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How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion - Albert Uderzo
by Jake Speed
How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy is an Asterix spin-off story by René Goscinny and was first published in Pilote magazine in 1969. The story was mostly text with only a few illustrations but in 1989 the Asterix illustrator Albert Uderzo (who now produced the Asterix books alone since the death of Goscinny in ... the late seventies) added some more illustrations and a new cover and published it as a stand alone Asterix album. Obelix of course is the portly boar munching best friend of our hero Asterix. While the Gauls in Asterix defy Roman rule by drinking the magic potion brewed by their druid Getafix and gaining temporary super strength, Obelix has super strength all the time because - as we are constantly told throughout the Asterix books - he fell into a cauldron of magic potion when he was a baby. Having been constantly told this it's slightly surprising here then to have the event occur when Asterix and Obelix are six (and therefore somewhat contradict the continuity of the series). I suppose it wouldn't have been much of a story if Asterix and Obelix were babies though and the change is essentially to allow the adult Asterix to narrate the story and also to allow us to see and hear about Asterix and Obelix as children at school. This is really a book for children or Asterix completists and has a much gentler and more child friendly feel than your usual Asterix volume. You should also be warned that it's much shorter too at about 30 pages and not really a graphic novel although there are some illustrations. It's a nice book but I think Uderzo was maybe pushing it a bit by putting it out as a stand alone volume.
In 2003 he actually put out an Asterix compilation of sort stories and oddities from Pilote magazine entitled Asterix and the Class Act. This had various short vignettes like Obelix having to go back to school, an account of the birth of Asterix, Asterix and Obelix helping Lutetia (ancient Paris) win the chance to host the ancient Olympic Games, Asterix helping a tiny anthropomorphic personification of Spring overcome Winter, and so on. How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy could easily have been put into that compilation I feel rather than been published as a book in its own right. The actual story here seems slightly revisionist but it is quite nice. The twist is that Obelix was bullied when he was a boy and it was then that gave him the idea of sneaking a bit of the magic potion in the first place. What is enjoyable is the way we see some of his future character traits become established for the first time. His dislike of being called fat (!) and also we see the origin of his penchant for collecting the helmets of Roman legionaries after he has bashed them up. This is something that his father Obliscoidix liked to do too so was obviously something of a family tradition. I think this is the first time we glimpse the parents of Asterix and Obelix but I'm not completely sure. Plus of course the famous banquet under star strewn skies that always ends the traditional Asterix volumes. It's fun too to get a look at some of the other characters in their younger days. Vitalstatistix is still the chief of the village here but he's much thinner!
The principle reason to buy the book is a chance to see the beautiful watercolour illustrations that Uderzo has added to the text with this celebration of the 20th anniversary of the album's first publication. It begins with a wonderful new cover that highlights one of Uderzo's greatest strengths as the Asterix artist. His cosy interiors with stone walls and firelit rooms. The young Asterix and Obelix are wonderfully drawn too, retaining all of their character and personality in these pint sized incarnations. The back cover is equally impressive and has Obelix as a boy carving on one of his beloved menhirs. He will of course go to become a menhir delivery salesman as an adult and this is a joke of course because no one actually knows what menhirs are for or what you are supposed to do with them although Obelix always seems to think they are much in demand and make great gifts. An illustration at the start of the parents of Asterix in the garden with him when he was a child is absolutely fantastic. The attention to detail is amazing right down to the thatched roof and the watercolours are perfect for the story because they add a sort of dreamy golden haze and sense of nostalgia that is very fitting for the nature of the story because we taking a misty eyed trip back through time.
Cacofonix the bard makes an early appearance too and although Obelix won't get his beloved pooch Dogmatix until he is an adult the famous canine is anticipated here in a slightly strange fashion. I love by the way the open air classroom of Getafix the druid as he teaches the children. Getafix looks exactly the same here with his wizard like appearance and big white beard so he has obviously always looked exactly the same! These illustrations are very enjoyable and superbly done. Perhaps the highlight of the book is a double page spread of the whole of the Gaul village. This is absolutely superb and very enjoyable to dwell on so you can pick up the little details. It reminded me somewhat of an Asterix pull out frieze I had growing up but the art here is much more sumptuous. I think younger children would certainly enjoy the art here. The text itself is simple but moves the story along and has some of the trademark Goscinny wit although you'll have a much better time with a traditional Asterix volume. There is none of the comic violence and ahistorical visual and verbal punditry here that you usually expect from the series. Ultimately, this is a book that you can read in about ten minutes and you do have to wonder if it shouldn't have been included with Asterix and the Class Act instead. This is definitely an Asterix book for completists more than casual fans. At the time of writing you can buy How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy for around a fiver.
