By: René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Mackin discard, paperback, 152 pages
Published: 1959 (this version 2022)
Genre: graphic novel humor
Includes: "Asterix in Switzerland," "The Mansions of the Gods," and "Asterix and the Laurel Wreath"
I enjoyed Asterix and Obelix comics when I was a kid. Seeing this on the "free" cart at work this summer, I was excited to revisit this world.
The three stories are most definitely not "politically correct" with the slave trade, racial stereotypes, alcohol abuse, etc. But written in the 1950s and 1960s about the first century BC . . . they are what they are. I will keep this on my graphic novel shelf.
In one of the stories, a Roman leader says "I've decided to force them to accept this civilization! The forest will be destroyed to make way for a nature reserve!" The irony of this (and truth) has often bothered me. A new housing development where all the trees are razed, then the streets are named after the trees that no longer grow there . . . it happens.
It was interesting to read the info at the back of the book. Goscinny died suddenly at age 51 in 1977. Uderzo continued illustrating (and writing) Asterix comics, continuing to use both men's names. He hand-picked Jean-Yves Ferri to continue writing the adventures and then Didier Conrad to illustrate when he retired. Uderzo himself died in 2020 at age 92!
No comments:
Post a Comment