The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, later shortened to The Trigan Empire, was a science fiction adventure comic series written mainly by Mike Butterworth with artwork (initially watercolours, later gouache) by Don Lawrence, among others. The series, which ran in British magazines from 1965 to 1982, told the story of an alien culture in which futuristic technology, such as antigravity vehicles and energy weapons, blended with architecture, dress, and customs based on those of ancient civilizations, the most obvious being those of ancient Greece and Rome. The stories revolved around a heroic leader who defended his empire from constant threats from both outside and within. A new original graphic novel revival was announced in 2025 and scheduled to debut in 2026.

Overview The stories told of events on the Earth-like planet of Elekton, a world inhabited by various humanoid societies. The stories, influenced by mythology, featured societies based on the cultures of ancient history. Chief among these was the Trigan Empire itself, modelled on Ancient Greece and Rome. This similarity extended to Trigan City, the capital built on five hills, in a similar fashion to the seven hills of Rome. The Trigans' clothing was like that of ancient Romans, with many of the populace dressed in toga-like garments or, in the case of the soldiery, in Greek- or Roman-style armour. A similar likeness could be drawn with Hericon, a chief rival in power to the Trigans, which had elements of the Byzantine and Persian empires.

Creation According to Butterworth: "The original Impetus was from that veritable genius Leonard Matthews, then my senior group editor when I was editing Sun and Comet. He threw the first introductory script at me and told me to take it from there. He had no idea where to further it but he knew where to look for a guy who did."

Plot The framing narrative presented in the first strip showed an alien "cosmo-craft" crashing into a swamp in Florida, along with the bodies of the crew and many volumes in an indecipherable language. At an advanced age, a scientist who has spent decades studying the books from the spaceship in an effort to translate them, does so at last, with the aid of a computer.

The Trigans began as a nomadic tribe called the Vorgs, with no technology, initially under the leadership of three brothers, Trigo, Brag and Klud. Trigo persuades his more conservative brothers that in the face of changing events, namely the ambitions of the Lokan Empire, they must settle. The fledgling Trigan nation is established via a merger of the nomadic Vorgs and the technically advanced people of Tharv (who arrived as refugees to the Plains of Vorg after they were defeated by the Lokans) under the leadership of Trigo, with swords, lances, and Roman-style clothing, but with ray guns, aircraft, and a high-tech navy. In a later story, the Trigans create a rocketship in months to fly to one of Elekton's moons. Several of the other civilizations show a similar blend of low and high tech.

Publication history The strip debuted in the first issue of the British magazine Ranger in September 1965 and then in the British Look and Learn magazine from issue #232 (June 1966) when the two titles merged after the 40th issue of Ranger. Both titles were weekly educational magazines designed for children; although mainly filled with educational features on life, history, science and technology, both contained a small comic strip section in each issue.

The series ran in Look and Learn until the title ceased publication with issue #1049, in April 1982, comprising a run of 854 issues in total, divided between the two magazines.

In addition to the weekly strips, a few Trigan Empire stories were published in Ranger annuals and a Vulcan summer special.

In 1975–1976, the series thus far was reprinted in its original sequential order in Vulcan, a weekly glossy-format comic, which reprinted the strips in full colour, though edited and resized, alongside colour reprints of other British comics serials of the 1960s.

There were a number of reprints in hardback format. In 1978, Hamlyn Publishing in the United Kingdom printed a hardback collection of early Trigan Empire stories titled The Trigan Empire; this was reprinted in the United States by Chartwell Publishing. Other than Lawrence's signature being visible on the title-page art, neither he nor Butterworth was credited in this edition. A later collection, also hardback, was printed by Hawk Publishing in 1989 as Tales from the Trigan Empire. Both the Hamlyn and the Hawk books presented edited versions of the stories; most notably, in the Hawk book some entire pages were omitted. Several stories were repeated in both collections, but The Trigan Empire collection has the earliest, showing the establishment of the Empire.

In 2004–2008, the stories drawn by Don Lawrence were reprinted by the Don Lawrence Collection in luxury hardback limited editions. These editions contain the complete stories, without any of the omissions that were a feature of the earlier reprints, particularly the Hawk Publishing book. They were not reprinted from Look and Learn; in many cases they were printed from the original artwork and used revised fonts to make the text easier to read.

The rights to The Trigan Empire were bought by Rebellion Developments in 2018. Initial plans were to publish the sequence drawn by Lawrence in four volumes; a first volume appeared in March 2020, a second in December 2020, and a third in July 2021. The second and third volumes included stories from the 1960s and early 1970s not illustrated by Lawrence, raising the question whether serials drawn by other artists during the later years of the strip would be included in subsequent volumes. The fourth volume (2022) similarly included serials from the mid-1970s drawn by artists other than Lawrence. A fifth volume (2023) completed Lawrence's own sequence in order of original publication and also included six of the ten stories illustrated by Oliver Frey. A sixth volume (2025) included the last five stories written by Mike Butterworth and the last four stories illustrated by Frey before Kevin Roscoe and Gerry Wood took over writing and illustrating respectively. A seventh volume containing the final stories by Roscoe and Wood is expected in November 2026.

