Asterix and Obelix turn 50

The first book

The much beloved Franco-Belgian comic book series with its main characters Asterix and Obelix, turns 50 today.

Begun as a magazine series on October 29, 1959, in 1961 they were later published  as stand-alone books released about one a year.  It is the story of the last little outpost of France that had not been taken over by the Roman Empire and the various adventures they had trying to stay that way.  The two main characters, Asterix, a petite Gaulois who obtained super-human strength by drinking a magic potion (kind of like when Popeye ate spinach) and a big brute of a guy called Obelix.

There were many other beloved characters drawn by the original artists were René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.  When the original writer and illustrators passed away, the books continued and today are still extremely popular.

There are 34 books to date and my husband had each and every one of them.

Besides the books many movies have been created, the most recent ones starring Christian Clavier and Gerard Depardieu (although Clovis Cornillac replaced Clavier in the last film).   In particular, I love the second one, Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, because I thought the cast was superb and the story translated well on the big screen.  The other two were, in my opinion, not good.

I thought it would be interesting to do a mini- interview with my husband as he absolutely adores this series.

MWA: What French characteristics do you think Asterix and Obelix best represent?

Mr. Misadventures:  They represent the rebellious side of  French people.  A core French value is fighting imperialism, capitalism, systems like those.  They also represents the ingeniousness  of the French mind for finding solutions when it seems like there is no chance that  success can be achieved.

Asterix represents French diplomacy -he is the smart guy, the calming force.  Whereas Obelix is the brute, the one driven by emotions and food.  It’s like Laurel and Hardy but in reverse.  Obelix represents ultimate strength and force, but he has a passion for food and his beloved dog.

Both together represent camaraderie and fraternity – they like having parties and having fun around food and friends.  They make fun of government, and love their freedom above anything else.  They fight for freedom.

They inspired me as a kid, they represented the ultimate freedom, that no, I won’t comply.  I won’t take no as answer and will fight for the freedom.

MWA: What is your favorite Asterix and Obelix story and why?

Mr. Misadventures:  Asterix and Cleopatra – because of the details and intricacy of the drawing.  I think it is the most complex and most beautiful.  And very funny.  Cleopatra makes fun of Caesar.  It is also the most feminine one.   It also indicates how the French were viewed, their place in the world.  They were tasked to build a pyramid, to be the experts architects asked to build a wonderful piece of architecture for the Egyptians who were world class builders themselves.

My second one is Tour de Gaulle (Asterix and the Banquet in English) it is like Tour de France but with food.  Asterix and Obelix search France to bring typical food of each region.  It shows (and teaches) the breadth, variety and diversity of food (as well as dialects) throughout all of France.

Thanks Mr. Misadventures for taking the time to share!  The Asterix and Obelix books are available in English if you think that you would like to check them out.

My favorite comic growing up was Archie.  How about you?

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