Book Review: Asterix Omnibus 9
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Orion Children's Books, RRP £14.99
I like Asterix.
As a child, I enjoyed reading his little comedic jaunts through the Roman world. Sure, it was never as consistent in quality as Tintin, but it was usually funny and I enjoyed the wordplay.
As I grew older, I moved away from Asterix, but still reminisced from time to time of the whimsical characters and well-done comic humour.
A few years back, the Asterix series started to be re-released in a three-in-one format, and I had considered picking one up, but never followed through. Now we return to the here and now, and the 9th re-released volume has just come out, including the stories Asterix and the Great Divide, Asterix and the Black Gold and Asterix and Son. Upon re-reading these books from my childhood, I realised that these three books are a perfect example of the wavering quality of Asterix.
Asterix and the Great Divide
Have you read Romeo and Juliet, or at least know the story because of the countless adaptations, rip-offs or just general osmosis? If you have, then you've read the Great Divide. Strangely enough, this was the first time I had noticed something majorly wrong with the Asterix series.
Now, I'm not the kind of person who gets outraged at sexism, though I am usually perceptive enough to spot it. There is a specific scene in the Great Divide that made me, for the first time with any kind of literature or media, put down the book and say, "Hmm, that's actually a bit too sexist, I might stop reading." To elaborate, towards the start of the story, the men of Asterix's village, as per usual, get into a big fight. However, the fight is stopped when the women of the village call out "Dinner's ready." It was such a little thing, but it seemed so out of place, and certainly would not be published by today's overly safe publishers, though I did think it was a nice piece of visual storytelling to establish the relationship between men and women during the time.
The book continues in this way, however, with the men being shown as violent hungry thugs, whilst the women roll their eyes by the sidelines, yet still letting the men solve all of their problems. Despite this small issue I had with this aspect of the story, I actually rather enjoyed this book. It is rather par for the course for Asterix, with nice comedic art, witty character names and a few small twists to keep the story interesting.
With the quality of Asterix being generally high, I'd feel safe recommending Asterix and the Great Divide, unless the aforementioned sexism is a major turn off for you.
Asterix and the Black Gold
Asterix and the Black Gold is one of the worst stories I have ever read. I don't mean it is offensive, or poorly told, just that it is so pointless I felt like I had wasted my time by reading it.
I am now going to spoil the entirety of the plot of the Black Gold, so if you particularly care about the plot of a 34-year-old comic book, then skip ahead to Asterix and Son.
So Asterix and the Black Gold starts off with the calamity of the Gaulish village running out of the magic potion they need to defeat the Romans on a daily basis, and it's up to Asterix and Obelix to travel to the Middle East to find the mysterious Black Gold. The two travel to Jerusalem, only to find out that there is no Black Gold left, and they must travel to Babylon. There's then a rather amusing sequence where they make fun of how every group of people in the Middle East is trying to kill another group of people. Again, this stuff would never be published today.
However, before the two even make it near Babylon, they find some Black Gold, revealed to be oil, by tripping over and finding a spring. When I read this, I felt robbed. I wanted to see Babylon, but apparently Uderzo got bored and decided to quickly end the story. And then it got worse. As Asterix and Obelix nearly finish their journey back to Gaul, they are attacked by pirates and lose their oil. I know, it was a shocking twist, I never saw it coming.
So the two return to their village, only to find out that Getafix the Druid has created a new magical potion, so the oil was never needed in the first place. So essentially the entire story is pointless. It isn't helped by rather lacklustre art with empty city environments and rather simplistic character design for the new Roman characters.
Even if you are an Asterix fan, I cannot recommend the Black Gold. It's lazy, it's boring and most of the jokes are only mildly amusing at best. In all honesty, I'd just not read Asterix and the Black Gold.
Asterix and Son
I was not in a good mood upon finishing Asterix and the Black Gold. So I rejoiced when I discovered that Asterix and Son, what I consider one of the best Asterix stories, was the final book in the compilation. Asterix and Son is everything a historical comedy story should aim to be and more. It has historical accuracy, with the representation of the relationship of Caesar and Cleopatra. It has good cultural references, with a witty "Et tu, Brute?" thrown in near the climax.
It actually has a good story, with a good amount of intrigue and a fantastic climax that shows the true might of the Roman Empire. The art is great, with one of my favourite jokes in any comic book - Asterix leans on the side of a panel out of exasperation - the characters are distinct from one another and the new characters fit well into the universe. It's well paced, plenty of significant events happen that all push the story forward at a brisk pace that still feels like it tells a full story, and no sequence overstays its welcome.
I cannot recommend Asterix and Son enough. If you happen to be an aspiring writer writing historical comedies, then Asterix and Son is a must read, and every self-proclaimed comic fan should have read this at least once.
Conclusion
Great Divide is problematic, yet is still charming and witty as Asterix always is. Black Gold is slow and pointless and not fun to read. Son is fun, witty, intriguing, well paced and has a good story and its roots.
If the omnibus didn't come with Son, I would struggle to recommend it, even to children, given how dull and boring Black Gold is, but Son is really worth the purchase, especially since I already owned a copy of Son before acquiring this omnibus, and I'm glad I own two, because now I can lend someone a copy and still have one to read.
Even if it's just for Son, I can easily recommend Asterix Omnibus No.9, as it is well priced, is a nice chunky paperback, and the spine has a run on picture from the other omnibuses. If you've already read a few Asterix novels, as the three stories reference the previous adventures a lot, then pick up this omnibus, as it really shows the diversity in quality between the Asterix books.
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