If you’re ever in the mood for more Franco Belgian comic books and don’t know where to start there’s always the other big title that gets a lot of attention: “The Adventures of TIntin”. It’s the same format as the Asterix books and has nearly as many titles. The difference is that Tintin is more of an action adventure story while Asterix settles for more humor and slapstick.
Anyway, onto this week’s review.
Written by Rene GoscinnyArt by Albert Uderzo
Illustrated by Albert Uderzo
This week it’s intrigue and theft in “Asterix and the Cauldron” and we’re off to the land of sun and bullfighting in “Asterix in Spain”
A little side note about the art style of French comic books before we begin. While the lines of artistic expression are often blurred, you can often group French comics into three broad schools of art.
The first is the “realistic” style where the artist creates highly detailed and almost photorealistic pages. You can find this in books like Blueberry by Moebius and Thorgal by Grzegorz Rosinski. The second is the famous “linge claire” or “clean line” style which is characterized by highly realistic backgrounds but simple easy to read line work. This was made most famous by the Tintin books. The final one is the “comic dynamic” style. Out of all three of the styles, it’s the most cartoonish with the most unrealistic caricatures and the most exaggerated action. This is the style where Asterix and Obelix thrive, and interestingly…the Smurfs as well.
Asterix and the Cauldron
“Asterix and the Cauldron” is much more of a personal story for our brave village of indomitable Gauls, although there are still plenty of opportunities for grand conspiracies and a little bit of education. A chieftain named Whosemoralsarelastix (we’re just going to call him the miser from here on out) is a greedy jerk who asks Asterix and the village to guard a cauldron filled with money so the miser can avoid paying Roman taxes. Unfortunately, the caudron is stolen while Asterix is guarding it and it’s up to the main character to uphold the honor of the village and retrieve the coins, or be banished forever.
“Asterix and the Cauldron” is set up as more of a detective story rather than a big mission to safeguard the village, and it does present an interesting mystery with a solid payoff. Also, there are some moments where the comic delves into the minutiae of ancient history and culture. The Romans tended to leave people alone as long as they didn’t rebel and paid their taxes, but what’s interesting is that the Roman government didn’t actually collect the revenue. That job was left to privately owned businesses that were operated by Romans, and if the idea of private tax collection agencies isn’t terrifying to you, it really should be because they were notoriously corrupt. There is also some good humor as Asterix and Obelix try and fail to earn back the money on their own, and even an interesting economics lesson on the laws of supply and demand.
Asterix in Spain
“Asterix in Spain” travels to the Iberian Peninsula where Julius Caesar has been actively trying to quell the rebellious mountain tribes led by the brave Huevos y Bacon and bring them under Roman rule. Caesar manages to kidnap Pepe, the son of Huevos y Bacon, and sends him to Gaul to be a hostage. Unfortunately for the poor Roman bodyguards, Asterix and Obelix discover Pepe and resolve to bring the precocious scamp home to his father. Meanwhile, the Roman commander in charge of looking after Pepe is determined to kidnap the child back before Caesar finds out and throws him to the lions.
Spain was an interesting part of the Roman Empire. The Iberian Peninsula had quite a bit of mineral wealth and was a major battleground for Rome during the glory days of the Republic and the Second Punic War with Hannibal. For the most part it was a well behaved portion of the Empire that had a reputation for producing fine soldiers. Caesar did travel to Spain near the end of the Roman Civil War in order to defeat the last remaining holdouts of Roman resistance against his sole rule, so the comic did well to include Caesar in this story.
Continued belowThere are some pretty fun jokes in this story as well. For one, the duo’s usual run in with the pirates sees them stealing the pirate’s supply of food instead of just sinking them. Also, this is a story that begins yet another long running gag in the Asterix books: village brawls involving the use of whole fish as weapons.
With that being said, “Asterix in Spain” is mostly another thinly veiled barb and modern stereotypes that the French creative team has towards the nations of Europe and beyond. While Pepe is a high spirited boy who is incredibly brave, he is a stubborn little brat who is very much used to getting his own way or else. There are plenty of jokes about Spanish food, bull fighting, Don Quixote, hoards of tourists traveling to Spain for vacation, Spanish music, and their habit of being passionate and haughty.
Next week we get to see the Romans being sneaking in “Asterix and the Roman Agent” and travel to the land of banks and fondue in “Asterix in Switzerland”.
