Tour de France (comic)

Tour de France (French original title Le Tour de Gaule ) is the fifth volume in French and the sixth volume in German in the Asterix comic series and was written by René Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo . In it the two heroes Asterix and Obelix undertake a journey through the whole of Gaul with the aim of buying regional specialties in various important cities in order to win a bet against the Romans. In France it first appeared as a series in the French magazine Pilote in 1963 .

action

The special envoy Lucius Nichtalsverdrus disturbs the legionaries in the tranquil Kleinbonum camp with the demand to attack the village of the indomitable Gauls. After this ended in a defeat for the Romans, as usual, he decides instead to enclose the village with a palisade . As a result, the Gauls feel challenged and Asterix bets that he will be able to travel across Gaul despite this measure. He wants to bring a specialty from each stage and invite everyone to a feast on his return.

The Gauls distracted the Romans with a mock attack on the south side of the village, so that Asterix and Obelix could break through the palisade on the north side and set off for the Tour de France . However, the Romans quickly noticed the trick and sent a mounted messenger to sound the alarm throughout Gaul and to intercept the two travelers. Surprised by a patrol, Asterix and Obelix have to leave their first station, Rotomagus ( Rouen ), without having bought a specialty. While they are already swimming in the Seine , the Romans are still wandering around the city, as no resident gives them any clear information about the whereabouts of the two Gauls.

On the river, Asterix and Obelix spot a cruise ship on which the Roman Gaudeamus wants to celebrate his wedding anniversary with Flavia. The leisurely journey to Lutetia ( Paris ) is suddenly accelerated by Obelix, who acts as an “ outboard motor ” to push the sailing ship. The traffic chaos in this city is known to Asterix and Obelix from their last stay . A smart citizen solves the problem in the background by driving a “small car” - a horse and carriage behind a pony - through the crowd, while Asterix and Obelix enter a butcher's shop to buy ham. In front of this butcher's shop sits a small, white dog, which from that moment on does not leave the trail of the two of them, but is not noticed by the two friends.

Faced with a Roman patrol, Asterix and Obelix rush to a used car dealer from whom they buy a car that after a short drive turns out to be completely unusable. Fortunately, a Roman driver from the “Omnibus” towing service is approaching, whose vehicle they are appropriating. This way they get to Camaracum ( Cambrai ), where they want to buy slaps. After a fight with Roman soldiers, which devastated the candy business, they set off in a hurry towards Durocortorum ( Reims ). A Roman road block is not a problem for them, as they had recently attached a breakdown vehicle and its Roman driver to their tow vehicle. Later Obelix breaks the chain with which this car is attached because he is bothered by the shouting of the Roman who is indignant about the speedy journey.

They leave the eye-catching tow truck in Durocortorum and buy sparkling wine . One of the four amphorae was misused shortly after it was bought, however, because Asterix was shooting at a Roman legionnaire who wanted to stop her with the cork. Asterix, Obelix and their dog travel on foot and across country. In the middle of the forest they come to a house where a compatriot serves them roasted wild boar and then advises them to take a nap first. Meanwhile, the treacherous hypocrite reports the whereabouts of the Gauls to the Romans - but only Asterix is arrested, as Obelix has meanwhile gone hunting. Asterix is transported to Divodurum ( Metz ), where Obelix frees him from captivity shortly afterwards.

At a hostel they secretly get into a mail van that goes to Lugdunum ( Lyon ). They later leave the driver tied up and walk into town. Schönfix, the head of the underground movement in Lugdunum, lures the Romans into the maze of alleys in the city and equips Asterix and Obelix with a cart and a packet of sausages and meatballs. While Asterix and Obelix are already driving on, Prefect Unnutzus has to find out in the middle of the labyrinth into which he has been lured that a subordinate has picked up all the stones that Unnutzus has strewed as a precaution in order to find his way out again, and he pays heavy curses to them.

Shortly before Nicae ( Nice ), Asterix and Obelix get caught in a tourist traffic jam , but finally they reach the overcrowded city and buy an amphora full of salade niçoise on the Breton promenade . Once again they are spotted by a Roman patrol, flee across the crowded beach and hijack a rowing boat that a tourist has rented. This boat will take you to Massilia ( Marseille ).

In Caesar Kneipix's ship tavern, where they stop now, they are sold a bouillabaisse to take away, the landlord and his guests stop the next Romans who want to catch Asterix and Obelix with a quick game of boules on the street. They no longer reach their next destination, Tolosa ( Toulouse ), on the same day, but lie down to sleep when it has got dark. At dawn they discover that they accidentally slept in the middle of a Roman camp.

In order to be brought to Tolosa by the Romans, they surrender to the usual brawl. After several unsuccessful attempts to put the two in chains, the Romans transport the "captured" Gauls unbound on a cart towards Tolosa. Asterix and Obelix overwhelm their guards shortly before the site, buy sausage in Tolosa and then drive on with the Roman car. Now, wanted posters are posted all over Gaul , promising a reward of 50,000 sesterces for the capture of the two Gauls.

In Aginum ( Agen ), Asterix and Obelix, now popular, are greeted by cheering crowds. The Romans also expected that Asterix would stop in Aginum to buy plums. The traitor Odalix tries to make Asterix and Obelix harmless in his inn with a sleeping pill, but this drug has no effect on Obelix and Asterix forces the traitor to taste the prepared wild boar, whereupon he immediately sinks.

