EXTRACTS: The Art of the Trigan Empire © 2013 Book Palace (76 PAGES in Full edition)

the art of the trigan empire 4 Whether for its lush artwork or its epic storylines, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire’ has been a favourite of British comics’ readers since its first appearance in 1965. Launched in the debut issue of Ranger on 18 September 1965, ‘Trigan Empire’ promised from the very first to be a picture strip of unique ambitions – to tell the history of the rise of an empire on an alien planet in a distant galaxy, populated by disparate alien (although familiarly humanoid) races in various stages of development. Readers of Ranger were offered the story of the empire’s rise: how the Lokan war machine was turned upon itself and how Trigo City became the hub of a commercial and military empire. After 40 weeks, during which the Trigan Empire faced the threat of a crashing moon and an alien invasion, Ranger merged with Look and Learn , which was to be the picture strip’s home for the next 16 years. For the greater part of this period the team creating the two colour pages that appeared each week remained the same. The Trigan Empire was the creation of Mike Butterworth who, in 1965, had recently turned freelance after spending over a decade working for the Amalgamated Press (renamed Fleetway Publications in 1959) as an editor of comics and magazines. After studying at Camberwell College of Art, Butterworth had briefly taught art at Nottingham College; he was working as a travelling salesman when, in 1951, he submitted samples of his work to an agency who passed them on to Leonard Matthews, editor of Knockout and Sun comics. Matthews rejected them but Butterworth, undaunted, tried again, this time writing a script for a picture story. Matthews realised at once he had a first rate scriptwriter and, within a few months, invited Butterworth to join the firm as an editor. It turned out to be a wise decision. Butterworth was as creative an editor as he was a writer and, over the next decade, created a series of hugely successful titles, including Playhour for nursery-age readers, Valentine , with its mixture of romance and rock ‘n’ roll, and Honey , the first glossy monthly magazine for teenage girls. As a comic strip writer he guided the careers of some of the best strips of the day, including hussar ‘Max Bravo’, air ace ‘Battler Britton’ and space adventurer ‘Jet-Ace Logan’. For eleven years, with the occasional break, Butterworth and Lawrence charted the rise of Trigo’s empire. And, despite many pitfalls, it was a rise that saw the look of Trigan City change dramatically over the years. As story followed story, readers were able to see how the empire was developing, from its relatively humble horse-riding – or kreed-riding as it was on Elekton – beginnings to the development of motorised transport, roads and monorails criss-crossing the once desolate plains. Tower blocks rose in parts of Trigan City, blocking from sight the villas that dotted the hills. Nuclear power and space travel were amongst the scientific advances made by Trigan scientists. The partnership between Butterworth and Lawrence was one of the finest ever in British comics. The two men only ever met twice – which was perhaps for the best as their second meeting ended in a heated, drink-fuelled argument, thankfully some years after the partnership was dissolved. Lawrence had departed in 1976 after discovering that the Trigan Empire strip was being syndicated successfully around Europe; neither of the creators received a share in this success and Lawrence, despite having won an award sponsored by his publisher acknowledging him to be their finest artist, was offered a meagre pay rise. Impulsively, Lawrence quit. Fortunately, the following day he was offered work by a Dutch publisher who offered not only a lifeline but also royalties on any character Lawrence worked on. It would have been impossible for Lawrence to work on the strip without a break and other artists had been called upon to chart the story of the Trigan Empire at times. Ron Embleton, Miguel Quesada and Philip Corke had all stepped in over the years to draw stories. When Lawrence left – not so impulsively that he did not complete the story he was working on – the editors turned to Oliver Frey, already established as a fine illustrator for Look and Learn . Frey’s eighteen months on the strip were marked the finale for the creator of the strip: in 1977, Mike Butterworth also left the strip; by then a successful novelist (of crime novels under his own name the rise and fall of the trigan empire A brief history of the comic strip