Asterix - the French comic not the punctuation mark...

CalHab · 22 March, 2022, 02:30:40 PM

Thanks! I missed that (unless its just been added).

Colin YNWA · 22 March, 2022, 03:11:48 PM

Quote from: CalHab on 22 March, 2022, 02:30:40 PM
Thanks! I missed that (unless its just been added).

I think its just been added. I'm sure it wasn't there when you first mentioned it.

Colin YNWA · 21 March, 2023, 10:27:45 AM

Next volume has been announced. Same artist, new writer.

Its enigmatically named Asterix and the White Iris, coming out October 26th and has its own website..

Interesting cover that suggests it will be village based, which I always like. Very excited to see how this one turns out.

Trooper McFad · 21 March, 2023, 03:07:44 PM

Will it be in the same size as all the ones I bought as a kid and still have - I'll have to source these to complete the series

Colin YNWA · 21 March, 2023, 03:15:49 PM

What size did you get as a kid? All the volumes I've bought lately have been of a consistant size. When I was a kid however there was some variation. There was these half(ish) size 'mini' albums and then even a couple of black and white digest format. These days its a pretty safe bet they will be typical BD album size. So I believe that'd be 28.5 by 21.5 (ish)

Trooper McFad · 21 March, 2023, 03:22:18 PM

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 21 March, 2023, 03:15:49 PMWhat size did you get as a kid? All the volumes I've bought lately have been of a consistant size. When I was a kid however there was some variation. There was these half(ish) size 'mini' albums and then even a couple of black and white digest format. These days its a pretty safe bet they will be typical BD album size. So I believe that'd be 28.5 by 21.5 (ish)

Yep that's the size I have - just measured it

pauljholden · 21 March, 2023, 06:31:45 PM

Was in Paris last year and decided as well as Disney land we'd do Parc Asterix. And let me tell you: it was amazing. As a bloke in his mid 50s it was such a thrill to get a photo with Obelix. Disney does very little for me, but to wander around the indomitable gaul village and see big chief Vitalstatitix's house and much much more. Amazing. But all in French. (Though easy enough to find people who speak English, I got the impression asterix is more for the French than Disney is...)

Colin YNWA · 21 March, 2023, 09:23:02 PM

I still dream of going to Asterix Parc. It looks amazing!

Trooper McFad · 22 March, 2023, 09:11:55 PM

Parc Asterix is on my bucket list been wanting to go for a long time.

Colin YNWA · 26 October, 2023, 08:50:25 PM

Asterix and the White Iris is here. Its a promising start for new writer Fabcaro, but not quite there yet.

Its starts off well enough as White Iris sets up his plan to fill both Romans and our Gaulish village with positivity. The Romans to give them a positive out look so they have confidence for the fight. The Gauls to pacify them and take the fight out of them.

Its genuninely funny stuff and Asterix knows there's trouble when he arranges a concert from Cacofonix and the entire village, gathered to watch is... supportive! At this point the only problem with the volume is its sails a little close to past classics, Secret Agent, Soothsayer and Obelix and co. But its good stuff.

As if he realises this problem half way through the new writer takes a different tack and the story moved to Isivertuus - the White Iris of the title, convincing Impedimentia to go to Lutetia with him so he can hand her over to Caesar and... well I'm not quite sure why that would be a victory. Vitalstatistix is devastated and so joins Asterix and Obelix in travelling to Lutetia to get his wife back... and its not that challenging.

And there hangs the problem in Pari... I mean Lutetia I think the adventure is meant to hark back to other classics like Cauldron and Laurel Wreath and the mix of the two types of adventure should work well in giving me something new which I always claim to carve.

The thing is it dispells the threat from the first half of the story - and quite why I don't know it all seemed to be going quite well for Isivertuus, the Romans were hankering for a fight for once, the Gauls becoming increasing passive, his plan seemed to be working. And the challenge in the second half is virtually no existant.

To be fair the laughs are consistant and those plot based issues aside its a really good volume.

Oh and the art by Conrad remains an absolute triumph.

So yeah looking back the last three nuAsterix books have been pretty good. None have been perfect but they are better than any volumes Black Gold... I mean that's not a high benchmark and Black Gold is very, very good so difficult to get over, so the series isn't doing bad of late and this one gives me even more hope for the future.