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Asterix and the Actress - Albert Uderzo
by Jake Speed
Asterix and the Actress is the 31st book in the famous French comic series and was published in 2001. This is not so much phénomène Astérix as I'm almost out of new ideas Astérix and not one of the finest hours in the much loved collection. The Asterix series was a perfect unison between the talented and amusing artist Uderzo and the ... equally talented and amusing writer Goscinny. They met in 1951 and emerged together at a time when the French comic industry was starting to become irritated by the cultural domination of America and expressed a desire for some patriotic swashbuckling homegrown heroes of their own to read and enjoy. So they created Asterix, a diminutive but cunning and brave Gaulish warrior lives in a little picturesque village by the sea that defies Roman rule because they have a magic potion brewed by their wise druid Getafix that gives them super strength and enables them to bash Roman soldiers by the hundreds in absurb violent comic fashion. Asterix was surrounded with memorable supporting characters too and this was a huge part of the appeal. From his portly boar munching menhir obsessed best friend Obelix to the long suffering Chief Vitalstatistix (who always insisted on being carried around on a shield and frequently got dropped). The books were funny and very clever and the art was often a delight. When Goscinny died though in the seventies after writing Asterix in Belgium, Uderzo decided to contine alone and write them himself. Sadly, while Uderzo's art was still great, he was no Goscinny when it came to conjuring up Asterix plots and jokes and apart from a few bright spots here and there the series went into a very steep decline to the point where some fans wish he had retired both himself and the characters they had come to know so well. Asterix and the Actress was the first volume in the series for several years and it was sort of presumed that Uderzo had retired at the time so this was a big deal when it came out. The end result isn't so great though. It's not the worst of the solo Uderzo Asterix books but it is terribly uninspired and seems to noticeably run out of steam and start to tread water (literally in this case) about half way in.
The story begins with Asterix and Obelix returning to their village after an afternoon spent hunting boars in the forest. The village is deserted though for some reason. All is soon revealed. They've been hiding ready to jump out and wish Asterix and Obelix a happy birthday. A big celebration is planned. Asterix and Obelix didn't seem to share a birthday in an earlier volume so continuity is clearly not a major obsession with Uderzo! It's a promising start anyway and the village panels are always enjoyable with those cosy little thatched huts framed by a blue sky, puffy clouds and the sea beyond. I would love to live in that village I think. The Gauls have a good set up there. This is a unique book in a way because we meet the parents of Asterix and Obelix. Their mothers have arrived in the village for the birthday festivities and are soon treating them like children. Combing their hair, fussing about and commenting on the untidy nature of thier huts. They are also determined - much to the annoyance of confirmed bachelor Asterix - to find them some wives too. This does lead to some amusing panels where the shy Obelix is forced to dance with a woman and his super strength (he fell into the magic potion as a baby of course) leaves his dancing partner very dizzy. Meanwhile, in Condatum, their fathers run a 'modernities' store and are about to get in some very big trouble without realising it. Drunken and permanently sozzled legionary veteran Tremensdelirius (from Asterix and Caesar's Gift) has pawned Prefect of Condatum Pompey's sword and helmet in the store and they were then passed onto Asterix and Obelix as birthday gifts and now reside in the Gaul village by the sea. Pompeius is planning a coup against Julius Caesar and wants these possesions back desperately. Why the sword and helmet are so crucial and important in relation to Pompeius and his feud with Caesar I couldn't actually tell you to be honest. It's merely a somewhat contrived plot device as far as I can see.
