Finding Asterix here in the Village is a fairly simple task. Just walk past Cacofonix’s hut perched up in the tree (making sure to avoid any false notes floating about), take the first right at the crossroads: Asterix lives in the first hut to the left! If in doubt, just ask anybody: there aren’t all that many huts or residents in the Village....At least, that’s what we thought, until we ran across a book recently published in France: Cherche et trouve Astérix (“Find Asterix”)! This game book invites you to have fun trying to find Asterix and his more famous friends, carefully concealed in crowds of characters over 12 major scenes! As Picasso loved to say, “I do not look, I find”. This time, the fun is all yours! As a result, peace has reigned over the Village in the past few days. Book in hand, everybody is busy looking for those famous faces, hidden away in scenes as varied as a fish fight, an amphora-neck (known today as a traffic jam or bottle neck), an arena, a stormy sea, a “bladder” pitch, a construction site for an Egyptian palace... and even a rather befuddled Roman tortoise formation! It’s as if they have all become like Baba, the pirate lookout, searching the horizon in search of the “Gau... Gau... the Gauls”! As a matter of fact, Picasso also confessed that his greatest regret was to have never produced any comic strips.... There’s no doubt about it: Cherche et Trouve Astérix would have definitely boasted the renowned artist among its greatest admirers! |
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Monday 22 February 2010
Asterix keeps his sights on the North!
Since its appearance in the best Gaulish bookshops on 27 January, Astérix pi Obélix is ont leus ages - Ch’live in dor (also known as Asterix & Obelix’s Birthday – The Golden Book in the Picard dialect) has embellished the merriment of Asterix readers with the never-to-be-imitated Ch’ti accent. Un molé d’musique, du mouvmint éd l’anmour (with music, action and love): all the ingredients for a magic potion... Picard-style can be found in this album, full of surprises!To complement this exceptional publication, the brilliant three translators behind the three Picard albums (Alain Dawson, Jacques Dulphy and Jean-Luc Vigneux) have been meeting with readers. Following a press conference at the MARTELLE bookshop in Amiens on 27 January, they participated in a book-signing in Lille on 3 February at the FURET DU NORD. A surprise awaited their fans: an ex-libris in the form of a half-plate from the new Picard album. An already cult scene in which Albert Uderzo delighted in drawing a caricature of himself amidst all his characters. Now that’sch funny!  |
Thursday 28 January 2010
Astérix pi Obélix is ont leus ages – Ch’live in dor Three Picards are better than one!
« L ’mitan d’un sièque ! Cha foait éne saprèe résette pour éne gin normale. » What is going on? Has the Asterix and Obelix Missive fallen victim to the 2010 virus? Or is one of Caesar’s messengers using some obscure code? Luckily, the truth of the matter is much simpler: in order to extend the festivities of the banquet in tribute to Asterix’s fiftieth anniversary (we weren’t born fun-loving Gauls for nothing!), les Editions Albert René have decided to publish a Picard version of the new Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday: the Golden Book. Following their success of Astérix i rinte à l’école (Asterix and the Class Act) and Ch’village copè in II (The Great Divide), the same excellent trio of translators from Northern Gaul (Alain Dawson, Jacques Dulphy and Jean-Luc Vigneux) has once again met this linguistic challenge with flying colours, coming up with a colourful variety of Picard dialects for Astérix pi Obélix is ont leus ages - Ch’live in dor. You have to admit that the album, which brings 400 characters from the series together to celebrate the birthday of our indomitable friends, has more than enough material to satisfy them. To avoid any linguistic discord, the three translators showed a stroke of genius in having characters from the small village in Armorica that we all know and love speak a variety of Picard from the North (urban dialect from the mining district, also known as “chti”) while the Belgians hold forth in the Picard from Tournai, whereas all the other characters (Romans, other Gauls, etc.) speak a more southerly Picard (Amiens, Ponthieu, Vimeu). It goes without saying that the translators took pains to make sure that the work in this new album was consistent with that of the first two albums so as to guarantee the same rousing success among Picard readers. To sum things up, the Picard culture has never had it better – the album is in all the best book shops in Gaul as of 27 January 2010! Click here to check out two plates from Astérix pi Obélix is ont leus ages - Ch’live in dor, exclusive to this website.
