Yeah, I noticed a little while ago that the Wiki entry for Laurel Wreath claims
This is by far the most adult-oriented of all the Asterix stories. It includes drunkenness, human slavery, debauchery, particularly graphic violence, androgyny, and instances of humour requiring (for Asterix) an unusually sophisticated knowledge of art and history to fully understand it. There is an implicit acknowledgement of this in that Dogmatix (a favourite with younger readers) makes only a token (2 panel) appearance, and the lettering in the original version of this album uses a style more cursive and difficult to read than usual, again discouraging younger readers (the updated version released in 2004 uses the same lettering style as all the other Asterix stories).
But I like it as much for all the family stuff, which again seems to cut a little deeper than in other Asterix albums - the conflict between the chief and his brother-in-law (the dinner party sequence at the beginning might just be Goscinny/Uderzo's finest moment), the alienated father and son reunited by Asterix and Obelix.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 06:12 (five years ago) link
No food on earth tastes as delicious as the grilled boars in Asterix look.
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 09:53 (five years ago) link
*Scronch* *Scronch* *Scronch*
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 10:05 (five years ago) link
the conflict between the chief and his brother-in-law (the dinner party sequence at the beginning might just be Goscinny/Uderzo's finest moment)
ZIGACKLY!
― chap, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 10:16 (five years ago) link
thanks to this thread i've just laid down for the Asterix Omnibus that includes Laurel Wreath, Switzerland, Mansion of the Gods, plus I bought Chieftain's Shield separately. Can't wait to revisit these
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 10:58 (five years ago) link
That's a great run. I'll second Asterix the Legionary as a personal favorite
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:08 (five years ago) link
XP - Yeah that is a good selection, those are some of my very favourites.
Got a first edition hardback of Big Fight in the post from eBay today, was never sure about it though, I remember really not liking the transformation of Getafix, as a kid.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:42 (five years ago) link
Was down in London for a few days, and managed to get to the Goscinny exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Camden - highly recommended to anyone with an interest in post-war European humour comics. The exhibition is smallish, but very nicely presented and contains a surprising number of original pages. I had never seen an actual page from an Asterix album before and here there are five, including the first page of Laurel Wreath; there are also pages from Iznogoud, Ompa-pa, a western strip by the legendary Jijé, and some really gorgeous Nicholas originals - I took a shaky snap of this one:
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa362/Andrew_Littlefield/P1030584_zpsjlhbmbs4.jpg
― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 8 July 2018 11:06 (five years ago) link
I must get to see this soon!
So I was knocking around on eBay yesterday, I've been trying to complete a set of hardback first editions and I'm looking at ...The Gaul, so expensive for what isn't really a very good story, but I found out that there are officially sanctioned translations of a few of the stories into Scots slang, so I purchased 'Asterix The Gallus' and also TinTin's 'The Derk Isle' it's going to be pretty weird but interesting.
― MaresNest, Monday, 16 July 2018 14:46 (five years ago) link
RIP Anthea Bell:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/18/anthea-bell-magnificent-translator-of-asterix-and-kafka-dies-aged-82
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 18 October 2018 13:19 (five years ago) link
RIP. My school French teacher always said her translations were funnier than the originals.
― chap, Thursday, 18 October 2018 13:33 (five years ago) link
Nooooooooooooooooooo
― MaresNest, Thursday, 18 October 2018 19:48 (five years ago) link
Didn't realise she'd translated Kafka! Definitely gonna pick that up. Some of the old translations are dire!
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 18 October 2018 20:42 (five years ago) link
This new one that just came out looks gorgeous but the story is ever so slight, sadly.
― Maresn3st, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:51 (four years ago) link
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.
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 28 October 2019 14:22 (four years ago) link
but the story is ever so slight, sadly.Has there been one since, generously, 1981 of which you wouldn’t say this?
― now let's play big lunch take little lunch (sic), Monday, 28 October 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link
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.
― Maresn3st, Monday, 28 October 2019 20:00 (four years ago) link
RIP Albert Uderzo (to be fair, I didnt even realize he was still alive)
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 24 March 2020 09:13 (four years ago) link
aw RIP
and I didn't post here to say RIP Anthea Bell, so that too
― a passing spacecadet, Tuesday, 24 March 2020 09:53 (four years ago) link
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.
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 24 March 2020 10:03 (four years ago) link
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
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 11:32 (four years ago) link
Wow. Love that <3
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 11:55 (four years ago) link
Mr Roy Oddling (what a name) is the Pete Best of the Asterix story here, I guess
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 11:58 (four years ago) link
"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 !
― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 12:18 (four years ago) link
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.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 26 October 2023 19:14 (six months ago) link
Have any of the new lots’ books been worth reading? Magic Carpet must’ve been the last semi-decent one from Uderzp.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 26 October 2023 19:27 (six months ago) link
I don't think these fake Asterixs are a patch on the fake Blake and Mortimers that Cinebooks put out.
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 26 October 2023 19:36 (six months ago) link
The B&Ms have the benefit of never being that good in the first place
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 26 October 2023 19:52 (six months ago) link