Episode 51 of The Trigan Empire
The Man from the Future
aka The Time Traveller
Het boze oog van Toth-Zandu (Dutch title)
The Evil Eye of Toth-Zandu (Dutch title, translated)
Written by Mike Butterworth
Illustrated by Don Lawrence
The Man from the Future was originally published in 9 instalments in issues 690 (5 April 1975) to 698 (31 May 1975) of Look and Learn magazine.
It is reprinted in Volume 11 of The Trigan Empire—The Collection (the Don Lawrence Collection).
It is reprinted in Volume 5 of The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Rebellion).
Plot summary
In the year of Zenf, Toth Zandu is looking at the aircraft carrier Trigan Hero and knows that it will sink on its maiden voyage. Through an advertisement, he buys lottery ticket 73620094. The seller doesn’t understand why he wants that ticket. The next day, Trigan Hero sinks, and Cato takes advantage of this by declaring war on the Trigan Empire. The following day, Toth Zandu wins two million thullars in the lottery. He uses the money to buy a luxury villa. There, he is visited by the man who sold him the ticket. Toth has him thrown out, but the man wants revenge.
Toth Zandu goes to Trigo and tells him where Cato is going to attack. He says they want to destroy the Trigan Bay bridge. Trigo prepares for the attack and defeats Cato’s air fleet.
Toth Zandu has a potion that allows him to travel to the future. There, he is known as Zudd Ra and is the keeper of the historical archives. He can look up everything that has happened. Back in the year of Zenf, a soldier from Cato lands in his garden. Wanting more money, he decides to sell future predictions to Cato as well. As a result, Trigan’s army is decimated and the battle fleet is destroyed during an attack.
Peric suspects that Toth Zandu has sold his predictions to Cato. The next day, an attack by the Trigan Air Fleet on Cato is scheduled. Peric asks Janno to ignore the orders and attack in the morning instead of the evening. When Janno does so, Cato’s men are unprepared, and they destroy Cato’s air fleet. However, Janno crashes and is captured. There, he discovers that Toth Zandu is indeed the traitor.
The soldiers from Cato want to kill Toth Zandu, but he escapes from his villa. He takes the hover auto, but inside is the man who had sold him the winning lottery ticket. The man threatens to kill him, but TothZandu is unafraid because he has read that he will live to a ripe old age and be honoured with the rank of Imperial Councillor. However, the man attacks him and they plunge off the bridge and die.
The Catons have no choice but to make peace, and Janno is released. Peric decides to record in the archives that Toth Zandu lived to a ripe old age and was honoured with the rank of Imperial Councillor.
Links
694
https://www.2dgalleries.com/art/trigan-129644
695
https://www.catawiki.com/nl/l/39121527
697
https://www.catawiki.com/nl/l/72074791
The Hooded Utilitarian – The sun never sets on the Trigan Empire
Plot summary (Dutch)
Downloads
British Comics Compilations [PDF]
The Non Lawrence Collection [PDF]