‘Asterix’ plans friendly assault on New World
NEW YORK — Americans have long adored things from France, like its bread, cheese and wine. But they’ve been stubbornly resistant to one of France’s biggest imports: “Asterix.”
The bite-sized, brawling hero of a series of treasured comic books is as invisible in America as the Eurovision Song Contest is big in Europe. One U.S. publisher hopes to change that.
Papercutz, which specializes in graphic novels for all ages, is republishing “Asterix” collections this summer with a new English translation.
Created by comicstrip artist Alberto Uderzo and writer Rene Goscinny in 1959, “Asterix” books have been translated into 111 languages and spawned multiple films.
They’re set in 50 B.C. in a region of Western Europe almost entirely conquered by the Romans. One small village of Gauls manages to resist, thanks to a special magic formula. The heroes are the wily and tough Asterix and his best friend Obelix, a red-haired giant prone to pratfalls and drinking.
So far, America seems immune to the series’ Gaulish charms, perhaps due to a history of being untouched by the Roman Empire or its citizens not forced to confront Latin, as they do in Europe.
The books contain slapstick for the kids and parody for adults. Asterix and Obelisk travel to Egypt, India, Rome and the Olympics, among other places, often mocking the nationalities they meet: The Brits drink warm beer, the Spanish take any opportunity to dance.
Much of the humor is based on French puns of a bygone era, which don’t travel well across borders. The solution has been to tailor each book for different countries, hence the creation of such English character names as Ginantonicus and Crismus Bonus.
When Asterix visits Cleopatra, adults will chuckle at her resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor. (Obelisk, it turns out, is the reason the Sphinx’s nose has been lost.)
The series seems less dated than its contemporary “Tintin,” which often depicted people of color in racist ways. While the world of “Asterix” is not immune, the new U.S. volumes remove such horrific images and sticks to the original notion that no one people are better than any other.