Asterix

Asterix Astérix
Some of the many recurring and regular characters in Asterix. In the centre of the group is Asterix, the main eponymous hero of the series.
Created by:	René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Genre:	Humor and Satire
Publisher:	Dargaud (France)
Original publication period:	29 October 1959 - 22 October 2009
Status:	Still running
Country of origin:	France
Language of origin:	French
Number of books published:	34
Website:	official website

Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix (French: Astérix or Astérix le Gaulois, IPA: [asteʁiks lə ɡolwa]) is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo (Uderzo also took over the job of writing the series after the death of Goscinny in 1977). The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959. As of 2009, 34 comic books in the series have been released.

The series follows the exploits of a village of ancient Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. They do so by means of a magic potion, brewed by their druid, which gives the recipient superhuman strength. The protagonist, the titular character, Asterix, along with his friend Obelix have various adventures. The "ix" suffix of both names echoes the name of Vercingetorix, a historical Gaul chieftain. In many cases, the stories have them travel to various countries around the world, though other books are set in and around their village. For much of the history of the series (Volumes 4 through 29), settings in Gaul and abroad alternated, with even-numbered volumes set abroad and odd-numbered volumes set in Gaul, mostly in the village.

The Asterix series is one of the most popular Franco-Belgian comics in the world, with the series being translated into over 100 languages, and it is popular in most European countries. Asterix is less well known in the United States and Japan.

The success of the series has led to the adaptation of several books into 11 films; eight animated, and three with live actors. There have also been a number of games based on the characters, and a theme park near Paris, Parc Astérix, is themed around the series. To date, 325 million copies of 34 Asterix books have been sold worldwide, making co-creators Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo France's bestselling authors abroad.^[1][2]

History

Prior to creating the Asterix series, Goscinny and Uderzo had previously had success with their series Oumpah-pah, which was published in the Tintin magazine.^[3]

Astérix was originally serialised in the magazine Pilote, in the very first issue published on 29 October 1959.^[4] In 1961 the first book was put together entitled Asterix the Gaul. From then on, books were released generally on a yearly basis.

Uderzo's first sketches portrayed Asterix as a huge and strong traditional Gaulish warrior. But Goscinny had a different picture in his mind. He visualized Asterix as a shrewd small sized warrior who would prefer intelligence over strength. However, Uderzo felt that the small sized hero needed a strong but dim companion to which Goscinny agreed. Hence, Obelix was born.^[5] Despite the growing populairty of Asterix with the readers, the financial backing for Pilote ceased. Pilote was taken over by Georges Dargaud.^[5] When Goscinny died, Uderzo continued the series alone on the demand of the readers who implored him to continue. He continued the series but on a less frequent basis. Uderzo created his own publishing company, Les Editions Albert-René, which published every album drawn and written by Uderzo alone since then.^[5] However, Dargaud, the initial publisher of the series, kept the publishing rights on the 24 first albums made by both Uderzo and Goscinny. In 1990, the Uderzo and Goscinny families decided to sue Dargaud to take over the rights. In 1998, after a long trial, Dargaud lost the rights to publish and sell the albums. Uderzo decided to sell these rights to Hachette instead of Albert-René, but the publishing rights on new albums were still owned by Albert Uderzo (40%), Sylvie Uderzo (20%) and Anne Goscinny (40%).

Although Uderzo declared he didn't want anyone to continue the series after his death, which is similar to the request Hergé made regarding his The Adventures of Tintin, his attitude changed and in December 2008 he sold his stake to Hachette, which took over the company and now own the rights. This has provoked a family row.^[6]

In a letter published in the French newspaper Le Monde, Uderzo's daughter, Sylvie, has attacked her father's decision for selling the family publishing firm and the rights to produce new Astérix adventures after his death. She is reported as saying "...the co-creator of Astérix, France’s comic strip hero, has betrayed the Gaulish warrior to the modern-day Romans - the men of industry and finance”.^[7][8] Anne Goscinny also gave her agreement to the continuation of the series and sold her rights at the same time.^[9] A few months later, Uderzo appointed three illustrators, who had been his assistants for many years, to continue the series.^[10]

List of titles

Numbers 1 - 24, 32 and 34 are by both Goscinny and Uderzo. Numbers 25 - 31 and 33 are solely the work of Uderzo. Years stated are for their initial release.

