Anyone a fan of Asterix?

I have to write a report for French (as was mentioned in my newbie thread, actually) about the comic Astérix. However, having never read the comic myself, I'm having a bit of an issue.

While Wikipedia has been helpful, I was wondering if I could manage to get some more help from real (well, internet) people who have read at least one of the comics.

I know they're more popular elsewhere than in the USA so I figured this was worth a shot.

If anyone has read them could you maybe tell me about any running themes, notable/reoccurring characters and anything else you think should find its way into a report.

Oh, and just to clarify, reading the comics were never part of the assignment so it's not like anyone's doing my homework for me.

Merci beaucoup!

lol what do you want to know?

Ive read a lot of them.. they were fun.

besides ceasar and cleopatra, there arent a lot of reoccuring characters(outside of standard party)..(maybe some roman legionnaires, but i cant remember).. there are however one comic characters.. like Asterix's cousin from london, where they go to help them fight the romans by bringing the potion, which gets lost in tons of wine, which gives funny results :p.. and the architect of the pyramids that is an old friend of panamorix(or something, the druid guy), who they then help, otherwise he gets fed to the lions.. then there is the time where they get a baby.. that was a good one..

anyway, ask something specific..

one thing i can say is the menhir's(the big stones) are sorta like a joke and come back in nearly every comic.. and always in the end they hang the bard from a rope(cause he sucks :p) and have a feast.

watch some of the cartoons on youtube? We watched some in high school french

Oh, yes, I forgot there were cartoon versions. I'll make sure to YouTube it.

As for specifics, the presentation should be pretty general, so if you could tell me who was in the "standard party" and what their role was (e.g. Obelix is Asterix's best friend) that would be A+ fantastic.

Thank you so much.

Ok there is Asterix, the hero. He doesnt have extrodinary strenght, but has a flask with potion ready for whenever he needs it. He is the best friend of obelix and good natured.

Obelix, best friend of asterix, fell into a cauldron with potion when he was young and has superhuman strength 24/7 now. He loves to eat hmm.. you know, that variation on pigs, dunno the english word.. and uses most of his time building menhirs, which have no use, but he uses it to pay for things anyway. He has a dog Idefix(dogmatix), which is most precious to him.

Paneromanix(or Getafix) is a druid, both wise and calm, and makes the potion for the entire village that protects them from the romans. He is proficient in herbs and almost always has a solution to things. He is a sort of mentor to Asterix and calls Obelix on his misbehavings.

Then there is the bard Cacofonix, who everybody hates and cant sing, although he doesnt think so. He is always strung up in a tree at the end of a comic.

Chief Vitalstatistix is the village chief, although only in name, as Getafix handles most problems. He is far too heavy and his shieldbearers are always having problems keeping him up(except when they drank the potion)

Fulliautomatix(the smith) and Unhygienix(the fish salesguy) are always fighting, one using a hammer and the other using a fish.

The wives in the village are always fighting as well. One mentionable thing is one old geezer married to a hot young wife, to all the older wives dismay.

Oh and of course the pirates. They always have bad luck because obelix keeps sinking their ship :p
also the black person in there can only speaks in broken english, so the chief never knows when obelix is coming.

thats all for now, too much writing gets boring.

The dialog in Asterix relies heavily on puns and wordplay, the translation between French and English is actually quite good. The character names are changed into puns that are more appropriate for the English-speaking ear.

The main theme in Asterix is the adventures of him and his friend Obelix, the menhir deliverer upon whom the effects of the Magic Potion is permanent. Generally, there will be some kind of crisis or other event which require the attention of the intrepid Gaul pair and they will set off to go solve it. Other cultures have appeared, and the historical accuracy is generally... loose, to say the least. There are several historical events and locations they visit, and even some events that are attributed to the Gauls (for example, the nose of the Sphinx is broken off because Obelix was climbing on it).

Other recurring themes are the Pirates as AK mentioned, who often encounter and are summarily beaten by the Gauls (in later works, they will sometimes sink their own ship, thus denying the Gauls the pleasure of doing so. The captain often references his mounting debt at the hands of the Gauls after they have been sunk).

Another is the end-of-tale banquet, in which all Gauls are in attendance except the bard, Assurancetourix (Cacofonix in English) who is gagged and tied to a tree, lest his music disturb the atmosphere. It should be noted that in later parts of the series, the bard's music is so bad that he causes a torrential downpour, a gag initiated in Asterix and the Magic Carpet (written after the death of Goscinny) that was retained for the rest of the series.

Asterix is wildly popular in France, it has its own theme park (Parc Asterix) with several Asterix-themed rides and attractions. It's pretty fun, although probably more entertaining if you're a person who enjoys rides (of which I most certainly am not).

I've been a huge fan of this series since my childhood, if you want you can shoot me an email or an IM and I'll give you as much information as I can.

Thank you both very much. It isn't a very big project so that helped a lot. I really appreciate it.

All I can really add is that the comics are worth reading sometime, in their entirety. Though it'd be best to tackle them in order, since the most recent are by far the weakest. A sad but not unexpected result when half of the team has passed away.

I read all the original comics back when I was a youngling! I love Obelix's fat ass. :bigsmile: