Your favourite website is growing fast. We received more than eighteen million hits last January, and topped the 250,000 visitor-per-month threshold for the first time. Something new is happening almost every day in the Asterix virtual village, and more and more of you are coming to check it out for yourselves. So you have really earned it - we are going to add some special, new sections to this missive. We are pleased to announce an extraordinary surprise for a starter: a dialogue with Albert Uderzo. Send any questions you may have to the doubleclix e-mail address, and with each issue, Mr. Uderzo will personally reply to three correspondents. The second new feature you'll find is to be known as "Tips from Tapisdesourix", which will help you to better understand how to get around that enormous virtual village that makes up our site. You'll have a chance to try out these helpful tips with the new items listed at the end of this letter.

Asterix is doing just fine, thank you. As a matter of fact, so are Obelix and the rest of the village. You could even say that our little Gaul family is more than holding its own. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing a Vitalstatistix act, just tooting my horn and all that! I am talking loud and clear from atop my virtual shield about the real world! Pay careful attention as you read on.

1 - In the publishing field: Asterix and the Class Act tops the 2003 bestseller lists, all categories combined, as announced in L'Express magazine. Getafix philosophically strokes his long white beard as he peruses the figures: more than 1.3 million copies in the Gallic version and nearly a million albums abroad where the album has been published in translation. A success that must have some Caesars totally stumped.

2 - In movies and comic books: the recent performance of certain Franco-Belgian comic book adaptations in the movies has been disappointing, so caution is in order. The folk in Asterix's village are certainly not thrilled about this state of affairs. It is essential for comic books to be successfully transposed into the other arts, such as movies and video games, in order to regain the recognition that the last generation has failed to achieve. Even though we realize that Asterix is a unique phenomenon (with box-office scores of 21 million viewers in Europe for Asterix and Obelix Take On Caesar and Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra), we are not indifferent to the performance of other heroes.
So, I can already hear you asking - when is the next Asterix film coming out? Our boss has hinted that there is no hurry, let the imperial cohorts come to us; we can always offer them another banquet.

3 - Asterix & Obelix XXL has been a hit. Following the holiday season, the PS2 version of this new video game is the leader in its category. Asterix XXL has sold 70,000 copies, almost twice as many as Nemo and Harry Potter, and is well ahead of Jak 2: Renegade, the second best-seller in the category. The versions designed for other gaming platforms (Gamecube, PC and especially GameBoy Advanced), scheduled for next June, are ample reason to expect another total victory for this Asterix venture into true 3D.

With all the determination and relentlessness of their native roll mops and over-salted herring, Stefan Fjeldmark and his Vikings landed in Los Angeles where, for days on end, they spread the word among actors in the New World. The dubbing for the 8th Asterix animated film is now complete. This is the second time that an Asterix film has been recorded in the English language, following the last opus, Asterix and the Indians in 1994. What's new about this venture is the decision to endow Asterix with the same means as those of the American studios - a first for our animated features.

We would like to call your attention to the significance of having this project directed by the Vikings, under the wise tutelage of Albert Uderzo. The most observant among you will remember that when our great heroes encountered the Indians and some gobblers in René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's album Asterix and the Great Crossing, they had no idea they had landed in America but thought they were on the coast of Normandy, which they had already visited in another adventure. Well, Asterix and the Normans is the story line for the new animated film produced by M6 and directed by the Vikings (from Copenhagen). Is that clear, or do you want me to start over?

E-cards from our dashing Justforkix, hero of the film now in production, were a wild success for Valentine's Day. The lunatics of our virtual village had concocted some real treasures to send to your sweethearts and are now working on cards for your next happy occasions. In the name of Doubleclix, I highly suggest you take a look at these latest masterpieces. Justforkix has also added a new section to the Gaul museum : excerpts from the serialized radio shows of the sixties, Asterix the Gaul and Asterix and the Golden Sickle. Hear the first voice of Asterix (in French), Guy Pierrauld, and there is even a certain fellow named Paul Préboist in the cast - a real treasure!
Be sure to visit the hut of Getafix, where we regularly archive copies of our past work, so that the historians of the 21st century get their stories straight when writing their next future schoolbooks. Really, no kidding, these days events become history within ten years. These times we live in are crazy, aren't they?