Obelix and Co.
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| Obelix and Co. | |
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| French Title: | Obelix et Compagnie |
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| Story: | Rene Goscinny |
| Illustrations: | Albert Uderzo |
| French Edition: | 1976 |
| English Translation: | 1978 |
| Preceded by: | Asterix and the Great Crossing |
| Followed by: | Asterix in Belgium |
Obelix and Co. is the twenty-third volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). The book's main focus is on the attempts by the Gaul-occupying Romans to corrupt the one remaining village that still holds out against them by instilling capitalism.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
After Obelix single-handedly defeats the newly-arrived Romans from the camp of Totorum (as a birthday present), Caesar once again ponders with any possibility to take down the rebellious Gaulish village. A Roman know-it-all known as Prepostreous has been studying economics. He proposes to integrate the Gauls into the stream of capitalism. For that purpose he moves into the camp of Totorum and proceeds to make the acquaintance of Obelix who is carrying a menhir through the forest. Prepostreous claims to be a Menhir Buyer, and buys every menhir Obelix can make, on the pretext that a rich man is a powerful man.
Obelix begins by making and delivering a single menhir a day, but when Prepostreous demands more menhirs in exchange for more money, Obelix hires other villagers to help him make menhirs and hunt boar so he can eat. Although he tries to include Asterix in this, he will have no part of Obelix's corporation. This corporation later includes a cart-and-oxen with which to deliver half-a-dozen menhirs to the camp in one go. Obelix's workload also means that he neglects Dogmatix.
Obelix's increasing wealth causes problems for the village men, whose wives reproach them for not matching his success. Obelix himself shows off this wealth by wearing ostentatious clothes.
Deciding that the time has come to teach him a lesson, Asterix encourages the other villagers to start building menhirs, selling them to the Romans and putting their subsequent wealth on display. Getafix agrees to dole out magic potion for anyone who makes menhirs, in spite of not knowing what menhirs are for. Because the menhir makers can no longer spend time hunting wild boar, they hire hunters to do it for them. Asterix estimates that it is only a matter of time before things come to a head, explode and get back to normal.
With Prepostreous buying up every menhir at ever-increasing prices, it is not long before the camp of Totorum is filled with menhirs.
This abundance of rock reaches Rome where Prepostreous sells them to the patricians. He does this by making out that a menhir is a symbol of great wealth and high rank, therefore prompting insecure people to buy them. But before he can go further, a Roman businessman jumps onto the bandwagon and sells Roman menhirs at a cheaper rate.
Anxious to sell off his stock of Gaulish menhirs and recover the money that was paid to the Gauls for them, Caesar imposes a ban on the sale of Roman menhirs. In protest the unemployed Roman menhir makers (actually slaves) block the Roman roads with menhirs.
The ban is lifted in the face of a possible civil conflict and Prepostreous suggests a price war to deal with the competition. But then menhirs from other countries such as Egypt and Greece start pouring in. Even the pirates are faced with the growing Menhir Crisis since (as revealed in the French version) every ship they attack contains nothing but menhirs and taking these stones away as loot causes their own ship to sink.
Facing financial ruin, an angry Caesar then orders Prepostreous back to Gaul to stop the menhir trade before it goes one stone further. Prepostreous fears that the Gauls will not take this news lightly, but, if he does not, he will find himself thrown to the lions in the arena.
In the village, Obelix is quite miserable. He has had too much of this tomfoolery with menhirs, markets, money, meat and mayhem, which he never understood at all. All the other menhir makers are now wearing fashionable clothes and he is demoralised. He wants to go back to the easy days of having fun and eating (an obvious comment on the dullness of corporate life). Asterix agrees to go hunting boar with him if he changes back into his old clothes, rather than the fancy ones he is wearing at the moment. Asterix and Getafix then exchange winks: the next stage of the plan is approaching.
Prepostreous returns to Gaul and announces that he is not buying another menhir if his life depends on it (as it does). He thus turns down Unhygienix's delivery of menhirs. Although Fulliautomatix is apt to blame this on the fact that Unhygenix's menhirs have an odour of rotten fish, it becomes clear that even menhirs made by a cynical blacksmith do not suffice.
When the men of the village notice that Obelix has himself called a halt, they first blame him for the menhir crisis and a fight ensues. Asterix and Getafix are glad to see their friends back to their old ways. Asterix then ends the fight with the suggestion that they turn their anger on the Romans; in gratitude for their earlier present, Obelix for once takes no part in the fight, allowing the other villagers to attack the Romans on their own.
The Roman camp is wrecked, and so is the whiz-kid, Prepostreous. He is left alongside the Centurion, beaten to the point of seeing blood circling in bubbles around his beaten head.
Asterix wants to know what his neighbours will do with all their money. Getafix tells him there is not much to be done, being that the Roman Menhir Crisis has devalued the sestertius. In other words the villagers are now stone-broke. But they hold a traditional banquet to celebrate the return to normalcy and a menhir proves useful in literally holding Cacofonix down.
[edit] Notes
- The book itself is a parody of capitalism, as when Obelix could hunt boar before, he began to overwork for the purpose of buying them (and ridiculous clothing). This pointless circle of money is something Obelix never understood in the first place, when all this stress could have been prevented by simply hunting and living the simple life like before.
- Capitalism is also looked at as pointless through the fact that the only thing being bought served no practical purpose, as a menhir is simply a large stone.
- In later stories (More specifically Asterix and the Actress) it is revealed that Asterix was actually born on the same day as Obelix, but this apparent continuity error (Why wasn't Asterix's birthday mentioned in this volume?) has never been addressed.
[edit] Trivia
- The character of Prepostreous is a parody of French politician Jacques Chirac, who was, at that time, Prime Minister under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and who himself became President of the Republic in 1995.
- Laurel and Hardy make an appearance as Roman legionaries in the comic.
- When, on page 2, the Romans leave the camp, two of the legionaries are carrying a drunk on a shield. The bearers are Goscinny and Uderzo themselves and the drunk is their friend Pierre Tchernia.
- When the makers of Roman menhirs are banned from selling their stock, they block the Roman roads in protest at the loss of their jobs. This is a common tactic by French strikers.
- In this story, camp life for the Roman legionaries is shown as very undisciplined. In other Asterix adventures they are usually clean-shaven and well-organised, but here the men's faces are covered in stubble and life is easy-going to the point of anarchy. This laxity is reflected in the watchtower guard who becomes increasingly dishevelled with every appearance.
[edit] References
- The complete guide to Asterix by Peter Kessler ISBN 0-340-65346-9
