“The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely… One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium…”

These are very familiar words to all fans of Asterix the Gaul—it is in this historic backdrop that the adventures of Asterix the Gaul happen. The adventures of Asterix the Gaul tell in a humoristic way the adventures of the inhabitants of a small Gaulish village under the roman occupation, who resist to Caesar thanks to the magic potion prepared by their druid, which gives them a superhuman strength.

The worldwide success (more than 150 million Astérix comic books have been printed in more than 57 languages and dialects) of this comic strip is mainly due to the high quality of René Goscinny’s scripts and Albert Uderzo’s detailed and accurate drawings. Astérix is both well written and well drawn. The amount of small details is overwhelming. Especially the panoramic views of ancient places like Rome, Athens or Alexandria make the feeling of historical reality stronger than anywhere in printed media.

Another interesting and unique aspect of these comics is that reading can be done at different levels—an easy reading like a comic book, a enjoyed reading, immersing oneself in the beauty of the minute details of each frame beautifully scripted by Goscinny and fantastically illustrated by Uderzo.

All along the story, Goscinny and Uderzo introduces verbal or visual allusions to well known real life characters or historical situations, numerous puns in the conversations and in the character names—Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix (Obelix’s dog) Getafix (the village druid), Vitalstatistix (the village chieftain), Impedimenta (the chieftain’s wife and the first lady of the village), the old Geriatrix, Cacofonix (the village bard), Fulliautomatix (the blacksmith), Unhygienix (the fishseller), Bacteria (Unhygienix’s wife), and so on. Together these bunch of fun and fight loving people make the most out of their lives and in the mean time makes the life of the Romans miserable. A lot of historical characters like Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Brutus, and many others have found their place in these comics.

Asterix is a character who has been around in books since the 1960’s, but in reality (according to the book) he has been around since 50 BC and was responsible for many important happenings in history . Did you know that Asterix is responsible for the English drinking tea? If you read ‘Asterix in Britain’ you will see that when he lost the barrel of magic potion on the journey over from France, he gave the English tea leaves to drink instead. They beat the Romans, took on the potion as their national drink and the rest is history! Were you aware that he was responsible for the idea behind the ‘Statue of Liberty’ in America ? (see Asterix and the Great Crossing’). He taught the Normans the meaning of fear (Asterix and the Normans) and was responsible for the Belgians making chips for the first time (Asterix in Belgium). Ian Fleming did not create ‘James Bond, 007′ as you might have thought, read ‘Asterix and the Black Gold’ and you will see him as ‘Dubbelosix’. Romeo and Juliet first appeared in ‘Asterix and the Great Divide’. You can learn the fundamentals of Economics in Obelix & Co.

The adventures of Asterix are history books in their own right. A study on the historical correctness of the facts mentioned in book has revealed that the historical facts, events, people and places mentioned in the book are correct and accurate. The study has concluded that the knowledge of historical events of a person who has read these comics is higher than that of a person who has not. So these books are in the recommended reading list of the history courses in many universities. There are many animated, feature length movies made on the various adventures of Asterix and Obelix. There is even an Asterix Theme Park in Paris!

But none of the movies can match the feeling the one gets reading an Asterix adventure. When you are reading, all of the characters have their own way of walking, their own voices and accents, they constantly move and the scenery around them is constantly alive too. You can feel the wind and rain, feel the pain when roman is knocked out of his shoes and so on. Even the tiny birds in the forest, the wild boars, all are drawn so realistically and accurately that one often is transported to a world of magic realism.

Book Details:

Author: Rene Goscinny
Illustrator: Albert Uderzo

The Adventures of Asterix the Gaul includes the books given below. You can order online at Amazon:

1. Asterix the Gaul
2. Asterix in Spain
3. Asterix in Britain
4. Asterix and Cleopatra
5. Asterix and the Goths
6. ASterix the Gladiator
7. Asterix the Legionary
8. Asterix in Switzerland
9. Asterix and the Big Fight
10. Asterix and the Roman Agent
11. Asterix – The Mansions of the Gods
12. Asterix at the Olympic Games
13. Asterix and the Laurel Wreath
14. Asterix and the Soothsayer
15. Asterix and the Golden Sickle
16. Asterix and the Great Crossing
17. Asterix and the Cauldron
18. Asterix and the Chiftain’s Shield
19. Asterix and Caesar’s Gift
20. Asterix and the Normans
21. The Twelve Tasks of Asterix
22. Obelix and Co.
23. Asterix and the Banquet
24. Asterix in Corsica
25. Asterix in Belgium
26. Asterix and the Great Divide
27. Asterix and the Black Gold
28. Asterix and Son
29. Asterix Versus Caesar
30. Asterix and the Magic Carpet
31. The First Asterix Frieze
32. Asterix and Obelix All at Sea
33. Asterix Conquers America