Monday, April 02, 2007

Comic review - Asterix # 5 - "Asterix and the Banquet" by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo


To win a bet against Romans, Asterix and Obelix travel around Gaul to collect food from different parts of the country for a banquet. Its fairly easy - one wishes they encountered a bit more difficulty, or at least had a regular antagonist; the plot gets repetitive at times (for instance, they run into two traitorous Frenchmen). There is plenty of fun, though: the wonderful drawings of the different parts of Gaul, the satire (there are digs at the characteristics of different parts of France, most of which was over my head, but I got the gist - I picked up the Marseilles character was a spoof of the actor Raimu). This book introduces Dogmatix - he's not named, is a dog that follows Obelix and Asterix most of the trip and the gag is they don't notice til the end. It's a little awkward when Asterix is helped by the Gaulish resistance - it makes you wonder, if Getafix could make the potion why didn't they share it with all the Gauls to kick out the Romans for good?

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