Join the brand new Patreon to support the channel: www.patreon.com/fortheloveofcomics, or become a KZfaq Member by clicking the 'Join' button above! I'd love to know what other Asterix-oriented videos you'd like to see!

Growing up in Germany "Asterix" and "Tintin" is like pepper and salt to me. EVERY household had them

One thing worth mentioning about the English translations by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge is Goscinny was of the opinion they actually improved the writing especially with regards to many of the jokes. High praise indeed!

Rene Goscinny did not just only write the best volumes of Asterix. His volumes of Lucky Luke are the best of that series as well. In fact, if you like Asterix, there's a good chance you will like Lucky Luke.

I can't believe you just made this a few hours ago! I just read my first 3 asterisk comics yesterday!

Thank you for doing this one! Asterix has been one of my favourite comics of all time....It felt soo good seeing you review them!

I know families in europe where comics were banned for their children, but of course they had Asterix. It was widely known as "the good comic".

Thank you a lot for making this informative video about the quintessential Franco Belgian comics.

asterix is like tintin beloved by many of us euros, through generations.( im norwegian myself) and it has had a life outside comics as well. with some movies, animated and live action. and several video games.

My favourite comics of all time! I was collecting them since kindergarten and I couldn't wait to go to primary school and learn how to read, in order to read them all! And so I did and I was re-reading them every year and every time I got something new out of them, as I was growing up.

As a kid in England in the late 70s and 80s these were my prized treasures. I read and reread them must of been thousands of times…..I’m 46 now and still have them.

Hello from Greece, this is yet another great video about my favorite subject, comic books. I'm used to the quality of your videos by now but I can't help being pleasantly surprised each and every time I stumble upon one of your wonderfully made audiovisual treats. The Asterix comics in Greece are super popular since the late sixties, they even reach the same level of Disney publications popularity-wise which is a sort of royalty where I come from. I believe that every Asterix fan loves the Goscinny-written stories, myself included, his early passing was quite a loss for the ninth art community. Uderzo's artwork is simply beyond words in my humble opinion, his drawing hand was touched by Toutatis himself, I can't think of another logical explanation of this mesmerizing eye-candy. We have been through several Asterix publications throughout the years with various results in quality including translation. We have Asterix albums in hardcover now just like in France, there are translations in Ancient Greek and in a few Greek dialects, even in Latin..

Asterix was at the absolute apex of the Francophone comics. I am Portuguese but I grew up with these and still to this day they are part of my life and became a source of shared experiences with family and friends. Goscinny was an absolute genious and brough to us, together with Uderzo, these exceptional stories. The newer stories, although slowly increasing in quality ("The Daughter of Vercingetorix" is quite good), never quite matched the creativity of Goscinny. He also created other exceptional characters/stories that were also part of my life: Iznogoud, Humpá-pá, many books of Lucky Luke,... Merci Mounsieur Goscinny.

My father bought these in the 90s and we still have them..😊

I'm so happy to finally see this Asterix video! I think Asterix is the first long-form comic I ever read having picked them up as a child in order to try to learn my French better (didn't help that much, but I went on to read quite a few in English and loved them). Since then, I had kind of forgotten about this series but recently rediscovered it last year. I'm lucky that my library has about half of these omnibus collections. I've only read the first one so far, but it was so charming and wonderful and just an absolute delight! I cannot wait to read more of these stories and I would definitely want to add them to my own collection down the line. Wonderful overview! I'm so glad you covered these books! They really hold up so well as an adult reader - the puns and humour, the bouncy energetic cartooning, and the charm. Such an infectious good time!

Glad I clicked on this video, you have a very charismatic demeanor and I'm enjoying this alot.

Wonderful film. I am in my late 40's and I love Asterix. I have been a fan since I was a child around 8 or 9 years old. I still have all my books big and small including the fantastic story of how Obelix fell into the magic potion as a little boy. I also have the box set dvd films. Thank you for covering these books I would love to get them myself.

