The pot boils as always. Muordago, lobster, a handful of strawberries … In principle, everything should be. The spell, however, does not occur. Instead of the superfuerza, the marmita explodes. Any ingredient is missing, but which one? Only Panoramix would know, and there is the problem: since Obélix he mistakenly threw a menhir on him, the Druid does not remember his name. Much less the recipe of his famous potcy. “The boss combat I love it because, of all the Astérix comics that I have read since the age Break
More than six decades have passed since the cartoonist Albert Uderzo and the screenwriter René Goscinny created a legend. The premise has barely changed from that first Astérix, El Galo (Edited in Spanish by Salvat, like the rest of the saga). Year 50 a. C. “All of Gaul is occupied by the Romans … all?” No! And they always end up in a wild boar banquet, with poor barding amordazado so that his song does not bitter the evening. In each installment, basically, there are still two gentlemen distributing mamporros. The video game and its sequel are even titled Astérix y Obélix. Slap Them All (Reprier them all). But, at the same time, the saga has often ridiculed excess testosterone. And between adventures, laughs and Guantazos, it offers reflections on the world around. Of the Gauls, 2,000 years ago. And of us, today.
“Each album implicitly addresses themes of the time. We follow immutable characters in a society in constant mutation. They are a bit like us: we try to adapt as we can to the times and their changes,” reflects Fabcaro, screenwriter of the last two comics. In addition to endless centurions, the two friends have faced real estate expansion in The residence of the godsor capitalism in Obélix and company, Just as they recently discovered environmentalism, the self -help bum or some feminism lesson.
Volume 39, Vercingétorix hija, He introduced adrenaline teenager, one of the first women not so stereotyped in the saga. The series The boss combat He has given more importance to Karabella and added to the original plot four female characters, of the young metadata to César’s mother. And both the script and the unpronunciable names of some protagonists are dotted with winks today. After laughing at the laying arm of Julio César, the Gallic Chief Abraracúrcix Judgment: “His greeting will not set.” Shortly before, he had prophesied: “If there is something that does not change is the weather.”
“The tradition / modernity opposition is always addressed: the village, quite conservative, faces a change that comes from abroad and this new situation, in a way, originates evolution,” says Céleste Surugue, general director of the Albert René Édions, owner of the rights of these icons. The boss combat It addresses even a theme as thorny as French collaboration with the Nazis. And, among so many conflicts, the link between the two friends itself takes to the limit, in addition to counting their origins. “We did not want it to be another adaptation. It had to be something memorable, a work that would remain in the history of Astérix,” said Surugue.
Major words, by Tutatis! Because the most famous couple in Gauls has defeated Olympic legions and athletes, faced marine and odyssey crossings, dealt with upbringing and puberty. They themselves lost their original, deceased parents, but now they are guided by Facbaro and Didier Conrad. They have traveled to Hispania, Italy, Helvecia or India. On October 23 they will head to Lusitania, the current Portugal, for its last epic. The pace of publication has dropped: in the sixties and seventies, there were years with two comics. Today, one is launched every 24 months. But, as soon as it appears, it usually conquers the list of the most popular. The 393 million books sold, in more than 100 languages and dialects, continue to rise. With the striking exception of the US market, perhaps little related to a town that opposes imperialism.
Although the Gauls themselves, somehow, have passed to the offensive: they have invaded films, video games, dolls, cups, backpacks, an attraction park and even another series of cartoons, starring the IdeaFix puppy. In 2019, the book Astérix generations He gathered the tribute of about 60 cartoonists such as Paco Roca, Belén Ortega, Julie Maroh, Valérie Vernay, Moebius or Milo Manara to the Gallic duo. They are considered French national symbols almost at the level of Napoleon or Charles de Gaulle, mentioned in the series. Destiny paradox: Astérix and Obélix today govern their own empire.
“It is a very precise writing, with several levels of reading; we can resume it with 20, 30 or 50 years, and continue finding double senses, details or references that had escaped us. In addition, it offers a social link that covers several generations,” says Fabcaro. To which Surugue adds more keys: the encounter between two great authors, “a universe that does not age and passes a deforming lens about our errors and changes in our world”, as well as values, of friendship to humanism. And, of course, resistance. So much so that in France formations of the entire political board have tried to seize their struggle. Four years ago Anne Goscinny, daughter of the screenwriter, closed the debate: “Astérix and Obélix were created by my father and Albert [Uderzo] For a single cause and a single game: the game of nothing. ”Several essays have turned these years to crumble a phenomenon as magical as the Panoramix potion.
The series aims to honor all this. Even its aesthetics part of the drawings that Uderzo made for the feature films of the eighties, as the animation director, Kristof Serrand, who worked with the mythical artist in those films has reported. And both he and Alain Chabat have recognized the enormous influence of the comics edited between 1968 and 1972. Fabcaro, when asked years ago if he planned possible”. A huge talent, even gifted with cunning: he and you looked for a name that started by A, to occupy the first shelves. And they got him together with a human menhir inspired by Lennie Small (Of men and miceby Steinbeck): impossible to defeat, but very easy to move.
Now, Fabcaro adds: “In each vignette, in every word, in each situation, I wonder if you and Goscinny would validate what I just wrote. They are always present on my shoulder. The essential thing for me is not to betray them or distort their universe.” Thus, the history of the Gauls resists. Hugs new formats, let the village into a bit of modernity. The love of the public also continues, irreducible and apparently eternal. Unless heaven falls on us.