|
Friday 11 December 2009
Two New Asterix Albums in Creole
A word of caution: psychological warfare is crossing the Atlantic! Two years after the success of the Gran Kannal la (Asterix and the Great Divide) and Asterix la kaz razade (Asterix and the Magic Carpet), respectively in Creole from the West Indies and Creole from the Reunion Island, two new albums are to be published on 2 December. This time the two Creole translations pay tribute to the troublemakers Tortuous Convolvulus in the West Indies La Zizanni (Asterix and the Roman Agent) and Prolix in the Reunion Island's Lo Dévinèr (Asterix and the Soothsayer). The names of these two professional mischief-makers leave no doubt as to their characters: Tortuous Convolvulus becomes "Zòdis Dézòdis", a stroke of inspiration associating "zòdi" (garbage) and "dézòd" (disorder). Let Asterix's village be forewarned! As for Prolix, he has been christened "Langantérix", but still continues to read the future in victuals of all sorts.  Great news for these two albums with their magnificent graphic work in which René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo got a big kick out of illustrating the rather rambunctious relations between the Village inhabitants. The first general free-for-all at the Village (with fish as arms of destruction), the parody of Rembrandt's anatomy lesson, and Magnumopus, the subtle psychologist and his work with his club…. In other words, a series of cult images like you've never seen before. Discover our special pages devoted to Asterix in West Indies and Reunion Creole. |
Thursday 22 October 2009
The unveiling of the new Asterix album!
Asterix is 50 years old! - Edition
Albert Uderzo has unveiled the cover of his new album, to be published on 22 October: Asterix and Obelix's Birthday - The Golden Book. A 56-page comic book with a series of short stories detailing the adventures of the many characters from the Asterix universe as they secretly prepare a special, unforgettable birthday party. Meanwhile, not suspecting a thing, Asterix and Obelix have gone into the forest to hunt for wild boar.Albert Uderzo confesses that he had a lot of fun drawing many characters from the older albums once again. And although the new opus doesn't include them all (there are close to 400 after all!), not many are left out of the party as some come up with gift ideas while others, far away, send their best wishes. Albert Uderzo has not forgotten his friend René Goscinny, who died in 1977 and who would have been so proud to see the terrific tribute being prepared for the characters that they created together. He has therefore decided to create drawings to illustrate a hitherto unpublished text written by the extraordinary script writer! Other surprises are also announced and the impatience of the crowd is almost tangible. They all can't wait for 22 October 2009, by Toutatis! |
Thursday 5 February 2009
The truth finally sees the light of day!
The greatest mystery in Asterix's universe has finally been solved: Albert Uderzo is giving "How Obelix Fell Into the Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy" a brand new cover that will go down in history!Ever since he fell into the magic potion when just a little boy there has been something mysterious about Obelix… What was it that happened exactly? How did Obelix manage to escape Getafix's eagle eye and taste that magic beverage? René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo were to reveal the truth in issue 291 of Pilote French magazine dated 20 May 1965. Illustrated with three drawings by Albert Uderzo, a text signed by René Goscinny lifted the veil on the childhood of our heroes and, for the very first time, introduced us to their parents. A genuine tale of the origins behind the Asterix universe, "How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy" was to reappear in album form in 1989 after Albert Uderzo, having reread the text with nostalgia, decided the text deserved a richer set of illustrations. And talk about illustrations! The sumptuous pastel watercolours in this album, unique in the Asterix universe, carry us to our great delight into the magical childhood of Asterix and Obelix. 
The tale, narrated by Asterix in person, offers up legions of scoops and unforgettable images. We learn, for example, that Obelix was a frail, timid child who was constantly taken to task by his classmates, and that he used to play with a little wooden dog on wheels! Who would have guessed? To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the album's first publication, Albert Uderzo has designed a brand new cover: the sumptuous front cover immortalizes the moment before the fall whereas the back cover shows, for the very first time, Obelix as a boy carving his famous menhirs... A must-have in the Asterix album collection, the new "How Obelix..." has been available in Gaul bookshops since 14 January 2009 and will be available in English in the next few months. In with a New Year that should prove to be exceptional with Asterix! Everything about "How Obelix..." on our special page. "How Obelix..." French albums to be won in our Asterix Quiz!
|
