This starts with a seemingly uninspiring idea - Julius Caesar gives the deed to the village to a drunken soldier as payment who gives it to a Gaul in exchange for a meal - but actually results in one of the best in the series. The Gaul soon discovers the villagers won't go away but Vitalstatistix invites him to stay an open a shop out of pity - only to have the newcomer run for chief. Well, the newcomer is nagged into doing this by his wife (we have Vitalstatistix's nagging wife as well - this comic is full of little boy misogyny), and the village is revealed to be a petty little place full of intrigue - the villagers are easily swayed and nasty to one another, Geriatrix even runs himself, Obelix falls in love but the girl prefers Asterix (a highly promising plot which isunfortunately never given an ending - we never explore Asterix's feelings for the girl so this comic adds even more fuel to the Asterix-is-gay lobby). Even better is that Asterix has to get out of two scrapes without magic potion - one a fight with a Roman, the other a time when he's stuck in the Roman camp. And the Romans have various catapults and things so the village is even under genuine threat for a time (then of course the magic potion comes to save the day).
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