The Masked Raiders – The Trigan Empire

The Masked Raiders
aka Revenge of a Friend
De wraak van een vriend (Dutch title)
Revenge of a Friend (Dutch title, translated)

Written by Mike Butterworth
Illustrated by Don Lawrence

The Masked Raiders was originally published in 11 instalments in issues 506 (25 September 1971) to 516 (4 December 1971) of Look and Learn magazine.

It is reprinted in Volume 8 of The Trigan Empire—The Collection (the Don Lawrence Collection).

It is reprinted in Volume 3 of The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Rebellion).

Plot summary

Salvia, the daughter of Peric, christens the new ship The Princess Vorg. On its maiden voyage, Janno, Trigo, Peric, and Salvia come along. They are ambushed by a gang of helmeted men. They steal all the valuables, and Janno tries to defend Salvia but receives a massive electric shock from the glove of one of the helmeted men. The men leave the boat, and after all passengers have boarded the lifeboats, they sink the ship. Janno is paralyzed by the electromagnetic force.

The helmeted men also rob the national bank of Trigan City and blow up the building. Roffa and Keren go hunting in the wilderness. It gets foggy, and Keren loses sight of Roffa. Roffa ends up at the inn The Wild Boar and stays there overnight. At night, he is ambushed and carried off by the helmeted men.

The helmeted men also hijack an airplane. Coincidentally, Keren is also on board and overpowers the last helmeted man. When he removes his helmet, he sees that it is Roffa. Peric discovers that Roffa is hypnotized. They hear from Roffa that he had been at an inn. Peric then hypnotizes Keren, making him immune to the enemy’s hypnosis.

Keren then goes to investigate and, like Roffa, is ambushed at the inn. The helmeted men raid a hotel in a seaside resort on the Great Ocean. Keren leaves a message saying that the infiltration has succeeded and that he is wearing number thirteen. Trigo decides to help him personally and also goes to the inn. He too is ambushed and hypnotized.

As a test, he is ordered to shoot number thirteen. He does so, but the gun is not loaded. The mysterious leader addresses the helmeted men and says they are going to raid Trigo’s palace. One airplane attacks first and incapacitates the imperial guard with nerve gas. The other helmeted men should then have free access.

The mysterious leader chooses Trigo and Keren to pilot the first plane. Number Thirteen and Trigo arrive at the palace together. Trigo wants to stop the mission, but Number Thirteen forces him to gas the guard. Together they get out and stand on the roof of the palace. The other helmeted men are now looting the palace.

Number Thirteen now removes his helmet, and it is not Keren: it is Zapha. Long ago, when they were young, Trigo, Brag, and Klut went into the wilderness with Zapha. They jumped from a high mountain into a lake, but Zapha disappeared. Trigo says he searched for him but never found him. Zapha had lost his memory for a time, but when it returned, all he wanted was revenge.

Zapha wants to shoot Trigo, but Trigo attacks him. Zapha knocks him unconscious but falls from the roof and dies. Trigo’s soldiers go to the inn, where they rescue Keren.