When we lived in Paris we got hooked on this comic, about a group of Gauls (Roman-era French) who resist Julius Caesar and Roman occupation of Gaul thanks to a magic potion, brewed by their druid Getafix, that gives them superhuman strength. The village, though unique, doesn’t seem to have a name (just “the Gaulish village”). The artwork is by Albert Uderzo and the stories by Rene Goscinny. By now there are about 33 books since 1961 and several animated films. The Wikipedia entry is damn good, so I’ll compliment it rather than copy it.
Asterix – hero. Very short, with blond hair & mustache, and he wears the classic winged helmet. Witty, shrewd, but basically decent guy, very likable. He can usually be counted to figure a way out of any tight situation and outwit any enemy.
Obelix – co-hero with Asterix, his best friend. He builds menhirs (bizarre stone objects with no known use) but has no real source of income (except in “Obelix & Co.” when he gets rich selling menhirs to the Romans). He only cares about eating wild boar and beating up Romans. He’s not particularly bright but he’s still decent and fiercely loyal to Asterix. He fell in the cauldron of magic potion as a baby, so the effects are permanent on him.
Dogmatix – Obelix’s cute little white dog. A constant, loyal companion and frequently of assistance; in “Asterix and Cleopatra”, for instance, he guided them out of a pyramid they had been trapped inside. He faints if anyone hurts a tree.
Getafix – their druid, responsible for brewing the magic potion. He has other powers which he rarely displays. He’s kidnapped by Goths (“Asterix and the Goths”) and temporarily rendered incoherent (“Asterix and the Big Fight”). He doesn’t have an apprentice and he’s rather old, so it’s unclear what will happen if he dies. He appears to be the only druid who knows the recipe to the magic potion.
Cacofonix – the bard. He’s forbidden to sing (!) and is usually tied up by Fulliautomatix to make sure he doesn’t do so. He rarely has any role in any story, except “Asterix the Gladiator” and “Asterix and the Normans”.
Fulliautomatix – the burly, husky blacksmith. One of the pair of comic relief guys, he’s often either joking with Unhygienix or fighting him.
Unhygienix – the chubby fisherman. Despite the fact that the village is on the coast, his fish are frequently accused of being less than fresh. He jokes with – but often fights – Fulliautomatix.
Vitalstatistix & Impedimenta – the pompous, self-important chief and his pompous, self-important little wife.
Geriatrix & his hot wife – An incredibly old man (very spry, though!!) with an improbably hot wife (who doesn’t seem to have a name, aside from “Geriatrix’s wife”).
All Gaulish men have names ending in –ix, usually something silly; the women's names end in -a. Britons, by the way, have names ending in –ax, Goths have names ending in -ic, and Romans generally have names ending in -us.
Caesar & Cleopatra – Caesar is the consistent Roman nemesis to Asterix but occasionally deals with him on friendly terms. Like Montgomery Burns & Homer Simpson, he consistently meets Asterix but never seems to recognize him individually and refers to them collectively as “Gauls”.
Brutus – Caesar’s own nemesis, sometimes figures as a plot device.
The other Romans have silly names on Latin variants. In “Asterix & the Goths”, the pair pretend to be Romans and take the names “Asterus and Obelus”, but don’t do this in “Asterix the Legionary” when they actually are Roman legionaries.
The most common theme is that something is wrong with the magic potion, or Getafix, and they need to fix it – or the Romans have some sort of bizarre plot to defeat them. The Romans have 4 camps around the village. They’re dressed in Roman empire legionary armor (iron plates and helmet with cheekplates) though it’s at the time of Caesar (i.e. they should be in chain mail and bronze helmets that look like a baseball cap on backwards). Rome, of course, is damn big and impressive. But even Lutetia (ancient Paris) is considered a “big city” by the Gauls of the various villages.
Of course they go all over the place: Helvetia (Switzerland) to find edelweiss to save the life of a poisoned Roman inspector; Egypt, to help build a palace for Cleopatra; Germania, to rescue Getafix from the Goths; Britannia, to supply their celtic comrades with magic potion in resistance to the Romans; Hispania (Spain) to return a small boy to his village, which is similarly resisting the Romans; Rome, to bring back Caesar’s laurel wreath to impress the chief’s brother-in-law; Greece, for the Olympic Games; Belgia, to compete against the well-fed Belgians in Caesar’s esteem; Corsica, to return an exiled Corsican warrior; India (Asterix and the Magic Carpet); the Middle East (including Israel) for – guess what? OIL!!!; ancient America, after being blown way off course at sea, an adventure which has them meeting both American Indians and Vikings (Asterix & the Great Crossing); Gergovia, near Alesia (site of Vercingetorix’s defeat by Caesar) (Asterix & the Chieftain's Shield); several trips to Lutetia; Norway/Sweden (land of Vikings) in both “The Great Crossing” and “Asterix and the Vikings”; and a tour of Gaul to get various different foods to impress the Romans with a banquet. These trips give Goscinny and Uderzo a chance to parody the rest of Europe from the French perspective. The Swiss are extremely clean; the Brits care for their tea and rugby; in Hispania condemned prisoners are thrown to the bulls instead of lions; the Belgians look just like Gauls except they eat insane amounts of food (a great adventure for Obelix); the Goths are extremely aggressive and warlike.
“Asterix and the Goths” – the Goths (Germans) capture Getafix with the idea of forcing him to make the magic potion for them so they can conquer everyone else. They speak in “Gothic” (German old style text unintelligible to non-speakers) and are extremely militaristic, aggressive and nasty. All Goths have a last name ending in –ic (Metric, Rhetoric, Electric, etc.) and have shaved heads and either a mustache or a beard. They wear green helmets with spikes and horns. Asterix, Obelix and Getafix brew the potion for several different overambitious Goths and provoke a civil war, leaving Germania in ruins, incapable of aggression against Gaul. Individual Goths periodically show up in other stories but never as a main character. This is one of the earlier stories, so the artwork and coloring are substandard; I wish they would redo it now that Uderzo has improved his technique dramatically.
"Asterix & Caesar's Laurel Wreath". One of the more cynical stories, Asterix and Obelix wind up in Rome, of all places, to procure Caesar's famous laurel wreath for their chief Vitalstatistix to impress his arrogant brother-in-law, Homeopathix, a wealthy merchant in Lutetia. In doing so they become slaves for a wealthy Roman family and wind up in the Coliseum itself. Highly amusing though I scarcely think it's suitable for children. I got it for the brief bit in Lutetia which actually has a nice illustration of the city, which now is Isle de la Cite, the island where Notre Dame is. The cathedral - the actual cathedral of the Catholic archdiocese of Paris - has a crypt beneath with Roman era items, which is an excellent prelude for visiting the cathedral itself. Homeopathix' arrogance perhaps indicates Parisians' contempt for the rest of France, much as Londoners seem to look down on the rest of Britain.
Asterix & the Great Crossing. Blown off course, Asterix and Obelix wind up in the New World, and meet the locals, though obviously they're at a disadvantage in terms of trying to communicate with the Native Americans. They actually get along pretty well, to the point where the local chief's daughter takes a liking to Obelix (!!!). Eventually a team of Vikings lands, finds Asterix and Obelix, and brings them back to Norway thinking they've captured a pair of Native Americans - until a Gaulish slave recognizes them as fellow Gauls.
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