Asterix Conquers Rome is a comic book adaptation of the animated film The Twelve Tasks of Asterix. It was released in 1976, making it technically the 23rd Asterix volume to be published. But it has been rarely reprinted and is not considered to be canonical to the series. The only English translation ever to be published was in the Asterix Annual 1980.

In 2007, Les Editions Albert René released a tribute volume titled Astérix et ses Amis, a 60 pages comic book made up of various short stories (from one to four strips). It was a tribute to Albert Uderzo on the occasion of his 80th birthday by 34 renowned European comics artists. The volume was translated into nine languages, but has not yet been translated into English.^[12]

Synopsis and characters

The main setting for the series is an unnamed coastal village in Armorica, a province of Gaul (modern France), in the year 50 BC. Julius Caesar has conquered nearly all of Gaul for the Roman Empire. The little Armorican village, however, has held out because the villagers can gain temporary superhuman strength by drinking a magic potion brewed by the local village druid, Getafix.

The main protagonist and hero of the village is Asterix, who, because of his shrewdness, is usually entrusted with the most important affairs of the village. He is aided in his adventures by his rather fat and unintelligent friend, Obelix, who, because he fell into the druid's cauldron of the potion as a baby, has permanent superhuman strength. Obelix is usually accompanied by Dogmatix, his little dog.

Asterix and Obelix (and sometimes other members of the village) go on various adventures both within the village and in far away lands. Places visited in the series include parts of Gaul (Lutetia, Corsica etc.), neighbouring nations (Belgium, Spain, Britain, Germany etc.), and far away lands (North America, Middle East, India etc.).

The series employs science-fiction and fantasy elements in the more recent books; for instance, the use of extraterrestrials in Asterix and the Falling Sky and the city of Atlantis in Asterix and Obelix All at Sea.

Humour

The humour encountered in the Asterix comics is typically French, often centering on puns, caricatures, and tongue-in-cheek stereotypes of contemporary European nations and French regions. Much of the humour in the initial Asterix books was French-specific, which delayed the translation of the books into other languages for fear of losing the jokes and the spirit of the story. Some translations have actually added local humour: In the Italian translation, the Roman legionnaires are made to speak in 20th century Roman dialect and Obelix's famous "Ils sont fous ces romains" ("These Romans are crazy") is translated as "Sono pazzi questi romani", alluding to the Roman abbreviation SPQR. In another example: Hiccups are written onomatopoeically in French as "hips," but in English as "hic," allowing Roman legionnaries in at least one of the English translations to decline their hiccups in Latin ("hic, haec, hoc"). The newer albums share a more universal humour, both written and visual.^[13]

In spite of (or perhaps because of) this stereotyping, and notwithstanding some alleged streaks of French chauvinism, the humour has been very well received by European and Francophone cultures around the world.

Translations

The 34 books or albums (one of which is a compendium of short stories) in the series have been translated into more than 100 languages and dialects. Besides the original French, most albums are available in Estonian, English, Czech, Dutch, German, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese (and Brazilian Portuguese), Italian, modern Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Slovene, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian and Latvian.^[14] Beyond modern Europe, some albums have also been translated into languages as diverse as Esperanto, Indonesian, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Bengali, Afrikaans, Arabic, Hindi, Hebrew, Frisian, Latin, Romansch, Vietnamese, and Ancient Greek.^[14]

In France, in Finland, Poland and especially in Germany, several volumes were translated into a variety of regional languages and dialects, such as Alsatian, Breton, Chtimi (Picard) and Corsican in France, Swabian and Low German in Germany, Kashubian and Silesianin Poland and Savo, Karelia, Rauma and Helsinki slang dialects in Finland. Also, in Portugal, a special edition of the first volume, Asterix the Gaul, was translated into local language Mirandese.^[15] In Greece, a number of volumes have appeared in the Cretan Greek, Cypriot Greek and Pontic Greek dialects and in Ancient Greek.^[16]

In the Netherlands several volumes were translated into Frisian, a language related to Old English spoken in the province of Friesland. Also in the Netherlands two volumes were translated into Limburgish, a regional language spoken not only in Dutch Limburg but also in Belgian Limburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hungarian-language books have been issued in Yugoslavia for the Hungarian minority living in Serbia. Although not a fully autonomic dialect, it slightly differs from the language of the books issued in Hungary. In Sri Lanka, the cartoon series was adapted into Sinhala as Sura Pappa, The only Sri Lankan translation of a foreign cartoon that managed to keep the spirit of the original series intact.^[15]

English translation

The translation of the books into English has been done by Derek Hockridge and Anthea Bell.

