Mazaratto’s Universal Elixir

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Episode 65 of The Trigan Empire

Mazaratto’s Universal Elixir
aka Dr. Mazaratto’s Elixir
Het universele elixer (Dutch title)
The Universal Elixir (Dutch title, translated)

Written by Mike Butterworth
Illustrated by Oliver Frey

Mazaratto’s Universal Elixir was originally published in 8 instalments in issues 800 (14 May 1977) to 807 (2 July 1977) of Look and Learn magazine.

It is reprinted in Volume 6 of The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Rebellion).

Plot summary

One day, Peric’s laboratory explodes. His life’s work is destroyed, and a ruin is all that remains. Janno, Keren, and Roffa visit the annual fair. There, they see Doctor Mazaratto. He is selling his universal elixir, the cure for all ailments. At the market, he gives the elixir to a crippled man, who then walks around happily. That evening, Mazaratto leaves the city and meets his accomplice Rolli, who was pretending to be the crippled man. They make a new elixir by adding dye to water from a nearby waterfall.

Two lunar months later, a navy boat sails under a large bridge. They are on an exercise and plan to stage a mock attack, but the officer on the boat fires a torpedo at the bridge, causing it to collapse. The train crossing the bridge plunges down, and many people die. The officer is arrested, and the investigation team finds nothing suspicious in his home—only a bottle of Doctor Mazaratto’s universal elixir. The man claims he thought he was being attacked by others. He is not believed and is convicted.

As Janno walks through the street, he is suddenly shot at. He manages to overpower the man responsible. The same investigation team looks into the incident but finds nothing strange—only that the man had used Mazaratto’s elixir for a toothache.

The young lawyer Zelli also buys a bottle of the elixir at a market. As he flies away in his helicraft, he sees a plane passing by. He believes they are attacking him and crashes his helicraft into the plane. Both aircraft crash. The investigation team finds the elixir bottle on the ground. The man says he thought he was being shot at.

That evening, Janno drives with Roffa to their base. Roffa grabs the steering wheel from Janno, and Janno jumps out of the hover-auto. Roffa plunges into a ravine but survives the fall. The investigation team searches Roffa’s apartment and finds another bottle of the elixir. Roffa had bought the bottle because he was going bald.

They now understand that the elixir causes delusions, and Peric investigates it. It turns out to contain radioactive material that affects the brain and causes temporary insanity. Mazaratto is arrested, and Peric accuses him of putting radioactive material in the elixir, calling it criminal. Mazaratto claims he knew nothing and that he used water from a waterfall. They investigate the water, and it also contains radioactive material. It turns out the source is Peric’s own laboratory—the water flows through the ruins of the old lab.