Illustrators Special Edition S17: The Trigan Empire Artists’ Special (magazine review).

For those who don’t know, in the UK, in the 1960s, British comics were age-grade. As your reading improved, you went up to a different reading grade for the comic. I can’t really recall why I never read ‘Look & Learn’. I think I looked at a couple issues but was not struck enough to read them or thought they were beyond my age at the time, combined with the cost.

It wasn’t until somewhere in the 1970s that I pulled a book of ‘The Trigan Empire’. Artist Don Lawrence’s art was always striking, and the samples in this latest ‘Illustrators Special Edition’ show how detailed his art was. Diego Cordoba covers Don Lawrence’s (1928–2003) history, but specifically on ‘The Trigan Empire’, he left it because his page rate was never raised or paid for foreign reprints. His work is always worth studying, and I love how he got his skin complexion and use of white for more than reflection.

The Trigan Empire itself is a mix of Roman/Grecian and’modern’, at least from the 1950s–60s era, reality with a heavy dash of SF technology. The comicstrip series lasted from 1965 to 1982, which was quite a feat.

It shouldn’t be that surprising that some distinguished artists also worked on this series, including Ron Embleton (1930–1988). It only had one Spanish artist, Miguel Quesada (1933–2020). A couple names I’ve never come across. Philip Corke has his characters frequently with disturbing glaring eyes. Oliver Frey (1948–2022) had the better design and choice of colours and had been encouraged by Don Lawrence to enter the industry.

Alas, all these artists are no longer among the living, and Rebellion is doing a complete reprint of ‘The Trigan Empire’ for those of you who have used this book as a taster.

GF Willmetts

March 2024

(pub: The Book Palace, 2024. 130 page illustrated squarebound magazine. Price: £30.00 (UK), $27.99 (US) via Bud Plant. ISBN: 978-1-913548-51-3. ISSN: 2052-6520).

check out website: www.bookpalace.com and www.illustratorsquarterly.com