Asterix : Search and Destroy

http://www.ring.net/coni/obelix01.jpg

THIS DUDE IS MY LEADER

The writing in the later Goscinny ones (Obelix &Co, Belgium) is of a ridiculously high quality, I think the guy had many years of great stories still in him. It's a real pity.

What's this about Uderzo allowing the strip to continue after his death, Goscinny's daughter allowing it but Uderzo's own daughter calling him out on the decision?

Oh, and ORGIES! WE WANT ORGIIIIES!

"OLD HAIRY HANDS"

For years I thought an orgy just involved eating shitloads of food because of Asterix.

As did I. That was an explanation I'd rather not have had from my dad.

http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/9.4/asterix/Pix/asterix-panel.gif

lol

http://bit.ly/oL6TyJ

THIRTY YEARS TOO LATE

Now Asterix is a popular French brand and vehicle for French actors with weak bladders, any replacement will drive it further into the ground anyway.

I stick by this:

The writing in the later Goscinny ones (Obelix &Co, Belgium) is of a ridiculously high quality, I think the guy had many years of great stories still in him. It's a real pity.

― chap, domingo 27 de julio de 2008 13:44 (3 years ago) Bookmark

His last two were Obelix & Co and Belgium, both of which are so so good.

when I was little, my parents gave me all the Asterix comics and all the Tintin comics, in German!

That's how I first learned German, when I was about 7 years old...I really struggled to understand those comics

they were really funny once I finally decoded them

Tintin has to be read in the original. The English translations of Asterix tend to be pretty good and even have jokes that aren't in the French versions.

I read this (as I'm sure others have) as "Asterisk: Search and Destroy." I was going to say destroy Roger Maris's (even though it never actually existed), and after that I'm stuck. Carry on.

THIRTY YEARS TOO LATE

nonsense, it should just be retired

For years I thought an orgy just involved eating shitloads of food because of Asterix.

yeah, I wrote, and read out to the class, when I was seven, a story that was predicated on this misunderstanding. the teacher took me aside later to quietly enquire where I'd learned the word, but chose not to annotate.

For years I thought an orgy just involved eating shitloads of food because of Asterix.

hooooooly shit, me too, I forgot about this

Herge apparently preferred the English translations of Tintin to his originals. The Asterix translations are far less faithful to the originals, for obvious, pun-related reasons.

I suspect that this unnamed artist who will 'take over' drawing the strip has actually been doing most of the illustration work signed by Uderzo for some time, now.

Chap OTM about Goscinny - died far far too young, and his final scripts for Asterix and Lucky Luke show no sign of diminishing quality.

Ha, me too on the "orgy" thing.

What is Goscinny's work on Iznogoud like? If I love Asterix and like Lucky Luke and Le Petit Nicolas, it's probably worth a go, but where to start?

Not that I know where I'd find them any more - Blackwells bookshop in Oxford used to have a stand of less well-known-in-the-UK Euro comic books but I never knew where to start with any of them and now the stand isn't there, as I discovered when I had a craving to buy things by André Franquin.

Spacecadet, the Iznogoud books are terrific - w/ fantastic psuedo-exotica illustrations by Tabary - tho' they are incredibly formulaic - they seem to be pitched at a slightly younger audience than Asterix. There's a British-based company called Cinebooks who have, so far, published eight Iznogoud books, and lots of Lucky Luke volumes - you can order from their website, although I think Amazon is generally cheaper. I recently had to review Izngoud on Holiday for a 1001 Comics to Read Before you Die book (yeah I know), so that would be a good one to go for, imho. Each volume generally features four different short stories, unliked the book-length Asterix and Tintin volumes.

STILL waiting for Franquin to be properly translated!

OMG orgies! I remember a bunch of us telling one of our parents we were going to have an orgy - no wait, I think they were having some friends over and we asked if they were going to have one!

This is the best shared experience discovery ever.

Count me in the "orgy" gang too (phwoar!)

I'm still waiting for a good reason why the Franquin comics haven't been translated into English. It's one of the biggest insults to art IMO.

nonsense, it should just be retired

er, that's what I'm alluding to.

The series might have had a chance if a proper writer was brought on board. Only a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. Now it's too deep in merde.

(I am saying thirty years btw because I'll always rep for Black Gold - it's the only book that Uderzo could've and should've written. And then it went downhill steeply. Down that cliff those Normans flew off.)

I suspect that this unnamed artist who will 'take over' drawing the strip has actually been doing most of the illustration work signed by Uderzo for some time, now.

this is p much openly stated by Uderzo in the article

sadly those Cinebooks versions of Lucky Luke are re-lettered in a clunky computer font that stopped this punter from buying the entire lot in Gosh last year (/pvmic)

Have we done an Asterix poll?