2026 Revival In 2025, Rebellion announced the first new Trigan Empire stories in more than forty years. These were written by Michael Carroll and illustrated by Tom Foster. Set several decades after the empire’s original rise, the new storyline is intended to depict its period of decline rather than expansion. The project is planned as a graphic novel–only release, with the first volume scheduled for publication in May 2026. The initial release has been designated as Volume 1, although Rebellion has not announced how many volumes are intended.

Characters Trigo. The founder of the Empire. With his two brothers Brag and Klud, he was the leader of a tribe of Vorgs. At this time the Lokan Empire was instituting a military buildup with an intent to take over the entire planet. Trigo had a vision of a nation where the Vorg tribesmen could give up their nomadic existence and band together in civilization. He knew that the Lokans were intent on conquest and felt that if the Vorgs were not united they would become extinct. When his plans to build a city on the plains of Vorg fail, there is a fateful meeting with refugees from the nation of Tharv which has been attacked by Loka. Among these refugees is the architect Peric who agrees to help Trigo with his plans as long as his people are allowed to stay there. Although Brag was willing to give up his claims of leadership to his people to allow Trigo to become sole ruler, his brother Klud had no such plan and tried to assassinate Trigo. In the years to come, Trigo will institute a treaty with Hericon, the other great power on the planet of Elekton, be crowned first Emperor of the Trigan Empire, and face many other threats to himself and his empire. Brag. Trigo's brother, and one of three triplets. He often called slow, if not stupid. He is well-meaning and faithful to his brother. Despite living in relative luxury with all the benefits of more advanced technology there are times that Brag wishes he was back to his life as a simple Vorg huntsman. He keeps himself in good physical shape despite growing older. He can be manipulated by those cleverer than himself. Janno. The son of Brag and nephew to Emperor Trigo. A courageous individual, he has a natural aptitude as an aircraft pilot. He is friends with Keren, the son of Chief Imbala of Daveli, and Roffa from the City State of Ellul. Janno is regularly a representative of Trigan City, whether it is as an athlete in the olympic style games, or as a diplomatic envoy. In some stories it is mentioned in a short dialogue that Trigo had a thought to name him his successor. Peric. Chief architect of the destroyed nation of Tharv, Peric with his daughter and other Tharvish refugees made their way into the desert of Vorg after the destruction of the main city of Tharv by Lokan forces. Peric is of advanced years but remains fairly healthy. He is regarded as the greatest living architect on Elekton and an accomplished engineer and scientist. He is often behind many of the great accomplishments of the Empire. Salvia. The daughter of Peric and is the most visible female character in the series. Salvia is skilled in Tharvish medicine, a trait that would serve the Empire well on a number of occasions, whether it is saving Trigo from potent poison inflicted by Trigo's brother, or the life of Keren, son of Chief Imbala of Daveli, or the life of the Chieftainess of the Tamaz desert warriors. Keren. Janno's best friend and son of Chief Imbala of Daveli whose culture closely mirrors that of Central American Mesoamerican civilisations. Keren was introduced in the second tale of the series, "Crash in the Jungle". Keren and his people are shown as being either blue skinned or dark green, depending on the printing. Lady Ursa. Sister of King Kassar of Hericon and probably the next most visible female character of the series. She and Trigo were married, as guarantee for the ratification of a trade treaty, at the start of the story titled "War With Hericon". They would have triplet sons, although two would later be killed. King Zorth. The tyrannical leader of Loka whose obsession with planet conquest (especially that of the Trigan Empire) ends only when he is overthrown by his own people. The Lokans are given an olive complexion and appear somewhat Asiatic.

Creative team From its start in 1965 until 1976, the series was mainly created by writer Mike Butterworth and artist Don Lawrence. For stories in two Ranger annuals and some fill-in serials, other artists made a contribution. During a sabbatical, Philip Corke replaced Don Lawrence. From mid-1976 until the end of 1977, Oliver Frey was the artist. In 1978, Ken Roscoe took over the writing, and concluded the series with artist Gerry Wood.

Writers Mike Butterworth (1965–1977) Ken Roscoe (1978–1982)

Artists Don Lawrence (1965–1974, 1975–1976) Ernest Ratcliff (1966) Ron Embleton (1967, 1969) Miguel Quesada (1972, 1974). His work was for a long time incorrectly attributed to Ramon Sola Philip Corke (1974–1975) Oliver Frey (1976–1977) Gerry Wood (1977–1982)

Timeline

Tales Although there were no official titles for most of the stories, the following table lists the commonly used names in order of first publication.