo was in preparation and the editors wanted Lawrence to draw a new strip. The latest ‘Trigan Empire’ story was cut short so that Lawrence could wrap it up in two final pages. Within days, Martin Lodewijk and Frits van der Heide arrived inKingswood Court, Eastbourne, to discuss the new strip, based on an idea Lodewijk had developed after reading an article about life at the bottom of the ocean in an issue of National Geographic . Lodewijk put forward the idea of setting the new story in the ‘deep world’ of the sea bed after the oceans have disappeared. Two pages from ‘Commandant Grek’, painted in 1976 but unpublished until 1982. Grek was reimagined as Storm, who debuted in ‘The Deep World’ in the Dutch weekly Eppo in 1977. Previous pages: Lawrence’s most popular post-‘Trigan Empire’ characters, ‘Carrie’, from an appearance in Mayfair , and Storm and Ember, who would star in 22 albums. Opposite: Storm and Ember, illustration from Eppo (1983). 24 © Don Lawrence Collection