My Dad took me to Parc Asterix in France when it opened in -89. I was eight years old and so happy. He died this summer and I will always be grateful for him buying me the comics and the cartoons when I was little boy. He loved Asterix too.

Really appreciate your detailed review. From the quality of each book to the content inside it. Excellent work!

I am south african my brother. And i gotta say, i really enjoy the asterix comics so much. Love them.

You deserve more subscribers keep it up man‼️

I didn't read many Astrix growing up, but now I'm slowly but surely reading through them all chronologically. It's still early days, but it's been interesting and generally entertaining.

What a coincedence! I literally completed my own Asterix collection yesterday when I got an excellent vintage hardback copy (published by Hodder and Stoughton) of The Twelve Tasks of Asterix from eBay in the post and now I'm finally done. For me the ONLY edtions that count are these old hardback versions for two reasons. The first is unquestionably nostalgia. The very first Asterix book I read was my late uncle's 1st edition hardback of Asterix in Britain (which I now own of course). I grew up with these hardbacks reading the copies from the public library multiple times as well as borrowing them (again multiple times) from an army guy who lived next door to my parents when I was about 7 years old. That guy had them all (in hardback form naturally) but would only let me borrow them one at a time so I was always knocking on his door! The second reason these old hardbacks are the only way is the use of the different font in the modern versions which I really can't abide at all. So I now have "vintage" copies of all the books in hardback form Asterix the Gaul to Asterix and the Black Gold. That's me done. Like you I think the series went downhill somewhat after Goscinney's death although I rate Asterix and the Great Divide as the best post Goscinney book, it's pretty good I think, rather well observed. I didn't care for Asterix and Son at all when it came out but obviously I was a lot older by then. When I read Asterix and the Falling Sky I remember being almost angry as it was just plain bad and broke the believability of the world of Asterix with the ludicrous aliens. I think the series was pretty much out of ideas at that point so I've never bothered with any of the other latter books. (Actually that's not quite true. I read Asterix and the Missing Scroll recently when a second hand paperback copy came into the comic shop where I work. It was okay, but rather flat). In terms of the actual books I like, I have to say that Asterix and the Secret Agent is my personal favourite and would probably make it into my top ten comic books of all time. It's a brilliant study of the dangers and destructive potential of gossip and rumour (and the cult of personality to some extent). All perennial subjects presented in a sophisticated, satirical and very funny way with one of the all term great Astrix characters, said agent. Regarding the use of stereotypes (both racial and national) in the books, I've never found anything offensive at all. The humour is really very gentle and affectionate regarding all its subjects I think. Leg-pulling and teasing is about as harsh as it gets and I'm pretty sure the creators intentions were completely honourable. That said, who am I to comment on the representations of other nationalities and races in the world of entertainment? Changing the subject slightly, I'm currently buying all the Lucky Luke books published here in the UK by Cinebooks in PB form. Most of them are written by Goscinney and they are a joy too. I've only bought a few various editions written by Morris only and by other writers and I have to say they were decent enough with plenty of good ideas but they do have a rather different "feel" to them which I guess is to be expected. As regards Tintin, I did plan to buy all the old hardback Methuen books of my childhood but they are £££s so I'm getting the new hardbacks one by one. The font in the new editions is also different to the one in the books I used to read as a kid but I did read somewhere or other that the new font is closer to the one used in the original French language versions. Anyway, thanks for another great video and I look forward to the next.

Just found this video. Great overview and definitely agreed on the last 2 volumes. Those 6 stories were never my favorite also. The last 3 I could only read once whereas the others, I have read multiple times.

Jesús Christ the production quality is incredible

I don't know what this video has, but I just come back to this again and again! Love your videos and it has elevated my urge to collect all the volumes, especially with these Omnibus ones.

