Obelix GmbH & Co. KG

Obelix GmbH & Co. KG (French original title: Obelix et Compagnie ) is the 23rd volume in the Asterix series. It was written by René Goscinny in 1976 and drawn by Albert Uderzo . In 1978 it was also published in German.

action

After Obelix beat up a Roman legion on his own for his birthday , Gaius Iulius Caesar seeks a way to put the Gauls in peace. In doing so, he accepts an idea from his young advisor, Technokratus. Its costly plans provide for the Gauls to be driven into decadence through sudden wealth . Caesar initially agrees and provides unlimited funds. When technocrat meets Obelix, he starts to buy men from him . First a few, then more. Soon Obelix will have to employ people from the village to meet the demand. Over time, Obelix becomes the supposedly most important man in the village, has elegant clothes tailored, but neglects the wild boar hunt and friendship with Asterix. This displeases the event. Therefore he forges the plan with the druid Miraculix to turn more villagers into menhir producers. So other villagers also begin to produce menhirs and sell them to the Romans. Meanwhile, Rome is slowly running out of money. Caesar also wonders what to do with the menhirs, which already fill a considerable part of his palace. Technocrat suggests selling them. Thanks to a first-class marketing strategy, the Hinkelstein will soon wash a lot of money into the state coffers. However, this economic success also attracts others who want to make money from it, and Romans soon begin to produce menhir. When other peoples also get into the menhir business, prices fall into the abyss and Caesar orders Technocrat to stop buying menhirstones. A short time later everything goes back to normal everyday life and the Gauls celebrate their usual party at the end, as always.

Remarks

• This comic is a parody of capitalism : Obelix, who normally hunts wild boars, now has to produce many menhirs and instead pays others to hunt wild boars for him. The successful marketing of Obelix 'menhirs to Roman citizens also satirizes modern marketing strategies: Through clever marketing, it is possible to successfully sell a product that is in itself meaningless and turn it into a trend.
• The figure of the technocrat parodies the French politician Jacques Chirac , who was Prime Minister under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at the time .
• Laurel and Hardy appear as Roman legionaries who have to unload the menhirs from Obelix's ox cart. The authors Uderzo and Goscinny can also be seen as legionaries. When they move out of the Roman camp, they carry their drunken friend Pierre Tchernia on a sign .
• In this volume, Obelix has his birthday alone, while he celebrates his birthday together with Asterix in Asterix and Latraviata , also in the comic Asterix & Obelix celebrate birthday - The golden album and in the short story 35 Years Before Julius Caesar . In the film Asterix and Obelix against Caesar , Obelix also celebrates his own birthday.

publication

In France, the story appeared for the first time in 1976 as a series in the French magazine Pilote in issues 598-604 and was published in 1976 as an album by Dargaud . In the German translation, the story was first printed by Ehapa-Verlag in 1976 in the magazine MV-Comix (issues 19/1976 to 14/1977) and published in 1978 as the 23rd volume of the Asterix series. In 2002 this volume was reissued and received a new cover picture.

The volume was also published in English , Spanish and Turkish as well as in the Tyrolean dialect and in 2011 in New Hessian .

Web links

• www.asterix.com
• www.comedix.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uderzo, Goscinny: Obelix GMBH and Co.Kg, Delta Verlag, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 27
2. ↑ cf. Source: Obelix GmbH & Co. KG, page 6