An omnibus edition of Asterix titles, including ASTERIX IN SPAIN, ASTERIX IN BRITAIN, ASTERIX AND CLEOPATRA, ASTERIX AND THE SOOTHSAYER, THE TWELVE TASKS OF ASTERIX and OBELIX AND CO. Illustrated in full colour.
René Goscinny (1926 - 1977) was a French author, editor and humorist, who is best known for the comic book Asterix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris (considered the series' golden age).
If I had to pick between Asterix and Tintin, I'd go with Asterix for sure. Yes, it's sillier and more childish, but they withstand read after read without getting stale. The delicious wordplay helps, too.
I think this is a very good book. It is a very light read and childish but also very funny. It is many little adventures of two great friends, Asterix and Obelix. They live in a small town near Rome but they are the only town that has not been conquered by Rome in the area. It is because the Druid has found a way to make a super strength potion and they can fight off whoever they want. This book is fully action packed and super funny. It is also a very old book that was originally written in France. Overall 9/10 I have already read it multiple times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
When I was a kid the most popular books for my friends and I in the school library were the Asterix graphic novels (he says using today's parlance). I'm not exactly sure why they were so well read, though I think it may have been because of the caricatures of the characters and the funny names (Vitalstatistix, Unhygenix, Dogmatix etc). Perhaps there was also the interest in seeing the two unlikely lead characters, the short smart Asterix and the big trustworthy Obelix always get the better of their adversaries, either out fighting and/or out thinking their adversaries and always ending their adventures with a feast of wild boar.
Now that I am a lot older I am able to detect another level of humour and insight in these comic book novels. There is a wonderfully anarchic disrespect for history, and some lovely playful digs at the classics. There are also some sly and astute satirical digs made at contemporary society, culture, politics. For example the parody of Jacques Chirac and economic theory in 'Obelix and Co' is far smarter than might be expected in a comic.
It's at this point I need to refer to the work of the English translators, Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge. As I have almost zero French I have no ability to detect the changes (for better or worse) from the original text by Rene Goscinny. Be that as it may, Bell and Hockridge have done what every great translator must do; make a foreign language book accessible and enjoyable for its reader. If the two English translators have polished or embellished the original French, well that's no great drama for me.
As for this compilation of Asterix comics, there are a few classics. Aside from the aforementioned 'Obelix and Co', 'Asterix in Britain' and 'Asterix and Cleopatra' are two of the best strips in the series. 'The Twelve Tasks of Asterix' is, unfortunately, a rather average novelisation of the film, and lacks the charm and visual immediacy of the traditional comics. 'Asterix in Spain' is not bad, whilst 'Asterix and the Soothsayer' is a little run of the mill.
In summary, for either the welded on Asterix fan or for the first time reader this compendium book does the job more than adequately in bringing the work of Goscinny and Uderzo to the reader's pleasurable attention. Like all good children's literature the stories work on two levels, and finally the enclosed stories are smarter than one might expect.
Gosh ,those were the books that formed part of my childhood ,it was soo much fun reading those Bande dessinee....And the druid panoramix with its magic portion ....lol too good
Kalo Asterix bacanya entah beberapa kali. Samoe bukunya lecek dan akhirnya di bundel supaya gak ilang2an. Komik terkeren sepanjang masa setelah Tintin.