Great video evoking so many fun childhood memories. You should give more credit to the English translations by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge. The translated jokes resonated so well even though I get the idea that the original French versions probably were intended more for French native speakers. Compare this to the English translations of Tintin by Cooper and Turner which are the most well known ones. Tintin in English sounds very simplistic and the jokes dont land with the same efficacy as they did when I was younger. Contrast this to the Bengali translations of the Tintin adventures which have personally still retained the charm. The English Asterix editions however continue to entertain me quite a lot by Toutatis!

Love asterix and the books childhood memories

I didn't know that they had printed omnibus collections of Asterix. My mom got me a few of the Asterix books when I was a kid. Asterix The Gaul, Asterix and Cleopatra, and Asterix The Legionary. When I got into comic books big time, I saw a review of Asterix in the Comics Journal, but it took some time before I started getting the rest of the Asterix books. As an adult, it still amazes me how well the English translators came up with the jokes and puns *in English* that worked so well in the stories.

great run through... I think Goths, although early, is fabulous... You are spot on about Goscinny being the difference between "OK" and "Fabulous" in terms of the comedy. It is the same with Lucky Luke and Iznogoud for my money... where there is Goscinny there is hilarious mayhem. Love him.

In New Zealand as a kid Asterix and Tintin books we all read in the school library, and they always in stock at every major book store in the country, usually next to Calvin and Hobbes.

A wonderfully in depth review for this collection of such an iconic series thankyou for sharing!

Great work. Thx for the effort in making these videos. Brings back memories. Started reading Tintin and Asterix way back in the 80s. Found them in the school library. Thanks to you I've just purchased both of them

Always nice to suddenly come across a channel like this!

I remember borrowing them from the school library in high and middle school , Those days were fun

Brilliant video, thank you for sharing your opinions and nostalgic memories on KZfaq with us. Like yourself, I grew up with the original books and thought they dropped in quality circa Asterix & son. I even had the Gamebooks in the 1980s that came with dice and cards.

My dude this is the video I've been waiting for ❤️

I don't know why this video popped up in my feed but it was good. I am always surprised to see how popular astérix can be outside of France. The puns in the original comics are not easily translated but I guess they got good translators. As a fan myself i also bought the books again to replace my old childhood albums and ended up getting buying a leather bound edition ; a classic like Astérix deserves this !

Thank you for this! This is amazing! Not enough Asterix love on youtube. Keep it up :D

Just stumbled on this while doing some research for my French class. Thanks for the great overview. I can now look forward to the arrival of the first Omnibus issue. : )

Thanks for making a video of my request.👍

Such an Underrated Channel.

Thanks for this. I was thinking about starting an Asterix collection after enjoying the comics as a boy. Seeing you go through the series has made my mind up to buy them.

Thank you very much for your video. Very enjoyable. Been a fan of Asterix for about 35 years and my whole family for maybe 45-50 in all. I’m my house we have them in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese,ñ, and English!

Dude spot on. I have been an Asterix fan all my life. Got all of them except the last four. Not going to collect them anymore.

Aahhh Asterix, I learned to read through these and Tintin - such lovable childhood memories. The whole set of Asterix stories is being launched I’m my country, as we speak, for several months. These special remastered editions include extra materials and contextual texts specially written for it, all in hardcover. As far as I know there are no equivalent English edition so, If you read French you might try the original editions...

Thank you for keeping up with comics reviews. Please do more:) Asterix was apart of my childhood. It was apart of the frequent books in libraries along with tin tin and the smurfs. Their kind of comics usually have those types of panelling grid system and the beautiful warm colors with heavy black ink really alludes the magical fantastic adventures rooted down in me. Do more comics that was of youth substances!

"...Overly enamoured or romantically attached." Beautiful ❤️

You make me want to try an English translation of Astérix. This is all my childhood, especially since I was born in that part of France. I thought it gave me a special connection to The stories. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have read some Asterix comics only. Looking forward to read more of these!

