Asterix in Spain

Asterix in Spain (French original title: Astérix en Hispanie ) is the 14th volume of the comic series Asterix and was published in French in 1969 and in German in 1973. It was written by René Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo .

action

Julius Caesar brought all of Hispania under Roman rule, only a small village still offers resistance. Caesar takes matters into his own hands and rides to the village with a general. In the vicinity of the village they meet Pepe, the son of the chief, whom they take prisoner. Caesar forces the chief of the village to cooperate, otherwise something should happen to his son, whom they are taking with them as a hostage .

Pepe is said to be brought to the Babaorum camp in Gaul by Roman soldiers under the leadership of Centurion Bockschus , since Caesar believes that the garrison there has nothing to do. Shortly before the arrival, Pepe forces the legionaries to play hide and seek with him in the forest by threatening to hold his breath. As he runs away, he comes across Asterix and Obelix who are hunting wild boar . They beat up the legionaries and take Pepe with them to their village. The Romans try unsuccessfully to get it back. They then decide not to report the incident to Rome and instead guard the Gallic village to make sure that the boy does not leave it again.

After Pepe's behavior became increasingly unpopular with the villagers, the village feels a moral obligation to bring him back to his people. Asterix and Obelix therefore decide to accompany Pepe to his home village in Spain. You can secretly leave the Gallic village and let Verleihnix bring you to the Hispanic border in his fishing boat. On the trip they come across the pirates who are about to celebrate a festival, for which they have a large number of cured wild boars on board, which the two heroes take with them as provisions. In Spain they pass a mountain pass and get to the city of Pompaelo ( Pamplona ). There they stop at an inn where the Roman Bockschus, who was previously responsible for the hostage, happens to be. When Bockschus realizes that Pepe is no longer in Gaul, but on the way to his home village, he tries everything to capture the boy again. To do this, he disguises himself as a Spaniard, calls himself Arrivederci y Roma and takes Asterix, Obelix and Pepe with him on his wagon after they broke down a wagon wheel.

When Bockschus secretly tries to steal the bottle with the magic drink during a rest at night, Asterix catches him doing it, whereupon Bockschus escapes and is arrested by Roman soldiers. Asterix is also arrested and both have to fight a wild aurochs in the arena . Asterix succeeds in defeating the animal with the help of a red cloth that the half-sister of Caesar's cousin by marriage had fallen off. Asterix and Bockschus are pardoned because of their courage at their request. In the meantime, Obelix and Pepe have made it to Pepe's home village alone. Asterix will follow them.

Asterix and Obelix have completed their mission and brought Pepe back home, after which they return to Gaul, where a feast will be held. Obelix sings as he got to know it in Hispania.

Remarks

As with all of Asterix's trips, there are numerous allusions to the stereotypical peculiarities of the host country: proud men, hard-working women, spirited dances, siestas , broken streets, solemn processions and bullfighting . The ubiquitous tourism by Gauls and Goths has a particularly anachronistic effect.

The two locals on page 32, who Asterix asks for directions, quote the literary figures of the knight Don Quixote and his loyal companion Sancho Panza . The conductor in the arena, pictured on page 44, is a caricature by the French composer Gérard Calvi , who among other things wrote the film music for the first three Asterix films.

References within the series

The fishmonger Verleihnix and his wife Jellosubmarine appear for the first time in this story.

The obligatory village quarrel, triggered by Verleihnix 'fish, and Majestix' fall from his shield as running gags appear here for the first time.

Pepe and his father Costa y Bravo have another guest appearance in Asterix in Corsica .

Historical

The Spanish landscape is depicted very sparingly, roughly as we know it today. At the time of Caesar, however, the Iberian Peninsula was still covered by a large amount of forest. The Spaniards cleared the Spanish forest over the centuries due to their enormous need for wood in shipbuilding.

The battle of Munda took place in 45 BC. Around a year before Caesar's murder.

publication

The story was published in Pilote issues 498-519 from May 22, 1969 . The book was first published in 1969 by Dargaud as Volume 14 of the series. For preprint in Germany, the story appeared in 1970 in the magazine MV-Comix in issues 8 to 18. The first German edition of the book was slightly modified in terms of text and appeared in 1973.

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

Web links

Commons : Astérix - collection of images, videos and audio files