Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Villains never hit. The goodie always runs away with "projectiles screaming around his bent head". The Big Guy: Brag, if only by default. He's quite willing to stand aside and let his more ambitious brother Trigo not only rule their people, but completely transform their way of life while carving out an empire — but Brag retains his barbarian robustness, and can always be relied on to supply a strong sword arm when things turn violent on a personal level. Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Maybe not the rape to fall in line with age restrictions, but the Trigan Empire would regularly get taken over by some foreign nation or Barbarian Tribe who'd happily bust up a lot of the local architecture and steal Trigan valuables. Disintegrator Ray: The guns in Trigan are alternately described as heat guns or disintegrators. One poor giant beast found out the hard way what a disintegrator can do. Even the disintegrator is alternately a ray or a shell.

Argo, the son of Trigo while being controlled by an evil alien, had King Kassar, his own grandfather and previously a major character, executed. Dramatic Ellipsis: "And then... It Happened", "And then he saw... IT", "And then... sheer blind panic", etc., ad nauseam.Butterworth left Fleetway Publications and turned freelance. His first novel, The Soundless Scream, appeared in 1967 followed over the next few years by a number of well-received crime novels which appeared under his full name, which has led to some confusion between his work and that of science fiction writer and Savoy Books publisher Michael Butterworth. Butterworth also turned his hand to Gothic romance novels under the pen-name Carola Salisbury.

The writing style was very purple. Probably not since Robert E. Howard wrote that Conan the Barbarian was destined to "Tread the Jewelled thrones of the world beneath his sandalled feet" has there been more overblown verbiage in a piece of popular entertainment. Certainly, not many characters in modern comics "slake their ravening thirst" at waterholes or "feel the icy fingers of terror course down their spines"; but maybe the world of comics, and the English language, are the poorer for it. Truce with Hericon” (aka “War with Hericon,” Look and Learn #256-264, 10 December 1966 to 4 February 1967) Another problem was that, as time went by, there were fewer and fewer new ideas available, and old ones had to be recycled without even observing the Fleeting Demographic Rule. The most common stories were: Obviously Evil: The Worst Man (yup that's his name) is a brutal Diabolical Mastermind who waged a highly effective terrorist campaign against the Trigan Empire and if Beauty Equals Goodness, this guy looks like a Frazetta Man got boinked by a werewolf and then gave birth to a butt-baby.Villains, often officers or councillors appointed by Trigo, who must have been a Horrible Judge of Character, try to usurp the throne or place upon it a puppet emperor; happened lots of times.

The writers and artists often got things wrong. A fleet of hundreds of aircraft was retconned into six aircraft between one episode and the next of the very first Story Arc. Trigo confronted a sabre-toothed tiger (the Sacred Yalt) wearing his breastplate and cloak; by the time he wriggled free of its claws, he was wearing the remains of a white shirt. And so on; but a fan could forgive that. Fantastic Racism: White people will turn on Green ones if the story requires it, otherwise they're all sweetness and light.Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Kreeds (rhymes with 'steeds') = horses, Nobras (rhymes with 'cobras') = poisonous snakes, The Sacred Yalt = a sabre-toothed tiger, Robbis = marmot, Morrol = rat, Norva = orca, Zanna = piranha, Gorphin = dolphin, Ranta = tarantula. Nolen-Weathington, Eric, ed. (2003). Modern Masters: Alan Davis. TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 9781893905191. Space Romans: Despite the quite advanced technology and occasional Mad Science, a lot of the visual aesthetic and bits of the political systems bear a remarkable resemblance to Earth’s classical Graeco-Roman period.

Don Lawrence’s painted art continues to be a highlight of the series and, as Don Lawrence takes a sabbatical from the strip, Miguel Quesada and Philip Corke match his impressive work with their own style. Elekton in Danger” (aka “Crash in the Jungle,” Ranger #21-23, 5 February to 19 February 1966 and “The Falling Moon,” Ranger #24-27, 26 February to 28 May 1966) The best-selling Treasury of British Comics archival series The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire reaches its fourth astounding volume. John Michael Butterworth (10 January 1924 – 4 October 1986) was a British comic book writer, best known for his comic strip The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire in the British weeklies Ranger and Look and Learn. [2] Mike Butterworth Bizarre Alien Biology: Downplayed. While most inhabitants of Elekton look human (more or less), they're around 12 feet tall and if one particular instance where Janno learns how to fly the aircraft is anything to go by, their eyes can move independently.Even Evil Has Standards: The monstrous Worst Man is the foulest criminal on Elekton but he does have one specific standard - he's a firm believer in a fair fight (he even kills a henchman who tried to shoot Trigo in their match) and when he's dying due to a snakebite accident after his scrap with Trigo was interrupted, he's a Graceful Loser and concedes that Trigo is the winner. We can still marvel at the extraordinary visual flair and detail of Don Lawrence’s stunning artwork. 9/10” Starburst This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.