Here in Québec, that French-Speaking Canadian Province (State if you prefer), we have all of them used that date from my father and some of his brother's childhood. In French, the first books of the series had weird ugly colors and were published by Dargaud and had a font that changed and wasn't much consistent. Later now the first half of the books, when Gosciny was alive is published in French by Hachette, was recolored by computer mostly by Cerise and rewritten still by hand consistently. The other half of the books in French (after the death of Goscinny) are published by Albert René editions. A fun fact I know is that the English books were rewritten by the same person who rewrote the French BDs too accordingly. Those Omnibus English books look very interesting and I would like to know the BDs in English, and see how the multitude of riddles and puns were translated.

Very good and informative video

excellent review! Thank you

Asterix is what got me into comics as a kid, I am not sure if I should get the single albums or wait for a new complete Edition. Great video, I love that you have such a wide range of different comics that you read and review!

By Toutatis, this was a very interesting look at one of my all-time favourite series...I spent many happy hours reading Asterix as a kid, both in English and in my native tongue, namely Welsh, and it still holds up to this day, yes? Some of my favourites were Asterix and the Goths (loved that little spoof history of the Gothic civil war which is just a succession of Gothic chiefs hitting each other over the head with spiked clubs), Asterix the Legionary (especially the depiction of Obelix's doomed love for Panacea), Asterix the Gladiator, Asterix and Cleopatra, Asterix and the Magic Carpet and of course Asterix in Britain (which also made for a wonderful cartoon to boot)...mind you, with the exception of the first volume, Asterix the Gaul, which as you mentioned suffered a bit from the fact that the creators were still finding their feet artistically (a bit like the First Season of The Simpsons), the overall standard was consistently high for the vast majority of these delightful stories, yes? As far as favourite characters go, being a bit on the heavyset side, I tended to identify with Obelix, Roman helmet collection and all...as well as feeling a bit sorry for Cacofonix to boot...I mean, surely his singing can't be THAT bad, yes?!

It really surprises me that Asterix is wordly famous considering that so many of the jokes are centered around french culture and history as well as complex word plays that I can't see being faithfully translated.

Great work! I started my Asterix n Tintin collection about 30+ years back. Most of my books are still intact. Still continuing to collect the new Asterix titles!

Great video as always! I think I am going to go and read some Asterix now.

I'm late to the party....but now that you have them complete in soft cover....you need them in Hard Cover! Just kidding....mmm, not really..lol! Good overview, by the way...Asterix and Obelix are pure French classics! Cheers! From Canada....

Really looking forward to this video 😊

Just waiting for this video

Great video! Growing up in India in the 80s it was difficult to have a complete collection of either Tintin or Asterix (even the paperbacks), especially after the Rupee devaluation of the late 80s. I finally ‘completed’ my Asterix collection in 2018: Full sized, individual hardback volumes [Vols 1 - 37] from Orion publication. Together they weigh a ton, to the extent that the Ikea shelf bends down if put together.

I loved the puns in the names as a kid. Getafix was the druid, and he was where you got your "fix", old parlance for drugs. Obelix is self-explanatory, but Asterix actually means "star", which is what he literally is. Cool.

Loved the new vid Ftloc, your shots have become way more cinematic haha. Great seeing that. Haven't read Asterix in a year or so coz I used to read them from my school library. Guess I'll re read it again. 😄

I haven't read many of its comics but i loved asterix the legionary

I love asterix did you know that there is even a asterix theme park in french

I am a huge fan of Asterix. However, I was pretty peeved when the publishers decided not to publish ASTERIX : SECRET OF MAGIC POTION (2018) and ASTERIX: THE GOLDEN MENHIR in English. My repeated requests had fell on deaf ears and so along with a friend of mine- Vishnu Kanth- we decided to translate SECRET OF MAGIC POTION to English. Finally we achieved success on X'mas day 2020- and we have submitted the translation to the official Asterix publishers seeking to publish the same in English. Likewise I have also requested Asterix publishers to translate and publish in English 3 other series- JEHAN PISTOLET, LUC JUNIOR and BENJAMIN et BENJAMINE- three comic book series created by Goscinny and Uderzo which have had no English avatar so far. Narayan Radhakrishnan

Brilliant video. I was looking forward to this one. Yes Asterix the Legionary is probably my favourite. I really enjoy the format of your videos where you collect a specific set of editions. I'm always a bit annoyed when a new cover design is introduced and the collection no longer matches. Probably this will happen with this Omnibus series as there is already a new format.

I was waiting for this video for long time as I requested you once to make a video on Asterix. This is very satisfying with lot of info that any Asterix fan want to know. Following your footsteps I've started to collect this all editions one by one when the prices are low. There are three in my bookshelves till now, nine more to buy! I really enjoyed this video.

Yes! I guessed it right on Facebook, Coincidentally, I'm reading Asterix this month,for the first time,done with first 9.

Thank you for this video.

The new stories with the new authors are quite good imho, at least they are much better than the last ones Uderzo did by himself.

Credit must be also be given to Derek Hockridge and Anthea Bell that provided the excellent English translations. They have done an outstanding job of retaining the humour and adding a touch of English humour and idiosyncrasies to it, that make up so much of the literary gags. Haven't read the Hindi or Bengali translations, but am curious to see how the original humour was maintained therein. It is also interesting to see Uderzo's art evolve over the course of the first 12 or so albums. You could spend hours poring over the art and still be struck dumb by the breadth of Uderzo's talent, which includes not just caricaturing , but also in anatomy, architecture, perspective, colour theory and colour perspective. For me, the peak of this series was right before Goscinny passed away (pre 1977). All in all, definitely an enriching collection.

Canada was big on Asterix too. Libraries had them always.

You are just like me..mad for comics..I am going to get the omnibus 12 within 2 months

I actually liked "The Great Divide" even though Goscinny didn't write it, but I appreciate it even more as an adult, since it is really about politics and even French politics. A Gaul village is split in two by a great trench, because after the death of their chieftain, the two candidates could not gain a clear advantage over the other. Therefore, they dug a big trench in the middle of town, and there are two gates, and two chieftains. Tournedix is the chieftain of the left side of the village, while Segregationix is chieftain of the right side (he is depicted in a Louis XIV pose and looks a bit like Charles de Gaulle). But Comix, the son of the leftist chieftain, is in love with Fanzine, the right side chieftain's daughter (yes it's a Romeo and Juliet story). He overhears Acidenitrix, Segregationix evil advisor, ploting to get the Romans' help against the other side. Tournedix then sends his son in Armorica, where a good friend with whom he has fought in Gergovia is the chieftain of a village which still holds out against the invaders... "Asterix and the Black Gold" I also found hilarious. I'm surprised to see it has not been written by Goscinny. Julius Caesar sends a "gallo-roman druid spy" to infiltrate the village, Dubbelosix (a caricature of Sean Connery). He learns that the druid Getafix has run out of precious "rock oil", petra oleum, an important ingredient for the magic potion. He send Asterix and Obelix in Mesopotamia to get some. Dubbelosix will try everything to sabotage their mission. They make an interesting halt in Jerusalem where they sleep in a certain stable under a starry sky... A caustic depiction of the situation in the Near East, as well as a nice spy movie spoof.

I love asterix and tintin there amazing 😻

I missed Asterix comics growing up. For me, Calvin & Hobbes was the seminal duo for my early comic reading. Like you said, Asterix wasn't a major character in the US, so that may have had a major influence on my inability to find it (or know it existed). I might find a volume at the local book shop and give it a whirl. Do you feel that these stories hold up as you've matured and increased your exposure to more complex comics? I like that you've pointed out how this series makes fun of all people from all cultures. It's not specifically grilling one group, which shows some of the awareness and intelligence the writer had in their comedy. Unlike the Looney Tunes, which has had certain episodes removed from mainstream accessibility for some controversial portrayals of different cultural groups. Keep up the great work!

