Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Comic Gauls edit Caesar’s plot
The world’s most translated comic strip has a new creative team to take an old favourite into a new century, writes JAN CRONJE
THE INDOMITABLE Gauls are back – this time they’re bringing along a reporter inspired by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to battle their foes. The 36th book in the famous Asterix cartoon series, including an Afrikaans translation, hit shelves in bookstores worldwide this week.
And Asterix and the Missing Scroll, Asterix en die Verlore Papirusrol in Afrikaans, sees the pint-sized Gaulish warrior Asterix and his best friend Obelix again test their wits against the might of the “crazy” Romans.
The Afrikaans version was translated from the original French by Protea Boekhuis.
“(Asterix is) a world famous character who can be enjoyed by young and old alike,” the Afrikaans publishers said of the popularity of the magic potiondrinking Gaul, which shows no sign of abating.
French publishers Les Éditions Albert René, describe that the translation process from the original French to over a dozen foreign languages as extremely exacting.
“The story is translated into the chosen language, then back-translated into a French version.
“Any translations that are deemed too approximate, or that fail to put across the puns or wordplay for the names of the characters, will not be accepted.”
According to Guinness World Records, the comic strip series is the most translated visual art narrative in the world.
Asterix and the Missing Scroll has made headlines internationally by introducing the new character of Confoundtheirpolitix, as a journalist working for a local paper near the village where Asterix lives.
This character shows similarities to Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief of the WikiLeaks.
As has been reported internationally, Julius Caesar, the Gaul’s greatest foe, is set to publish Commentaries on the Gallic War, in scroll form of course.
But after pressure from his editor Libellus Blockbustus - the writers of Asterix have always delighted in inventing tongue-in-cheeck names for their characters - he decides to take out a chapter about his efforts to conquer the “incorrigible” Gauls.
The chapter is then leaked to the press, who in turn contact Asterix.
The latest book is the second from the writer-illustrator team of Jean Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad.
The duo first collaborated on 2013’s successful Asterix and the Picts, the initial book in the series to not feature the comic’s original creators.
The character of Asterix, created by illustrator Albert Uderzo and writer René Goscinny, first made an appearance in 1959 in a French comic magazine. In 1961 the first album Asterix the Gaul was published, to widespread acclaim, and the famous pair collaborated until Goscinny’s death in 1977.
Thereafter, Uderzo both wrote and illustrated the books, until the team of Ferri and Conrad took over in 2013.
The first 35 books have sold 130 million copies in French-speaking countries, and about 120 million in German. While not as wildly popular in English, they have racked up impressive sales of more than 20 million.
● The Afrikaans translation will be available in Protea bookshops countrywide at R130. Phone beforehand to make sure they have it in stock. It will be also be made available in other bookshops.
The English translation should be in bookstores next month.