Janno’s Five Tasks

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Episode 60 of The Trigan Empire

Janno’s Five Tasks
aka The Zallus
De proeven van Janno (Dutch title)
Janno’s trials (Dutch title, translated)

Written by Mike Butterworth
Illustrated by Oliver Frey

Janno’s Five Tasks was originally published in 8 instalments in issues 761 (14 August 1976) to 768 (2 October 1976) of Look and Learn magazine.

It is reprinted in Volume 5 of The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Rebellion).

Plot summary

The Zallusians, a people from Vorg, attack the Trigans, but the Trigans are much stronger. They defeat them and take over their land. Trigo sends his nephew Janno to Zallusia to become governor-general there. When Janno arrives, he addresses the Council of Elders, but they do not want to accept him as their leader. In Zallusia, leaders must undergo five trials of courage. Janno immediately says that he will undergo them.

For the first trial, he must cross the Plain of Zath, unarmed and on foot. No one has ever done this, because there are wild animals and quicksand. Along the way, it is very hot due to the twin suns of Elekton, which are high in the sky. He steps into quicksand but just manages to save himself by grabbing a branch. He sees a horned gora, the most dangerous animal that lives there. He follows the beast, as he knows exactly where the quicksand is. Near the end of the plain, the animal spots him and attacks, but Janno throws the beast into the quicksand and safely reaches the end of the plain.

When Trigo hears what Janno is doing, he becomes furious and sends an envoy to tell him to stop. But when the envoy arrives in Zallusia, Janno is already in the middle of his second trial. He must climb a tower-high monument. When he is halfway up, a sniper shoots at him. The other Trigans chase the shooter away, but the man escapes. Janno safely reaches the top.

For the third trial, he must swim across the Yulf Channel, but on the way, a Zallusian fishing junk approaches from the Devil’s Rocks and the men try to kill him. Janno dives deep into the sea, but is attacked by a huge shark. The shark misses him and destroys the junk. Janno safely reaches the opposite shore in Tarv.

Trigo hears that Janno has not stopped and goes to Zallusia himself to stop him. For the fourth trial, Janno must spend a night in the Court of Death, a lonely island where Zallusian warriors are buried. While there, he is attacked at night by a group of Zallusians. He is overpowered and tied to a stake on the beach. The next morning, a terrible sea monster approaches him. Just as it is about to seize him, Trigo appears in a boat and kills the monster. He frees Janno, who has now completed his fourth trial.

Trigo now wants him to complete the final trial as well. For this, he must ride the kreed of the legendary Zallusian warrior Zorpho. Zorpho had fallen in a war, and his kreed now roams the steppes. Janno goes to the steppe and is attacked by the kreed, but jumps onto its back from a tree and tames it. Proudly, he rides into the city and is honoured by the Zallusians, who now prefer him over the Council of Elders. Trigo expects that the Zallusians will now be good allies.