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 we see the devious Romans almost conquer the village in “Asterix and the Roman Agent” and we’re off to the Alps in “Asterix in Switzerland”
Here’s a brief rundown of the artistic styles that are prevalent throughout the Franco Belgian comic book scene. Think of it as a small collection of facts that you can whip out at a party or any social gathering in order to look smart.
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 Roman Agent
“Asterix and the Roman Agent” tells a story where Julius Caesar has a plan to finally defeat the village of indomitable Gauls once and for all. Since he can’t conquer them with force of arms or buy them out, he decides to send an agent into the village to sow discord and make the Gauls distrust each other. While his good friend Brutus likes the plan, the historical references that Caesar makes on a near constant basis are slowly driving him into a murderous rage.
Caesar’s agent is a man named Convolvulus, a small, spiteful man capable of turning any group of friends against each other with a single sentence. Convolvulus is so effective that while he was sentenced to be fed to the lions, he managed to escape by convincing the lions to attack each other instead of him.
The agent is sent to the village (his voyage is plagued by the crew fighting each other and even the pirates fall victim to his machinations) and proves to be immediately effective in sowing mistrust among Asterix and his villagers. On top of that, Convolvulus manages to enlist the help of the neighboring Roman garrison to engage in psychological warfare by convincing the Gauls that the Romans actually have the secret potion that gives them superhuman strength. Fortunately, Roman trickery is no match for honest Gaulish camaraderie, and the Romans are defeated when Getafix and Asterix manage to bring the village together and outplay the Romans.
“Asterix and the Roman Agent” shows the Romans at their most devious and is a story where the village is under the gravest threat. It can be a bit confusing to follow at times, there’s a very real sense that Goscinny may have been trying to be a bit too clever with the plotting and wordplay, but it’s still a fun book to read.
Asterix in Switzerland
“Asterix in Switzerland” isn’t really a book about Asterix and his village. Sure, Asterix is there, but this is actually a story about the Romans and the political intrigue that became something of a stereotype about the Empire. A Roman governor named Varius Flavus has been stealing tax money meant for Rome and using it to fund lavish orgies. All is going well until a quaestor (basically a government backed book keeper) named Vexatius Sinusitus arrives and resolves to uncover this corruption and have the governor fed to the lions. Flavus manages to poison the quaestor, but doesn’t kill him. In his pain Sinsitus sends for the druid Getafix to help cure him. Getafix agrees and sends Asterix and Obelix off to the Roman province of Helvetia (modern day Switzerland) to obtain an edelweiss flower that is integral to the antidote to the poison. The corrupt governor reaches out to an equally corrupt colleague to make the Gaul’s mission difficult, hijinks ensue, and the day is saved with the governor being arrested and the Roman quaestor making a full recovery.
Continued below“Asterix in Switzerland” is a book that does follow the usual tropes of the series. The Romans are incompetant and the Helvetians are stereotypically Swiss with their clocks, confidential banks, fondue, yodeling, mountain climbing, and stubborn neutrality in all political matters. However, it’s also a book of firsts. This is definitely one of the darker stories with it’s attempted murder, and the book has more mature themes with the Romans always engaging in orgies. The more mature themes were a result of social unrest that was gripping France at the time the book was being written and several famous “Romesploitation” films that came out in the late 1960’s that really played the stereotype of Roman decadence to the hilt.
It’s worth mentioning that “Asterix in Switzerland” nails just how corrupt Roman governors could be, but it also shows how upright and moral they could be as well, a sentiment that the book’s creators enjoy so much that they actually allow the good Roman to join the village in their end of the book feast.
Next week we see Asterix take on poor working conditions and gentrification in “Mansions of the Gods” and see how the Gauls contribute the collapse of the Empire in “Asterix and the Laurel Wreath”.
