Review by Frank Plowright

The Trigan Empire is fondly remembered for the magnificent art of Don Lawrence between 1965 and 1976, but actually continued until 1982 under other artists. This selection opens with the strips Lawrence drew from 1975 following a year away, and runs through his final stories before the bulk of the pages Oliver Frey contributed.

Without Lawrence’s superlative artwork, writer Mike Butterworth had to up his game and while the strips drawn in Volume IV by Philip Corke look poorer, they’re actually better stories than several supplied to Lawrence before his sabbatical. The greater imagination continues for much of Lawrence’s return, with Lawrence’s sample art concerning a daredevil given only six months to live deciding to use that time to rid Elekton of threats. It’s one of a couple of stories where Butterworth either plays out solutions to real world problems, or considers the consequences, with ecological disaster a repeated subtext.

There’s some cartoon exaggeration to one strip in particular, but just flicking through the book displays Lawrence’s astonishing talent. However, while never less than professional, it’s noticeable his interest is tailing off toward the end, where the vistas and action he’s supplied so well throughout the series are missing.

Frey’s greatest fame lay ahead with other material, and his earliest stories are a little shaky, but he improves to the point where he could be considered the link connecting Frank Bellamy to David Lloyd, although he seems to work in watercolour and isn’t quite as good as either early in his career. However, after Corke in Volume IV this is at least serviceable art, and the first plot Butterworth supplies to Frey is a taut thriller about people going missing offering a tidy motivation.

A few of the Lawrence stories turn the spotlight away from Trigo and his family, but Frey’s tenure begins with Janno as a man of action, boarding a space station, completing five tasks to subdue a kingdom, and developing predictive powers. The exception to the material starring Janno cleverly combines two seemingly incompatible plot threads of an ancient threat in the modern era and a quiz show contestant able to answer questions too complex for the human brain.

The final story is surprisingly downbeat and uncharacteristic as Trigo considers he’s failed his people and abdicates to wander as a pilgrim. Butterworth’s plot emphasises Trigo’s leadership qualities, and while the mechanics are too rapid (a casualty of three page episodes) his inspirational personality wins the day.

Although inconsistent, this is a step up the quality ladder from the disappointing Volume IV, and a reminder that Butterworth’s also a creative force. The material drawn by Lawrence is also available in luxurious hardcover volumes as The Sun Worshippers and The Green Smog.