Posted on July 19, 2025August 1, 2025The Man with a Mission (continued . . .) Lukaz Rann brought Vallu’s vehicle to a jarring halt at the cliff edge and rasped an order. Get out ! Vallu’s bodyguards were closing in fast. Jump ! Please ! Spare me ! I’ll make you rich. Anything can be yours, if only . . . The great rocketeer thrust his victim over the abyss and followed after. Eeeeeeeeeeghh ! Lukaz Rann struck the water and sank deeply. Vallu’s been knocked unconscious. I must get him to the surface before he drowns. I’d hate anything to happen to him ! The bodyguards criss-crossed the area where the two had disappeared. No sign of them. They must have perished. But the intrepid rocketeer was alive, and supporting his half-drowned captive. They think it’s hopeless, and are giving up the search. That night, a Trigan fishing boat approached the cliffs, as Lukaz Rann had previously arranged. Well done, lads. Now let’s get out of here. Morning found the rocketeer back in his Vorg castle, with his second victim imprisoned in a dungeon. With so little time left to him, Lukaz Rann took up the next dossier without any delay. And now, another creature whose dis- appearance will sweeten the air of the whole planet . . . Yackrass ! Yackrass was a rabble-rousing Trigan politician. He was also the highest paid performer on the Trigan audivision network. An estimated fifty million viewers switched on his weekly programme. Mustn’t miss old Yackrass. He’s always good for a bit of excitement. Yackrass’s technique was to play upon the public’s fears and prejudices. Currently, he was blazing a campaign of XENOPHOBIA—the hatred of foreigners. Fellow-citizens ! Do you realise that there are over half a million foreign nationals residing here ? Taking all the best jobs ! Treating us like second class citizens ! How much longer are we going to tolerate this pollution in our midst ? Following Yackrass’s outburst, innocent and law-abiding foreigners—Catons, Lokans, Tharvians, and others—were mobbed in the streets and their properties destroyed. Down with the outsiders ! Trigan for the Trigans ! Yackrass had cause for self-congratulation. That very day, he had landed a new audivision contract at double his usual fee. By all the stars, you’re a clever fellow, my dear Yackrass. But retribution was at hand for the spreader of hatred. This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 705 on 19 July 1975.
Posted on April 6, 2024April 7, 2024The Great Flood (continued . . .) This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 638 on 6 April 1974.
Posted on March 20, 2021December 22, 2023The Giant Plant (continued . . .) Tax Toru made good his escape from the Lokan stronghold with projectiles screaming about his bent head. I am riding from one certain death to another—but it must be done ! In the early hours of the morning, he reached Trigan City and gained admission to the Imperial Palace. This unkempt wretch demands to speak with you, Imperial Majesty ! Who are you— what do you want ? Tax Toru tensed himself. He knew that the fate of an escaped convict was to be slain on sight. I am Tax Toru—formerly commander of your Imperial Majesty's guard ! That traitor ! Cut him down ! Leave him ! Why have you risked your life to come here ? I know the secret of the rallus, and I wish to save the city ! He told all. By all the stars ! The ibis plant —the one I treated with my special compound—must have scattered its seeds on the wind ! Yes ! There is a peasant's son who grew to the size of a man in the space of a few lunar months. And it was from the child's father that the Lokans learned the weakness of all who eat the ibis seeds . . . . . . They have a mad craving for water ! Of course ! The swiftly- multiplying body-cells would require vast quantities of liquid. This gives us a weapon to destroy the rallus ! The rallu horde had retired underground. In the hours before dawn, guards set to work in the silent city. Every drop of water in the city must be poured away or made undrinkable ! Glutinous black oil was poured on to the palace lake. By dawn, they will have only one place to drink . . . The river ! As the twin suns of Elekton rose above the horizon, the rallus came out and sniffed the air for water. They scoured the city in vain. When the suns were high in the sky, the thirst-crazed horde streamed out of the great gates. They are heading for the river ! Nothing on Elekton could stop them now ! The river Trigan flowed deep and fast. The tumbling mass swept towards it. Trigo and his companions watched from the ramparts. It was soon over. Every last one . . . Drowned by their unquenchable craving. Suddenly . . . By all the demons of Daveli ! We have overcome the plague—and here come the rebels ! They came across the plain. Rebels from all over the crumbling Empire—come to feast like birds of prey upon the prostrate city ! This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 479 on 20 March 1971.
