Asterix with the British (comic)

Asterix at the British (French original title: Astérix chez les bretons ) is the eighth volume of the comic series Asterix and was published in French in 1966 and in German in 1971. It was written by René Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo . In it, the titular heroes Asterix and Obelix have to travel to Britain and help a village there that is still resisting the Romans. The comic served as a template for the cartoon of the same name, Asterix, published by the British in 1986, and for the real- life film Asterix & Obelix - On Her Majesty's Order , published in 2012, which also features elements from Asterix and the Normans .

action

Caesar's army attacks Britain . Because of the strange customs of the British - they take a break every afternoon at five o'clock and on weekends - the campaign is successful. Only a small village continues to resist. The villagers consider how they can continue to withstand the Roman attacks. They decide that Teefax, a cousin of Asterix, should travel to Gaul to get the magical potion.

Teefax sneaks through the Roman lines and eventually arrives at the Gallic village. The Gauls decide to help him, and so Asterix and Obelix set off on their journey to Britain together with Teefax and a barrel of magic potion. Asterix also takes a few herbs from the druid. The barrel is lost on the way, Obelix is thrown into the dungeon and on the run they find themselves in the middle of a rugby game (or a rugby-like archetype of the football game). There they find the barrel again and are now trying to get to the village of Teefax. However, the barrel is destroyed beforehand by the Romans and so they arrive in the village without a magic potion.

Asterix has the idea to instill courage in the British by pretending to brew a magic potion himself with the herbs he has brought with him. He throws the herbs into a kettle of hot water. The villagers drink the potion, with the support of Asterix and Obelix, attack the Roman army with confidence and win.

Asterix and Obelix return to Gaul. At the subsequent feast, Asterix asks the druid Miraculix what kind of herbs these were. Miraculix replies: " Tea ".

Remarks

References within the series

Obelix comes into contact with wine for the first time , which he is not used to and which gets drunk quickly. This happens again in Asterix with the Swiss and The Laurels of Caesar .

Asterix 'cousin Teefax and some of the villagers have another guest appearance in Asterix on Corsica .

Modern covers

In the comic, a number of stereotypes are addressed, such as British courtesy and restraint, the preference for rugby, tea, mint, driving in the left lane , meticulous lawn care and weather conditions such as frequent fog and rain.

In addition, the syntax of the English language and typical English expressions are parodied, for example with sentences like "It is, isn't it?" (Orig. "Il est, n'est-il pas?") From English. "It is, isn't it?" In the French original, part of the humor also stems from the fact that the British - as usual in English - put the adjective before the noun , although in French it is usually the other way around. Of course, this joke doesn't work in the German version, as German and English have the same grammatical structure here.

The Tower of Londinium, in which Obelix and Relax are briefly imprisoned, is based on the Tower of London . The group of musicians that you observe in Londinium is a caricature of the Beatles , and their veneration is a satire of Beatlemania . At the end of the story, when the Romans are defeated, Teefax shouts "Victory!" And makes the victory sign , a gesture that alludes to the end of World War II.

The Camulodunum team's blue and white jerseys are identical to today's Colchester United's .

As they get caught in rain and fog while driving to Britain, Obelix thinks it would be good if there was a tunnel between Gaul and Britain, whereupon Teefax says such a tunnel is already planned. This is an allusion to the Eurotunnel , which only opened in 1994.

Allusions to people

Many suspect that Sebigbos, the village chief, was a caricature of Winston Churchill . However, it bears more resemblance to Harold Wilson , Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time the story was written. Caius Spiritus, governor of Londinium, bears the features of the actor Peter Ustinov in reference to his roles in the films Quo vadis? and Spartacus . In the governor's palace, which is reminiscent of Buckingham Palace , a sculpture of Diana, the goddess of the hunt, can be seen, which is similar to Queen Victoria .

Comic and history

Although Caesar was really able to defeat the British chief Cassivellaunus , he did not conquer England because he had to leave without leaving a permanent base for urgent Gallic business. The Romans were only able to conquer southern England between 43 and 84.

The British are relatives of the Gauls in the comic , which is true historically, since Britain was Celtic in ancient times. Today's English , who are caricatured in this volume, are not descendants of these Celts, but are descended from the Anglo-Saxons , who colonized the island in the course of the migration of peoples from the 5th century. Many of the original Celts were pushed to the outskirts of the island ( Wales , Cornwall , Scotland ), where the Celtic languages have been preserved to the present day.

London already existed in Roman times under the name Londinium , but was only founded in AD 47, a few decades after Caesar.

Rugby wasn't invented until the 19th century by William Webb Ellis .

publication

The story was published in Pilote issues 307-334 from September 9, 1965 . The first edition of the book took place in 1966 by Dargaud as volume 8 of the series. The German first edition of the book took place in 1971. With the new edition in 2002 this volume got a new cover picture. At the start of the film Asterix & Obelix - On Her Majesty's behalf in 2012, the comic got a new cover again.

The comic forms the basis for the fifth Asterix cartoon of the same name, which was shown in France in 1986 and a year later in Germany. It also serves as a template for the fourth real-life version, which also contains elements from Asterix and the Normans .

The volume was published in English, Spanish, Turkish and Korean, among others.

Web links