Way back in the mists of time, my parents taught me to read by simply leaving books around the house for me to pick up and figure out. I devoured all I could find and so could already read by the time I started school at four, much to the annoyance of my teachers who thought it was their job. One side effect of this is that I was trawling charity shops and market stalls for new books just as much as my mother was, merely with different books in mind. One of my earliest memories is the discovery of a stack of 'Look and Learn' magazines in a charity shop on Billericay High Street that my mother kindly sprang for, and that's where I stumbled onto the Trigan Empire, long before I'd reached my teens.

'Look and Learn' was an educational magazine, full of science and history and other cool stuff, but it also featured a number of comic strips and 'The Trigan Empire' captured me immediately. It was a science fiction series, set on the planet of Elekton in a whole other galaxy where the aliens, who all look like us, of course, benefit from superscience. However, it also felt like a historical fantasy series, because the stories are recounted like legends and the Trigans, the most powerful nation on the planet, were so primarily influenced by ancient Rome or Greece that they wear tunics and togas and legionary armour.

Stories spanned multiple issues and my stack of 'Look and Learn' weren't consecutive, so I didn't have full stories until I picked up this oversize hardback much later, when it was published by Hawk Books in 1989. It's credited only to Don Lawrence, who I knew was the primary artist, so I naturally assumed that he was also the writer. However, that's not the case. Mike Butterworth wrote most of the stories, from 1965 to 1977, when Ken Roscoe took over for five years until 'Look and Learn' was cancelled due to a notably changing market. Lawrence wasn't the only artist either, although he did paint most of the strips from 1965 to 1976. Credit is important.

All the stories in this collection were written by Butterworth and painted by Lawrence, a term that I use very deliberately, because his art is truly magnificent, key panels looking more like paintings than comic books, and the in-between panels not far behind them. There's a thriving business now in auctioning off original pages of comic book art, which I don't entirely understand; but I would if it was focused on Don Lawrence's work. I'd love to display some of his art on my walls. Unlike most British comics, 'The Trigan Empire' was always in full colour and Lawrence's detailed art used that to great effect.

Stories were never named, but there's a general consensus nowadays about the chronology of the series and widely accepted titles, precisely none of which were used here. Correlating them, I see that these stories date from 1967 to 1968 and are presented chronologically but with some stories omitted and those included sometimes subtly shrunk. However, they still read easily enough and I had a blast revisiting the Trigan Empire and reacquainting myself with its primary characters, not least Trigo himself, the Emperor of Trigan, even if he seems to lose his throne far too frequently.

There are five stories here, though they're presented as eight. The first two are teasers, 'A Tale of Treachery' (a.k.a. 'The Revenge of Darak') being an epic tale of loyalty and betrayal that's entirely told in twenty pages, and 'A Tale of Invasion' (a.k.a. 'The Three Aliens') being a fourteen-page one-off. Then things get serious with a trio of more substantial stories, 'A Tale of Treason' (a.k.a. 'The Reign of Thara') and 'A Tale of Evil' (a.k.a. 'Voyage to the Moon Bolus') at least thirty pages each and 'The Three Princes' over sixty, albeit broken up into three connected stories here, 'A Tale of Sons and Heirs', 'A Tale of a Perilous Journey' and 'A Tale of an Infernal Machine'.

My favourite is probably the middle one, 'The Reign of Thara', because it takes the basic idea from 'The Revenge of Darak' but makes it more believable, stretches it out so it can breathe and adds a serious level of worldbuilding into the mix too. It also happens to have female characters, notably missing from the first two, and they're often the ones who make things happen.

Yula, one of a long string of sinister characters with megalomanical outlooks, twists Trigo's niece Thara into mounting a coup. She does it for the best of reasons, but it all goes horribly wrong, and she redeems herself through a worthy story arc. Meanwhile, the rescue mission is mounted by two typically supporting characters, Keren and Salvia, who prove themselves impressive leads. Salvia in particular, the daughter of Trigan's preeminent scientist, Peric, saves the day in more than one nation and the story couldn't end the way it does without her. She's a healer by training and uses her skill to bring Almara, chieftainess of the Tamaz and a powerful national female leader, out of an established coma.

'The Reign of Thara' isn't just fun, it feels like a complete and substantial story that expands what went before and leaves the world of Elekton a richer one than before it began. 'The Three Aliens' is also fun but it doesn't do any of those other things. It's just a standalone alien possession story that happens to unfold in the Trigan Empire. It thus feels almost ephemeral, a distraction from a pulp adventure history lesson that we're enjoying otherwise. 'Voyage to the Moon Bolus' is also a science fiction story, with plenty of agreeable elements: rocket ships, meteor storms, giant alien robot monsters, even a weapon of mass destruction wielded against Elekton by a mad scientist on one of its twin moons, in an echo of Emperor Ming.

Of course, for substance, 'The Three Princes' is easily the go-to story, because it doesn't only shock us with its revelations but the series regulars, Trigo included. An evil telepathic alien—every alien here seems to be evil—spends ten years preparing Trigo's son Argo for one crucial moment, when he hypnotises him to murder his father and start a reign of terror from which he can benefit. This goes off without a hitch, but Salvia—crucial once again—fortuitously sees a pair of young men in the marketplace who she realises are the other two triplets she left with a desert woman rather than murder, as she was asked. Of course, they come in very useful at this point and one of them, Nikko by name, continues on into the other two thirds of the story, one horror obviously spun out of 'The Most Dangerous Game' and the other a pulp superscience saga.

I enjoyed all these stories to varying degrees, but Mike Butterworth was quite obviously writing pulp comics, happily throwing in every element he could to generate action. I haven't mentioned the sea monsters, nerdy inventors or gladiatorial games, let alone giants, pirates and dragons (or dinosaurs or whatever they are). There's never a dull moment in Trigan and Butterworth happily goes beyond that empire to flesh out the rest of the planet and indeed one of its moons. What's far beyond pulp is the artwork of Don Lawrence, something I'll always come back to.

It's astoundingly good across this entire book, but it may well be another reason why I favour 'The Reign of Thara' over the other stories. Lawrence was in top form when he painted this one, with a whole slew of panels that leap out for special mention. Every panel with the sea monster could be a cover painting. Roffa's quadroplane or double biplane, or whatever he calls it, is majestic. He's a series regular who joins in this story, flying this plane with four wings to the rescue at one crucial moment. There's the city of Tamaz built on the back of a huge reptilian statue. And, perhaps best of all, there's a pristine action shot of Keren saving Salvia as her horse is shot out from under her while they ride at full tilt for their lives.

I'm not sure how easy it is to get hold of 'The Trigan Empire nowadays, though I do see some scans online and a series of a dozen books in print that feature Don Lawrence-illustrated stories. Even if you can't hold of those, I highly recommend checking out his artwork for the series. There's lots of it on Google Images and at his own website, The World of Don Lawrence, even though he died back in 2003, leaving a strong legacy as one of the most influential artists in British comic books. ~~ Hal C F Astell