News from abroad is not good…
We wonder how strong our defences are, or rather how valid our values themselves are (and for once the Romans are not the real culprits).
Our country seems infected by an insidious virus of pessimism. No kidding, things are getting serious!
We never imagined the sky would fall so hard on our Gaulish heads. 44 years after receiving his initial instructions from René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Asterix must once again fulfil his mission by using a now-familiar (but inaccessible?) world to make us laugh at life.
Fortunately, the village in Gaul and its indomitable people are still there to fight against the unrelenting enemies of boredom, egotism and resignation.
The French seem to have forgotten that this village's strength is determined by the duress caused by outsiders, that their values are the fruit of a highly respected heritage and that their friendship goes hand in hand with a deep-seated tolerance - all well worth a second thought.
Phew! As everyone knows, Asterix and his friends are attacking the back-to-school season with a vengeance by invading every shop in the land of the Celts, the Belgians and the Swiss on 29 August (before turning to the rest of the world). The new album is a wealth of humour and compassion, an anthology signed by the two original authors. Offering all the elements behind the Asterix success story, it relates the extremely metaphoric adventures of our hero from Gaul from 1962 to the very last story written and drawn by Albert Uderzo in 2003.
Ready, set, go! Get your portion of that much-needed magic potion!

At age seventy-six, Albert Uderzo decided to call on reinforcements to help bring out the new album - of which he is particularly fond as it includes work he produced with his friend René Goscinny. His daughter, Sylvie Uderzo, director of Editions Albert René, and Anne Goscinny, daughter of his friend René, will therefore play an important part in the campaign to launch the album. And all for a good cause because in addition to the obvious assets represented by the female sex, Albert has a lot of work on his plate right now. He has entrusted me with - AN EXCLUSIVE - the lines to a new, first-rate Asterix script! So, he's holing up as often as possible to work away on a project that, by the word of Doubleclix, is absolutely smashing! What's more, marketing and communication is really more down Sylvie's alley. By Toutatis! The next coming weeks are going to busy!

For several months now, false rumours have been circulating, gossip as the Britons say, backed by the press in some cases, and intended to stir up trouble in the Village. As if our Gauls needed any more reason other than the not-so-fresh fish of our favourite shopkeeper, Unhygienix, to exchange a few blows!
Nonetheless, when a morning newspaper publishes nonsense, it is our duty to speak out in defence of Asterix's village. Contrary to what has been reported, Albert Uderzo did like both the film by Alain Chabat, which was a faithful rendition of the original album, as well as the performance of all the actors in general, and especially that of Gérard Depardieu and Christian Clavier as well as Jamel Debbouze and Gérard Darmon. To say otherwise is an out and out lie intended create trouble, like a certain Tortuous Convolvulus did in the album Asterix and the Roman Agent… All resemblance to any persons…
The cinema, as everyone knows, is one big family where everyone shares the values of our spirited heroes: fraternity, generosity, ethics, independence…
And to be exact, if the holders of the rights did not accept the scenario commissioned by Claude Berri from Gérard Jugnot, it's simply because it didn't correspond to what Albert Uderzo and his team had in mind as an Asterix screen adaptation - unlike Alain Chabat, who knew what to do. Trying to set the different "families" who participated in the 'live' Asterix films at logger-heads is a scheme worthy of Roman spies.
That's why we're putting this information out across the Gaul telephone network, a method of communication later borrowed by the East. Hail, and all that sort of thing !

The seasons change and so do people. We just had the pleasure of admiring the cover of the prestigious Figaro Magazine (dated 9 August 2003), where you can see our Breton gardener, armed with his billhook. In light of prior events, the relationship between our Gaul Village and this publication had become quite frosty. To give you an idea, we weren't even accepting invitations to 5 o'clock tea anymore. However, the new idea people at the weekend publication wanted to renew ties with Asterix and even suggested we smoke the peace pipe - an offer we had to refuse as we don't partake of substances that can seriously damage our health. But, because we're well-mannered folk, we offered them some magic potion and put a drawing by Albert Uderzo on the front page of their magazine. After all, a comic vignette on the cover brings real class to a magazine!