We’re continuing our charge into the heart of the Asterix and Obelix books. If you’re reading these reviews and think you’d like to pick up the books yourself (as you should, they are famously good) they are currently being published by Hachette Book Group. You can also find them at almost any self respecting book store, comic book store, or Amazon.
Written by Rene GoscinnyArt by Albert Uderzo
Illustrated by Albert Uderzo
This week we look at “Obelix and Co.” Asterix in Belgium”, “Asterix and the Great Divide”, and “Asterix and the Black Gold”
At this point in the history of the Asterix series, the books have been well established as a massive hit and are well on their way towards becoming one of France’s greatest comic book series and a pop cultural icon.
Obelix and Co.
“Obelix and Co.” is something of a milestone in the series. It’s one of only two books that doesn’t include Asterix in the title, and it’s where we get to see the one thousandth page of Asterix artwork.
The book follows yet another attempt by Caesar to conquer the Gauls. This time his agent is a Roman businessman by the name of Preposterous who suggests that they use a force far more nefarious and ugly than military force: capitalism. The Roman plan is quite simple. Since Obelix makes a supposed living making menhirs, Preposterous plans to buy all the menhirs Obelix has at ever rising prices. Since the rest of the village sees all the money Obelix is making, they are determined to enter the menhir market and before anyone knows it, the entire village is engaged in an arms race making and selling menhirs to the Romans.
“Obelix and Co.” is a modern book in an ancient setting and has a lot of things to say about modern capitalist systems…and the things it has to say aren’t very nice. The book portrays the buying and selling of menhirs as pointless, which is funny because a menhir is basically a giant rock and modern archeologists have no idea what they were for. The book does a very good job of explaining how things like supply and demand, advertising, international competition, labor strikes and economic bubbles work and at the end of the day it all comes off as very sill and kind of pointless.
Asterix in Belgium
“Asterix in Belgium” is a sad book, not due to its subject matter, but because of its place in the history of the book’s publication. This was the last book that was written by Goscinny, who sadly passed away in 1977, in the middle of the book’s production. This is actually the point where some of the diehard fans of the series say that the books should have ended, but new books would continue to be published.
Regardless, we’re going to soldier on with the reviews.
“Asterix in Belgium” finds the tiny village of indomitable Gauls facing their toughest competition yet, a rivalry with the neighboring Belgians for the honor of being the greatest foe Caesar has ever fought. Julius Caesar and his legions are engaged in a long and brutal campaign against the Belgian tribes. In fact, it’s so brutal that the legionaries are beginning to consider a tour of duty near the village to be a vacation. This doesn’t make Vitalstatistix happy, and he resolves to travel to Belgium to show these upstart tribes what a true enemy of Rome looks like. It’s a rivalry filled with lots of thumping across very flat terrain and nourished by lots of meat and beer. The rivalry gets so heated that Caesar himself is drawn into the mix and must navigate two larger than life factions while maintaining control of his empire and his own sanity.
“Asterix in Belgium” is a classic Asterix story, filled with commentary on ancient history and modern Belgium. The Belgae were a real life tribe that fought the real life Caesar, who actually did say they were the greatest warriors he ever fought. There are also plenty of spoofs on modern Belgium, specifically their affinity for french fries with mussels, their flat terrain, and their love of beer and cheese. On a sadder note, Uderzo has it raining throughout most of the book as a tribute to Goscinny and as a spoof on Belgian weather.
Continued belowAsterix and the Great Divide
After the death of Goscinny the Asterix books were as popular as ever, so it was decided that they would be written and drawn by the artist: Albert Uderzo. His first foray into writing was “Asterix and the Great Divide”.
All is quiet in the village of our heroes, so quiet that things are starting to get a little tense. Fortunately, there is a nearby Gaulish village that is suffering from a crisis of leadership between two chiefs: Cleverdix and Majestix. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was a scheming adviser named Codfix who plans to bring in the Roman military to subjugate one half of the village and make them slaves. Fortunately, both chiefs have children who love each other and desire nothing but peace, so they seek help from the village of our heroes and against the rather fishy Codfix.
“Asterix and the Great Divide” is a Romeo and Juliet story, only this time with a much happier ending. There are also allusions to the Berlin Wall that separated Berlin for most of the Cold War. It’s a good book, although perhaps not as clever or as wordy as previous volumes, but it’s still a good story with lots of puns, Latin, and commentary on ancient and modern history and politics.
Asterix and the Black Gold
“Asterix and the Black Gold” places the village in yet another crisis. It turns out that one of the many ingredients needed in Getafix’s legendary potion of strength is a substance called “naptha” or “rock oil” as the Gauls call it, and without a small drop of this black tar like substance the potion simply will not work. It’s up to Asterix and Obelix to travel to the only place where rock oil is in great supply, a far off land called Mesopotamia. Unfortunately for the Gauls, Caesar has caught word of their desperate mission and dispatches a secret agent named Doublohsix to hinder their progress. It’s a race against time as the Gauls have to navigate the tricky and volatile situation in Mesopotamia in order to bring the precious black gold back home.
When reading “Asterix and the Black Gold” comparisons to modern political firestorms in the current Middle East are fairly obvious. There’s subterfuge, factions that are constantly warring with each other, the hell that is the desert, and even a cheeky allusion to the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s worth mentioning that one of the things the book gets very right is how it portrays the relationship between the Romans and the Hebrews, which is to say they do not trust each other at all.
Next week we’re continuing with “Asterix and Son”, “Asterix and the Magic Carpet”, “Asterix and the Secret Weapon”, and “Asterix and Obelix all at Sea”.