The fathers of Asterix and Obelix are thrown in prison by the Romans loyal to Pompeius and they then the scheming Romans have to work out a ruse to get the artifacts from the Gaul village. Not very easy. The village is surrounded by military camps loyal to Julius Caesar and the Gauls themselves are invincible. The solution? They decide to hire the famed Roman actress Latraviata to disguise herself, go to the village and pose as the beautiful blonde bombshell Panacea. Panacea is the Brigitte Bardot lookalike who featured in Asterix the Legionary. Obelix has a hopeless crush on Panacea and all the Gauls love her. Will Latraviata be successful in her deception in the village and manage to retrieve the possessions of Pompey? Asterix and the Actress starts off in relatively promising fashion but soon begins to become slightly tiresome and feel as if it is recycling jokes and situations from old books. It's weird how Uderzo seems to completely run out of things to do at some point and presents somewhat bizarre developments that seem like padding more than anything else. Latraviata as Panecea uses her beauty to her advantage and pits them against one another in her cunning scheme to get her mitts on the sword and helmet they each own. A jealous Obelix even biffs Asterix (I think this must be the first time we've ever seen Obelix give Asterix a clout). Anyway, Asterix goes a bit doolally and is given some potion by Getafix to speed his recovery. He then goes completely bonkers and starts jumping around like Superman, eventually swimming out to sea where he comes to a stop when he crashed against a solitary lonely rock in swirling seas. When he wakes up the effects of the potion are gone and he has no idea how he ended up there. He then hitches a ride with a dolphin!
I have no idea what Uderzo was thinking with this particular segment but it is one of the most pointless things I think I've ever encountered in an Asterix book. The only good thing about it is Asterix being spotted by the Barbe-Rouge inspired pirates on the rock. He's illuminated by a crackle of lightning in the dark and they think he's a ghost. It's a great panel. The introduction of the fathers of Asterix and Obelix seems contrived and they don't really feature an awful lot. It doesn't help that we've never seen these characters before in all the books - save for a brief cameo in one of those atypical Asterix compilations. They are drawn to look exactly like Asterix and Obelix only with grey hair. One thing that did bug me about the story here was the way that even the venerable druid Getafix is made to appear stupid. Latraviata pretends to be Panacea and suffering from amnesia but no one ever cottons on (I suppose she must be a good actress) and even Getafix's potions seem to be a bit on the wonk here. Latraviata is drawn to look like Angelina Jolie when she takes her blonde Panacea wig off. If nothing else the art is always clever and colourful. The use of Pompey in the plot has promise but Uderzo never really does anything with it and it merely ends up as a rather flimsy device to give Latraviata a reason to go to the village pretending to be Panacea. Panacea was a hugely popular character but the fact that she is wheeled out again (the real Panacea does of course turn up in the story) here does smack of a lack of inspiration. The jokes are not terribly good here either. Waiting for Godotrix and Latraviata being given the first ever César Award are the only ones that really stand out.
Asterix and the Actress is a disappointing later entry in the series on the whole and once again has some strange interludes that seem symbolic of a writer who has run out of plots. It's readable with good art but one of the more forgettable books in the long running series. This runs to about 50 pages (paperback) and at the time of writing is available to buy for around a fiver.
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Asterix and Obelix All at Sea: - Albert Uderzo
by Jake Speed
By, er, Toutatis. The year is 50 B.C. and Gaul is now entirely occupied by Romans as part of their mighty and very extraordinary Empire. Well, not quite entirely. One small village of indomitable and eccentric Gauls still holds out against the bemused invaders and life is certainly never easy or dull for the unfortunate Roman ... legionaries who garrison the surrounding fortified military camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium. Asterix and Obelix All at Sea was published in 1996 and is the thirtieth book in the classic French comic book series by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. This is one of the later books illustrated and written by Uderzo alone after the death of Goscinny and while the later books are often hit or miss affairs Asterix and Obelix All at Sea is not bad at all. It's a reasonably inventive and generally enjoyable later adventure that begins with a group of rebel slaves - headed by Kirk Douglas lookalike "Spartakis" - from numerous different countries and continents staging a mutiny and stealing Julius Caesar's personal galley on the high seas. "If word gets out that a bunch of slaves stole my own personal galley I'll be the laughing stock of the entire ancient word!" he tells Cleopatra in Rome as they munch grapes surrounded by opulent splendour. Uderzo's Roman interiors are always amazing right down to the last crack in a pillar. Anyway, Caesar is absolutely furious of course and wants his ship back pronto - a task that falls to the oleaginous Admiral Crustacius. Crustacius had better not fail in his task either or he'll end up as lunch for the Lions at Circus Maximus.