I got some MTV Cribs deja vu with that intro!!

I have no experience with Asterix, but I can tell I am missing out based on the passion on display in the comments.

Make more video like this

23:03 this book was referred multiple times in the 2015 Bollywood film,Tamasha!!

Please make a video on top 5 asterix book

I think the contemporary satire bears scrutiny. “When a man is tired of Lutetia” implies it’s a reflection of French frustrations at Parisian attitudes to the provinces. The banquet one is an easy set up for mocking various French regions and their delicacies. As for the Cleopatra cover, that’s a riff on the Burton/Taylor Cleopatra’s marketing. Oh and the thing about Corsican chiefs turning up after years of hiding reflected a contemporary story too. There must be plenty more that went over my head at the time. Which goes for the orientalism too, alas. Mea culpa.

I also have quite a few Asterixes from my childhood in the yellow dirty page condition :D

Great video as usual. What I really enjoyed when reading Astérix is the names of the characters which are their personality/ special trait or a popular catchphrase. Moreover being able to read french I was always amused by their translation into english which had sometimes a completely different meaning. Example the druid Getafix is name Panoramix in french or Dogmatix named Idefix ( fixed idea). Please give a try to Thorgal.

yo i got the complete collection like 3 days ago neat!!

The Falling Sky is the last one Uderzo wrote, the new team took over after that, I think it might be worth checking out. I've enjoyed the last few ones, even if they're not back to the height of the Gosciny era.

Love Asterix not because they are good comics ( that they are) because bring the nostalgia of remember pick one from my dad's collection. I didn't read them as adult so I can't say now with a critical eyes if the comic are still good or not. Reviewing the Asterix in Spain, I remembered that I didn't like it for the stereotipes that produce that aren't real of spanish people. I know it was in a comedy and we have to read as it was intent but as kid didn't like that. I will try to find one or two of them and read them.

I set out to collect replacements for some of my tattered Asterix books last year, but was saddened to see that the fonts used by Orion, and more recently Hachette, have taken a drastic drop from what the lettering used to be. On the Tintin side, I've seen a lot of people complain about the new digitised lettering, but in all honesty that looks very much okay to me compared to the Asterix font-change, which now seems almost a physical eye strain to read. :( I've since abandoned my plan of any Asterix upgrades.

Is the quality of the paper similar to the old hardcovers?

You have only covered up till book 33 (Falling Sky) but book 34 (released in 2009)celebrates the Comic heroes’ 50th birthday,later books were written by Jean Yves Ferri and illustrated by Didier Conrad..you haven’t checked those out?

The Rome cityscape is gorgeous, and wargamers use the colour palate of the Roman soldiers clothing and shields as a painting guide.

Two also interesting comics drawn by Albert Uderzo "Oumpah-Pah the Redskin" and "Tanguy and Laverdure"

Long before I recognised what the difference was, as a child I experienced that disappointed bafflement upon reading the later albums. Goscinny was an outstanding satirist, skewering the 'tempora' and the 'mores' of politics and people then as now with affection, precision and the right dash of devil-may-care honesty. Uderzo could draw but never match the tone of Goscinny's writing. He ended up recycling national stereotypes with no satirical point and no narrative purpose. Thanks for this video - it reminded me of how many wonderful Asterix albums I have to reread!

my fave is always black gold with secret agent dubblosix from rome M.I.VI 😁

Papercutz publishing are doing the asterix albums omnibuses

Asterix, ideally, should be read in French to perceive the subtlety of Goscinny's texts - With the English version as a supplement of information - in short, a collector must have both 😁 *

Speaking of Franco-Belgian comics, have you read Spirou and Fantasio?

PLEASE MAKE AN INTRODUCTION VIDEO FOR LUCKY LUKE