Asterix

The translations are very good though, you aren¡t missing on anything...

I dunno. I've enjoyed Asterix, but the series can be VERY jingoistic at times.

I don't really think you can call it jingoism when all cultures, including your own, are portrayed equally over the top and stereotypical.

edited 8th Aug '11 6:37:35 AM by eX

Still, in Old Gen VS New Gen discussions Old Gen is always right. The more I read Asterix, the more I think it's intended for adults, children just won't get why the jokes are funny.

If you live in quebec, you get it even without cable (it's a public channel, by law it needs to be offered).

Of course, outside the aforementioned holyday marathon, no one listens to that channel coz it's mostly crap. And really the fact that the holiday line up consists of 40+ years old films should tell you the kind of budget they are operating under.

edited 8th Aug '11 2:14:49 PM by Ghilz

Vive le Québec, tu sais.

It's what Goscinny was aiming for. It's why the guy is a genius. The books are as fun for adults as they are for kids.

Hrrrm, maybe we should make a general Franco-Belgian comic thread.

There is already one.

Yeah, that thread definitely Needs More Love.

Where? The search forum title bar doesn't turn anything out.

May be it was deleted.

Why don't we make another thread?

edited 8th Aug '11 9:21:00 PM by Nightwire

Here

It's "French-Belgian", not "Franco-Belgian"

edited 8th Aug '11 9:47:26 PM by Madrugada

Great! Thanks, Maraguda.

Goscinny had lived for years in the Americas including the USA. He created the comics magazine "Pilote" in 1959 inspiring himself from Mad. He spoke a perfect English and checked himself every translation of Asterix to the English language. :)

That would go a long way toward explaining why the English translations were so wonderful.

edited 20th Aug '11 1:43:46 PM by Madrugada

The previous post is from 2011? Seriously, 2011?

Meanwhile, there has been two, new post-Uderzo albums: Asterix and the Picts (2013) and Asterix and the Missing Scroll (2015) (took the English titles from Wikipedia, the latter would be more like "Caesar's Papyrus")). Because they were the first in the series without either of the original creators (after writer Goscinny died in 1977, the artist Uderzo continued without him), there was much discussion about Uderzo giving up the reins. New creative team consists of Jean-Yves Ferri (writing) and Didier Conrad (art).

What if the talked about the new ones?

The Picts album was quite ...bad. Not horrible, just boring in its mediocrity. The formulae of the all previous "Asterix and the Expy of Foreign People" albums (which started to feel bit boring already ages ago) and now without the funny parts.

After that, The Caesar's Papyrus was actually surprisingly good. Not very good, but okay. Now, I guess it depends on the individual reader whether some of the references to modern politics did work or did not (for me, mostly not), but it felt like there actually was a point, coherent and funny plot and gags. According to rumors I heard this was a result of less executive meddling by Uderzo and others.

As far as I know, both have sold quite well. And, both are step up from the Uderzo's later works (from its description and according the everybody I know who's read it, The Falling Sky is so *bad* ...that I have believed them and never read it) and there's probably more to come. I don't have great hopes, but with any luck, Ferri's writing will continue to improve (more confidence in characters, less executive meddling after proven success, etc). Conrad's artwork is solid, though maybe bit boring in the sense that if one didn't know there's different artist now, no one would notice.

edited 2nd Jan '17 5:14:20 AM by maus42

I liked Asterix Chez les Pictes.

Yeah, the formula is old, but most of the seminal Asterix stories are "Asterix goes and meets other cultures who are pastiches of the stereotypes of their modern day descendants/those who occupy the same region" so I can't blame the new authors for wanting to open by showing how they can do the classic formula. And I think they did alright. It's not great, but it's good.

Le Papyrus de Cesar is amazing though. You get some of that Goscinny era ability to weave satire about current day issues into a classic tale. It makes me very hopeful for their next work, because it felt like something Goscinny and Uderzo would've actually made if they'd been around together in 2016

My French is absolutely abysmal, but I think I can decipher that there's new album coming in October and main protagonist of the story will be Obelix. Looks interesting.

By the way, the book has been out for some time now. I found it quite funny, and possibly the most Astérix-like book we have had for a long time. It seems the new authors are getting better with each book, since Astérix and the Picts was just average for me, Caesar's scroll had really good moments, and that last one felt as if it could have been written by Goscinny. Really comforting to know the franchise seems to be in good hands.

Huh, seems Like America/Canada comes third for being Asterix fans..... We have the cartoon movies always in October on TV and even a 50 Year celebratory comic book of the first issue in Germany.

Very true. Europeans have quite a different comics taste than America.

But seriously, I can't complain. I love the humor and the action in the Asterix series and the cartoon movies (even the latest one in CGI) are classics for me. ^^

Yup. I thin k my favorite thing about the comics is that they quite often reference anything in real life. XD

Asterix and the Secret of the Magic Potion is out today.