Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: asterix, bd, Didier Conrad, Fabcaro, france, graphic novel, obelix

New Official Asterix Strip Published Today, Exclusive To Bleeding Cool

Ahead of the upcoming blockbuster graphic novel Asterix And The White Iris, Bleeding Cool has an exclusive original strip, The Chief's Fight.

Published Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:59:09 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Tue, 15 Aug 2023 04:23:42 -0500

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Asterix is, by all accounts, the best-selling and most-read comic book in the world. A new book released every two years in its home country of France, it is guaranteed to be the best-selling book of the year, and it will certainly be the best-selling comic book in most European countries for that year, as well as in large swathes of South America, Canada, Australia, Israel, India, Pakistan, all over the place.

It doesn't quite do that in the USA, where Dog Man is king, but it may get there one day. As a Brit, I grew up reading Asterix and learnt much of my early world history and geography from the comics. The Horrible Histories of its day, Asterix sees see a village of plucky Gauls in Ancient France in the year 50 BC fighting against the Roman Invasion that has conquered all of Gaul, save for their own village, made safe by the use of a magic potion conjured up by the local druid, Getafix. With Asterix, Obelix and their pet Dogmatix holding down the fort (sometimes literally) or taking their particular brand of freedom and liberty around the globe, along the way inventing tea for the Brits, discovering America (and turkeys) or discovering the pitfalls of capitalism in Ancient Rome.

This year will see the release of the fortieth Asterix volume, Asterix And The White Iris, published on the 26th of October in both a British English edition from Sphere translated by Adriana Hunter and an American English edition from Mad Cave/Papercutz, translated by Joe Johnson, two separate English translations made from the French original.

But first, we are getting some Special Summer Strips, original Asterix stories by Fabcaro and Conrad, translated by Johnson, to lead into the new graphic novel. These are not extracts from Asterix and The White Iris but part of a standalone story, beginning with The Chief's Fight, and running for the first time here on Bleeding Cool. Where the rest will run, I have no idea… but when I do, I will let you know!

It begins with Chief Vitalstatistix of the still-unnamed Gaulish village, at home with his wife Impedimenta…

Before taking a stroll through the village, encountering Getafix, Obelix and Asterix.

Wild boar is the diet of choice for a Gaul warrior, and a banquet is just the place to eat it. Of course, all this may change in Asterix And The White Iris, which seems about to introduce the concept of veganism to the village…

Created in the late fifties by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny, Asterix And The White Iris sees Fabcaro, a new writer to the franchise to accompany regular series artist Didier Conrad. And what's it about? Well, it seems that in the first century BC, the White Iris is the name of a new school of thought, coming from Rome, which advocates benevolence, healthy living, and individual development and tell us "To light up the forest, the flowering of a single iris is enough."

The Roman emperor Julius Caesar has the idea of instilling this state of mind in his demoralized troops, but what no one has foreseen is that this philosophy, which recommends eating less wild boar, will enter the Gauls' village. Dividing Asterix's village into pro and anti-White Iris factions, reflecting current trends regarding modern culture wars and populist politics, but also the cultural battles of the sixties and seventies, from New Age thinking to veganism. There should be no doubt as to which side Obelix will be on when it comes to wild boar eating, of course, but what about Asterix? Could the firm friends be divided again? And naturally, the chief's wife, Impedimenta is very much open to the new movement. Here's the one page of the book that has been released so far.

Fabcaro is quoted as saying, "I am not too New Age, but the album does not want to be critical of all such movements. As long as personal development has positive effects, why not? Me, I don't use it too much, but if it works on some people, I don't draw generalities. I want to treat this contemporary phenomenon as Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny did at the time. For example, in Obélix & Company, an album that I really like, they talked about capitalism and the concentration of companies, with humour," he adds.

Former Asterix writer Jean-Yves Ferri had already struggled, saying, "In the 1960s, Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny could laugh at foreigners, caricature the English with their big teeth, the Greeks with their profile. The atmosphere was good-natured. Today, you almost need a dictionary on your desk to know what you have the right to joke about or not."

Either way, Asterix remains far too much of a juggernaut to ever be cancelled. The White Iris will have a first print run of five million copies, and each volume usually reaches around nine or ten million copies sold after further print runs.

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