Adaptations

The series has been adapted into various media.

Films

Various motion pictures based upon the series have been made.

• Two Romans in Gaul, 1967, live-action, in which Asterix and Obelix appear in a cameo.
• Asterix the Gaul, 1967, animated, based on the book Asterix the Gaul.
• Asterix and the Golden Sickle, 1967, animated, based upon the comic book Asterix and the Golden Sickle, incomplete and never released.
• Asterix and Cleopatra, 1968, animated, based on the book Asterix and Cleopatra.
• The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, 1976, animated, a unique story not based on an existing comic.
• Asterix Versus Caesar, 1985, animated, based on both Asterix the Legionary and Asterix the Gladiator.
• Asterix in Britain, 1986, animated, based upon the book Asterix in Britain.
• Asterix and the Big Fight, 1989, animated, based on both Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer.
• Asterix Conquers America, 1994, animated, loosely based upon the comic Asterix and the Great Crossing.
• Asterix and Obelix take on Caesar, 1999, live-action, based primarily upon Asterix the Gaul, Asterix and the Soothsayer, Asterix and the Goths, Asterix the Legionary, and Asterix the Gladiator.
• Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, 2002, live-action, based upon the comic book Asterix and Cleopatra.
• Asterix and the Vikings, 2006, animated, based upon the comic book Asterix and the Normans.
• Asterix and Obelix at the Olympic Games, 2008, live-action, based upon the comic book Asterix at the Olympic Games.
• Asterix in Britain, 2012, live-action, based upon the comic book Asterix in Britain.^[14][17][18]

Principal Cast and Characters

Games

Many gamebooks, boardgames and video games are based upon the Asterix series.

In particular, many video games were released by various computer game publishers:

Theme park

Parc Asterix, a theme park, 12½ miles based upon the series, was opened near Paris in 1989. It is one of the most visited sites in France, with around 1.6 million visitors per year.

Influence in popular culture

Asterix ham and cheese-flavored potato chips

• The first French satellite, which was launched in 1965, was named Astérix-1 in honour of Asterix. Asteroid 29401 Asterix was also named in honor of the character. Coincidentally, the word Asterix/Asterisk originates from the Greek for Little Star.
• During the campaign for Paris to host the 1992 Summer Olympics Asterix appeared in many posters over the Eiffel Tower.
• The French company Belin introduced a series of "Asterix" potato chips shaped in the forms of Roman shields, gourds, wild boar, and bones.
• Asterix and Obelix appeared on the cover of Time Magazine for a special edition about France. In a 2009 issue of the same magazine, Asterix is described as being seen by some as a symbol for France's independence and defiance of globalisation.^[19]
• The animated series Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears also concerns an oppressed group in possession of a magic potion capable of conferring superhuman strength and agility.
• The 2006 FIFA World Cup final between France and Italy was depicted in newspapers as a fight between Roman legions and Gaulish villagers.
• Version 4.0 of the operating system OpenBSD features a parody of an Asterix story.^[20]
• Action Comics Number 579, published by DC Comics in 1986, written by Lofficier and Illustrated by Keith Giffen, featured an homage to Asterix where Superman and Jimmy Olsen are drawn back in time to a small village of indomitable Gauls.
• Lisa Simpson is delighted at the sight of a rack with Tintin and Asterix comics in a comic book store, depicted in The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives".
• Obelix is referenced in The King Blues' 2008 single "My Boulder". The song features the lyrics, "If I'm Obelix, you are my boulder".
• On October 29, 2009, the Google homepage of a great number of countries displayed a logo commemorating 50 years of Asterix.^[21]

See also

• List of Asterix volumes
• List of Asterix games
• English translations of Asterix
• Portal:Bande dessinée
• Roman Gaul, after Julius Caesar's conquest of 58–51 BC that consisted of five provinces.
• Kajko i Kokosz

References

Sources

External links

• Official site
• Asterix Wikia
• Asterix around the World – The many languages
• Asterix NZ– General Reference site for English speaking Fans
• Asterix - The Dictionary– Complete Asterix Dictionary for Spanish speaking Fans
• Alea Jacta Est (Asterix for grown-ups) Each Asterix book is examined in detail
• Les allusions culturelles dans Astérix - Cultural allusions (French)
• The Asterix Annotations – album-by-album explanations of all the historical references and obscure in-jokes