Asterix

Yesterday I read an old Asterix book, Asterix and the Roman Agent. I’ve got them all but they’re in storage in a warehouse in Wembley. The girls had borrowed it from the library. It was as brilliant as I remembered it. Great story (a mischievous Roman civilian sowing dischord in a Gallic village), great characters, wonderful wit (even in translation) and fabulously drawn. Makes me want to read them all again.

Asterix is a year older than I am. To date, 325 million copies of 34 books have been sold worldwide, making co-creators Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo France's bestselling authors abroad. There have also been 11 films and numerous games. But the books are the best. The first one to be published in English was Asterix the Gaul in 1969, which was probably the first one I read. My faves are the ones set abroad: Asterix in Britain, Asterix and the Laurel Wreath (set in Rome), Asterix and the Legionary (set in North Africa) and perhaps Asterix in Spain, though there’s not really a dud amongst them. I’ve just realized I haven’t got the latest, Asterix & Obelix’s Birthday.

The Japanese have manga, the Brits and Americans have comics, but the French and Belgians have made 'bandes dessinees' their own. Their bookshops are full of countless characters. When I lived in France for a year in the early 80s, I got into Gaston and Spirou & Fantasio, but they never made it into translation. Which brings us to the question of Asterix’s only serious competition, Tintin. Who’s better? Answers on a postcard to…