Asterix

If you're looking for a new TPB comic to read, then I highly recommend the Asterix Omnibus books. I recently picked up volumes 1 & 2, and I haven't been disappointed. They're completely different from the typical superhero comics, and are full of humour.



For those of you unfamiliar with Asterix, it is a French comic book from the 60's. The story takes place during the Roman invasion of Gaul (France), and revolves around a small Gaulish village as they resist the Roman invasion. The Gauls are able to do this due to a magic potion they brew which makes them invincible.

Asterix is one of the Villagers, and along with Obelix his friend who is super strong due to falling into a cauldron of magic potion when he was a baby, and Obelix's dog Dogmatix they get into all sorts of adventures.

The stories are comedies for the most part, and are full of satire. Many of the things that the characters say are funny because of how well they apply to today's culture and society. The backgrounds in many of the panels are also full of little things that have no place being in ancient Rome, but sure add to the humour of the stories. Even the characters' names are funny. The Gauls have names like Getafix or vitalstatistix, while the Romans all get names such as Crismus Bonus and so on.


This panel is in french, but the volumes are being released in English.

The art in these books is extremely well done. Normally when I think 60's, I think really bad art in the old DC or Marvel comics, but this art is as good as any that you will find in today's comics, and the colours are extremelly bright and vivid, which really help to bring everything out of the pages.

There have also been a series of live action movies made about Asterix, although they are in French, so unless you can understand french or can find some subtitles for them it won't be much fun watching. Below is a short clip from one of the movies. Its surprisingly true to the series, sort of how the Flintstones movie was true to the original source.