Best supporting characters = The Pirates
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYnhgcSRCZc/TbKnJSOFGUI/AAAAAAAAAI0/MkIZqEIRMVo/s1600/asterix3.JPG

I once published an article about the translations - the writer felt there was lots added, much of it good, some of it idiotic.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 19:30 (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ah man I'd really like to read this but it doesn't seem to be online

Aha, I have a few of the Cinebooks Lucky Lukes but didn't realise they'd also published some Iznogoud books. Thanks for the recommendation, Ward F.

Is the problem with English translations of Franquin that they're bad, or that they don't exist? I've never seen an English Gaston but I thought I'd seen English translations of Spirou & Fantasio, though I don't remember which era/writer and I'm not finding any on Amazon, so I may be mistaken.

xp I would also love to read that article. I think the Asterix translators did a very impressive job, though my French is too rusty to do justice to the originals, so I can't really compare and contrast.

They just haven't been translated - think there's a legal/political reason. I'd love to see Les Idées Noir translated into English.

How are the Lucky Luke translations?

The Luke translations from Cinebooks are dece, yeah - Morris didn't like pun-based humour, so linguistically they're far less tricky than Asterix.

Cool - I may investigate. I remember Luke being quite wordy to read in French somehow.

Re Spirou/Fantasio: I think only a couple were ever translated?

xp re Lucky Lukes: I can't comment on them as translations, but they're fun to read, although admittedly I prefer Asterix. Lots of little nuances that completely passed me by in other languages (assuming they were there!), e.g. the horse's acerbic/foppish asides, regarding all this cowboying as a hoof-dirtying nuisance which gets in the way of a nice game of chess, etc

too bad about Franquin, the other half is the son of a French teacher and grew up with Gaston, so he'd like to read more Franquin, but our collective French is a bit rusty now

Cinebooks have published a couple of post-Franquin Spirou volumes in English

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spirou-Vol-1-Adventure-Down-Under/dp/1849180113/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2UYPVDZEJFK3K&colid=J68FNACBJQ61

Spirou in New York, and Spirou in Australia, two decent (and only moderately racist) Tome and Janry stories, are available, there's also an out-of-print English Z for Zorglub, and these, published in India, but god knows how to buy them and apparently the translations are awful: http://koti.mbnet.fi/~z14/euro-comics/spirou_and_fantasio.html

I'm, uh, involved in a long-delayed project to translate QRN sur Bretzleburg, for, ahem, web distribution.

Incidentally, I just read a (non-Goscinny) Lucky Luke book about newspapers, "Le Daily Star". It's FANTASTIC.

Tintin has to be read in the original. The English translations of Asterix tend to be pretty good and even have jokes that aren't in the French versions.

― psychedelicatessen (seandalai), miércoles 28 de septiembre de 2011 0:23 (17 hours ago) Bookmark

I have only read both in English, by I would´ve thought it would be the other way round - Tintin´s humour is more character-based and visual, Asterix´s more verbal. Also Tintin transcends comedy more often.

wtf does transcends comedy mean?

The Orgy! Me too! It looked so good - long tables, massive plump, er, birds!

I picked up the latest title, Asterix & The Missing Scroll and enjoyed it a lot, I'm really happy that I can get back on the bus for the first time since the eighties.

Didier Conrad does a painstaking job on the artwork and the story, while a little heavy on modern day parallels (Wikileaks!), is the best since before Goscinny died, same with the first reboot title Asterix & The Picts.

Enjoying the Missing Scroll so far. Surprised to see more big-lipped African caricatures tho, and not just existing characters like the pirate.

Should probably stop reading it as I bought it for a present...

The last three (since the reboot) have all been very strong, it bodes well.

I have slowly been picking up the hardback first editions as a treat to myself, so many of my happy childhood memories are wrapped up in Asterix stories, I re-read Switzerland recently and it might be my all-time favourite, it's so beautifully executed and funny as hell, also weird, decadent Romans and their orgies, vomiting and green faced pancake makeup wearing ladies.

There's an Asterix exhibition at the Jewish Museum in London for the next few months, I must go.

Ah just discovered Uderzo is not writing them anymore, that's good because he was downright terrible. The Asterix canon stopped at Belgium to me, and I have read up until the Secret Weapon (feels weird to write the title in english), the Falling Sky looked so insulted to the spirit of Goscinny I abandoned the whole thing. Might give the Ferri ones a try then.

Are you familiar with the Sempé/Goscinny's classic Le Petit Nicolas?