The liberated slaves argue where to take their plundered galley until one of the British slaves recalls that his uncle once told him about an Amorican village where indomitable Gauls lived in no fear of the Romans as they had a magic potion brewed by their druid that made them invincible. So they head for the one place they know will be safe from the Romans - the village of Asterix and his friends. After the Romans arrive and attempt to take back the galley and slaves by force they are handed a predictably one sided and comically violent magic potion enhanced bashing by Asterix and company. The Gauls then head back to the village where the druid Getafix is mortified to discover that Obelix has secretly drunk the second cauldron of magic potion he whipped up for the battle (just in case they needed more). Obelix of course fell into the magic potion when he was a baby and so is banned from ever taking any by Getafix in case of strange consequences. The potion has turned Obelix into stone granite (like a statue) and Getafix must try all manner of means to restore him to normal and dig into his resovoir of druid tricks. When Obelix is made human there is one small problem. He's now about six years old. Our hero is not so happy being a little boy though because he can't eat many boars and the Romans merely laugh at him now rather than fear him. When he is kidnapped in the forest by the Romans, Asterix and his new friends must go and save him. Moreover, they must find a way to make him the adult Obelix again. This will require great magic and power beyond even the knowledge of the venerable Getafix. Getafix belives there is only one solution to this problem. A trip to Atlantis! But first they have to save Obelix from the Romans.
Asterix and Obelix All at Sea begins and ends with droll Roman humour and the subplot of the stone/child Obelix is clever and amusing. It's different at least (although there are distinct traces of How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion As a Baby) and we therefore savour the inevitable Obelix Roman bashing even more when it finally arrives. I really love the village panels here as usual and the pesky Obelix potion guzzling problem is an excellent McGuffin. Attempts are made to get through to the granite frozen Obelix with various means of stimuli. Will wafting some roast boar under his nose do the trick and wake him up? How about a kiss from the beautiful Panacea? Great series of panels that features the village at night under the glow of the Moon. Only two huts still have lights on in the darkness. That of Getafix - where in his cosy firelit hut he examines potions and ponders the Obelix problem, deep in druidical (that's probably not a word but it should be!) thought and contemplation, desperately trying to find a solution as shadows loom on the stone walls. I love the panels where the white bearded Getafix is alone in his hut lost in thought. Then we cut to Asterix sitting by the bedside of the stone granite Obelix, unable to leave his friend even for a minute.
As ever, Uderzo is also superb at depicting the high sea capers. The Roman galley is illustrated in wonderful fashion with great attention to detail and the backdrops are wonderful without being too busy. Big blue skies and puffy clouds. As usual there are plenty of in-jokes too based around popular culture and the Roman world ("Nunc est Bibendum, nunc pede liberi pulsanda tellus!" and look for a references to Disney's Fantasia, Neville Chamberlain, Liberty boats from World War 2, Sherlock Holmes and of course Kirk Douglas - who the book is partly dedicated to. Uderzo's art is fantastic at times with these little jokes and diversions. One of my favourite jokes occurs near the start when Caesar vents his wrath at the loss of his prize ship and declares he'll be a laughing stock. Cleopatra comments that he already is a laughing stock because of the tiny Gaul village that defies his rule. Caesar replies that he was very selective when he chose what to put in his famous book about his Gallic wars! Cleopatra is drawn slightly differently here than from Asterix and Cleopatra. Her nose is smaller! The Atlantis panels are fun too and very far out. I like the fact that this one has an epic feel and never jumps the shark when it tries to do something new (as some later Asterix books do, simply becoming too silly in the end even for the world of Asterix). I think fans of the series will enjoy Asterix and Obelix All at Sea a lot and regard it to be one of the more enjoyable and solid solo efforts by Uderzo.
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