In order to move faster, Asterix and Obelix leave their wagon and ride on on the two horses. Obelix, in his well-known vanity, refuses to admit that the specialty bag, along with himself, is too heavy for his mount, and explains its collapse towards evening with natural fatigue. The travelers spend the night at the side of the road and discover the next morning that the sack with the specialties has been stolen. However, shortly afterwards they notice a Roman patrol who arrested the thieves. Coincidentally, the description by which Asterix and Obelix are known - "a small and a fat monster with a sack" also fits the Roman robbers Sin and Cosinus. These are brought to Burdigala ( Bordeaux ) by the Romans and denounced in the middle of a square. Asterix and Obelix, who followed the group, only identify themselves there, whereupon the Romans receive the order to take the two in a quinconce arrangement - that is, arranged like the five points on a cube. This command explains the name of the “Place des Quinconces” in Bordeaux in a footnote. Asterix and Obelix escape and buy white wine and oysters . In the harbor they see a ship from Aremorica that has just brought a load of menhirs , and they let themselves be brought back to their homeland on this ship. On the way there is an obligatory encounter with the pirates.

In the port of Gesocribate ( Le Conquet ), Asterix and Obelix are carried off board hidden in sacks, but because of a misunderstanding they give up this camouflage right under the eyes of the Romans. This time, however, they incapacitate themselves by setting off an alarm that leads to so many contradicting commands that Asterix and Obelix can escape in all the chaos. When they return to their village, they invite everyone to a banquet as agreed and show him what food they have brought with them. As a specialty of the village, however, before he can sit down to eat, Nonsalsverdrus receives a huge slap in the face that takes him into the dark night sky. Obelix finally notices the puppy that has been following him the whole time, and the Gauls end the adventure with the traditional feast.

List of stages and specialties

#	stage	today	specialty
1.	Rotamagus	Rouen	no
2.	Lutetia	Paris	Boiled ham (Jambon de Paris)
3.	Camaracum	Cambrai	Peppermints (Bêtises de Cambrai)
4th	Durocortorum	Reims	champagne
5.	Divodurum	possibly Metz	no
6th	Lugdunum	Lyon	Sausages and meatballs
7th	Nicae	Nice	Nice salad (Salade niçoise)
8th.	Massilia	Marseille	Fish soup (bouillabaisse)
9.	Tolosa	Toulouse	sausage
10.	Aginum	Agen	Plums
11.	Burdigala	Bordeaux	Oysters and white wine (white burdigala)
12.	Gesoscribate	Le Conquet	no

Remarks

This Asterix ribbon also served as the basic idea for the game "Asterix & Obelix" for the SNES . The main differences, however, are that the palisade wall is built on the direct orders of Caesar and the Gauls therefore decide to tour the Roman Empire instead of Gaul and bring a gift from each country instead of food. So in the first level you also have to overcome the palisade wall and then travel to Britain, Helvetia, Greece, Egypt and Spain, whereby each country also alludes to the respective asterix tape or has such a template (so you have to e.g. win the Olympic Games in Greece, while in Spain you have to fight a bullfight).

References within the series

Idefix, Obelix's dog, makes its first appearance in the Tour de France , but remains nameless in this story. He follows the protagonists all the time, but is only noticed by Obelix at the end of the story.

Modern covers

The Tour de France cycle race gained particular popularity in France in the early 1960s thanks to the success of French cyclist Jacques Anquetil . At the beginning, the route plan from Asterix is reminiscent of a tour plan for the Tour of France and the entry of Asterix and Obelix into the town of Aginum is staged as a mountain arrival.

Allusion to people

Caesar Kneipix, the host of the Schiffertaverne, where they are now stopping off, is borrowed from Marcel Pagnol's “Marseilles Trilogy” along with his guests ; Kneipix itself is a caricature of the actor Raimu in the role of César.

Anachronisms

There are various anachronisms, such as the term “outboard”, the towing service, holiday crowds on the Mediterranean or the game of boules played by the Pagnol figures.

Comic and history

As already described, there are some anachronisms in the volume. The wall around Rouen was only built in the third century. At the time, Nice was still a military fortress and, at the time, it was only reserved for the upper class of society to travel. Plums have been known in Europe since ancient times, but Agen did not become the prune capital until the time of the Crusades. White wine was only available at the time of the modern era, but oysters have been eaten since the Neolithic Age, so that they could certainly be bought in Bordeaux.

publication

In France it first appeared in 1963 as a series in the French magazine Pilote in issues 172-213 and was published in 1965 as an album by Dargaud. In the German translation, the story was first published by Ehapa-Verlag in 1968 in the MV-Comix magazine (issues 23–31) and published in 1970 as the 6th volume in the Asterix series. In 2002 this volume was reissued and received a new cover picture.

The volume was also published in English, Spanish, Turkish and in the dialects Alemannic , "Meefränggisch" and in 2016 in Ruhr German as "Tour de Ruhr"!

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Horst Berner, Das große Asterixlexikon , Stuttgart 1999, page 86

[1] Horst Berner, Das große Asterixlexikon , Stuttgart 1999, page 86