Sadly I haven't ever read Le Petit Nicolas as I cannot read French, I really wish I did because there's a ton of bande dessinée that I am completely dying to read, things like Michel Vaillant. Not long ago I was staying in Paris at a little hotel smack in the middle of passage Jouffroy called Hotel Chopin and there is a great, atmospheric little shop right there, Le Petit Roi, with the most fantastic selection of bande dessinée.

I would recommend those three new releases from Ferri/Conrad.

I jumped off at around Asterix & Son, which was at the time and I was 11, Belgium is probably the last great one, but I've been a bit nerdy and have been picking up first issues of the later ones for completeness' sake, plus they're cheap, I got 5 first issue hardbacks of later titles for £4 each. I will read them sometime I guess.
good

Going back through them has been fun, I have a copy of Big Fight coming which I recall not liking very much at all as a 9 year old, I bet it's good, some of the others I wasn't so keen on have been really enjoyable when I revisited, Roman Agent, The Soothsayer.

Sadly I haven't ever read Le Petit Nicolas as I cannot read French, I really wish I did because there's a ton of bande dessinée that I am completely dying to read,

Le petit Nicolas is mostly not BD and four or five volumes were available in English when I was a kid (the '80s)

Had no idea Asterix had a new writer, will have to check those out since yall recommend them. Feel like there's still a lot of potential with those characters, but most of the Uderzo stories were awful

Phaidon Press in the UK have reissued translations of all the Nicolas books:

https://www.phaidon.com/nicholas/

There are also two recent French film adaptations(which I haven't seen), both available as Region 2 DVDs - Petit Nicolas and Nicolas on Holiday

i was raised on a strict diet of Asterix books, which isn't true as i was actually raised on a strict diet of food which is why i'm alive today - but nevertheless, Asterix taught me to read in English and French, and also draw to some extent as I was obsessed with the artwork.

I think I acquired the books through random means - some of them were French hardbacks that belonged at my grandparents' house, others I'd get out the library, and I think I devoured pretty much all that I could. I don't think I had much of a filter or background knowledge as to which were part of the original series and which were Uderzo-only, but I definitely remember the Switzerland one being amazing and I'm looking forward to re-reading it.

My mum got me Asterix and the Picts for Christmas the other year. To be honest, I didn't even finish it. The plot was a bit dull and it just didn't feel like it had the same Goscinny spark. The most ridiculous one is the Magic Carpet one. Appalling really and a total shark jump.

Obelix & Co is definitely one of the best I reckon.

XXP - Thanks for the link Ward, that looks ace!

I have recently watched the latest Asterix animation movie (the secret of the magic potion).
It's nicely done and manages to recreate the spirit/humour of the original books.

but the story is ever so slight, sadly.

Has there been one since, generously, 1981 of which you wouldn’t say this?

You're right, Black Gold was the last decent one until the 2013 comeback of sorts with The Picts.

The three since then, I found to be really enjoyable, but this new one is lagging far behind, which is a shame because the art is absolutely on point.

Translation/interpretation must be so difficult and that's when I realised how vital Bell & Hockridge were to the process.

RIP Albert Uderzo (to be fair, I didnt even realize he was still alive)

aw RIP

and I didn't post here to say RIP Anthea Bell, so that too

Oh no! But what an incredible legacy.

I read an Asterix book for the first time in years recently, Asterix and the Cauldron. It’s not one of the best - although the marketplace scene is a classic (the “BOOOOOOOAAAARSSSS” bit) (and the avant-garde theatre troupe) (and other bits, probably).

Uderzo’s drawings of Obelix are incredible throughout, though - it’s amazing how much facial expression he gets out of a character who doesn’t have a mouth 90% of the time.

Spotted on Facebook - Leicester Chronicle story about Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge from 1969:

https://scontent.fman2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/s960x960/90594706_10157958261326832_1418784090512949248_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=TgY0dQcrzsUAX8FX6GV&_nc_ht=scontent.fman2-2.fna&_nc_tp=7&oh=11304ae4d48786c64d549dc3fe0b7c9b&oe=5E9EFEFF

Wow. Love that <3

Mr Roy Oddling (what a name) is the Pete Best of the Asterix story here, I guess

"it’s amazing how much facial expression he gets out of a character who doesn’t have a mouth 90% of the time."

ahah. never thought of it that way !

New one arrived today, again, the art is great, very faithful. The storyline looks like it might be a retread of '& The Roman Agent', but with a new-age type infiltrating the village and putting ppl at loggerheads.

One thing though, it's very dense, high panel count on most of the pages, more text.

Have any of the new lots’ books been worth reading? Magic Carpet must’ve been the last semi-decent one from Uderzp.

I don't think these fake Asterixs are a patch on the fake Blake and Mortimers that Cinebooks put out.

The B&Ms have the benefit of never being that good in the first place