The Food of the Gods

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Episode 48 of The Trigan Empire

The Food of the Gods
aka The Deadly Seeds
De verloren planeet (Dutch title)
The Lost Planet (Dutch title, translated)

Written by Mike Butterworth
Illustrated by Philip Corke

The Food of the Gods was originally published in 7 instalments in issues 661 (14 September 1974) to 667 (26 October 1974) of Look and Learn magazine.

It is reprinted in Volume 4 of The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Rebellion).

Plot summary

In the sky over Elekton, a meteor is seen. Peric says it was a fragment of an exploded planet. Without the inhabitants of Elekton realising it, small particles fall onto Elekton. Strange plants begin to grow from them. When a flock of glebes eats the plants, they become very aggressive and attack the shepherd.

Peric is visiting the botanist Beris. They have already seen the new plant but do not recognise it. When birds eat from the plants, they become aggressive and attack Peric and Beris. The two flee into their house. Red berries grow on the plants.

In the forest of Vorg, a group of schoolboys is camping. They eat the berries and become “super creatures”. They kill their teacher. They head to a military camp and overpower the unsuspecting soldiers.

Janno goes to check out the base and lands there. He is immediately overpowered by the boys. One of them takes his fighter-craft, flies to the home base, and causes major destruction. Trigo thinks Janno is a traitor. The boys want to kill Janno, but he escapes. When he returns home, he is shot at and goes to Peric. Peric listens to his story and believes him.

The boys go to a Trigan City armored division. After the unsuspecting operator explains how a vehicle works, they overpower him and drive the hovertanks toward the capital. On the plains of Vorg, a herd of zargots eats the berries from the strange plant. They too become aggressive and head toward the capital. They encounter the boys’ armored division and destroy it.

Meanwhile, Beris has discovered the source of all the aggression. He has also found a substance that can neutralise the plants. They spread the substance over the plants, which destroys them all. The Zargots are no longer aggressive, and the boys apologise for their behavior. Peric discovers that the seeds of the plant came from the planet and that the plants were radioactive. The planet had been destroyed by a nuclear disaster.