Episode 45 of The Trigan Empire
The Great Flood
aka The Sea Creatures
Het rijzende water (Dutch title)
The Rising Water (Dutch title, translated)
Written by Mike Butterworth
Illustrated by Philip Corke
The Great Flood was originally published in 10 instalments in issues 635 (16 March 1974) to 644 (18 May 1974) of Look and Learn magazine.
It is reprinted in Volume 4 of The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Rebellion).
Plot summary
All across the empire, water levels are rising, despite a summer drought. At an Imperial conference, Peric the scientist gives a presentation. He tells Trigo that, because the planet Elekton is unusually close to its suns, the ice from the polar caps will melt and flood the entire planet. Within three lunar months, the plains of Vorg will be underwater.
But Peric has a plan—to build a dam to save Trigan City. All peoples of the planet may come within the dam, provided they don’t cause trouble. But the Lokans, led by Yorri-Zim, son of the former tyrant Zorth, wants to take revenge on the Trigans. When the dam is finished, the water rises to the edge. The Lokans plan to blow up the dam, but a Lokan called Zaro no longer wants to participate and warns Janno. However, Janno is too late to foil the Lokan plan and the dam is destroyed. Trigan City is completely flooded, only the tops of the five hills on which the city is built remain dry.
Then, from the sea, green-scaled humanoid creatures emerge from the water. They have been driven out from the depths of the seas because the water pressure became too high. They attack a boat belonging to the Tharvs, and sink the Air Fleet carrier “Daveli”. The Trigans, however, do not know why the carrier sank and investigate. Janno and Zaro dive to the wreck but are captured by the sea creatures. Because they do not come up again, Trigo thinks they are dead.
Yorri-Zim still wants to take revenge and wants to kill Trigo. He climbs atop a statue and waits for his chance. The leader of the sea creatures asks Janno to bring him to their leader. Janno brings them to Trigo, and the sea creature asks if Trigo wants war or peace. At that moment, Yorri-Zim appears and fires at Trigo. With his body, Trigo prevents the leader of the sea creatures from being hit. The leader pulls his weapon and shoots Yorri-Zim. Now there is friendship between the Trigans and the sea people.
Some lunar months later, Trigo has recovered. Peric has a new plan to save the planet. With the help of the sea creatures, they place a massive explosive charge deep in the sea. After the explosion, a fissure opens up in the ocean bed and the excess water drains away into the core of Elekton, and the flood begins to recede. The survivors of the disaster can now rebuild the planet.
Rating
Links
Comicweb (Dutch)
Downloads
MediaFire via British Comics Compilations