Asterix And The White Iris: The Bleeding Cool Review

Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News | Tagged: albert uderzo, asterix, Asterix And The White Iris, Didier Conrad, embarg, Fabcaro, Rene Goscinny

Asterix And The White Iris, the 40th Asterix volume, has just been published. And I happen to think that it is very,very good indeed.

My favourite Asterix comic book is a bit of an oddity. Obelix And Co, published in 1978, breaks the usual routine of an Asterix comic book which involves this village of French warriors in 50 BC holding out against the Roman army, going somewhere else. Another city, another country, another continent, as part of their dealings with the Romans, satirising the people the visit and the French reaction to them along the way. In Obelix And Co, however, the world comes to the village. As one man tries something different, using capitalism to raise the expectations of the Gauls, cause conflict among themselves, and turn them away from the important things in life, fighting off the Roman Invasion. But it’s all a Ponzi scheme, and the very capitalism used to destroy the Gauls, ends up destroying much of  Rome too. Asterix predicted Bernie Madoff to a T.

Asterix And The White Iris, the fortieth main Asterix volume, is very much a partner to that book, and it also happens to be my favourite Asterix book since original writer and co-creator René Goscinny died. Yes, that is a big claim. It would not be controversial to say that the books penned by series artist and co-creator Albert Uderzo were lesser, even as the art remained as splendid as ever. And the most recent Asterix revival with a new creative team didn’t hit the heights of the classics – which would be a tall order for anyone.

But it is an order that writer Fabcaro has achieved in Asterix And The White Iris. With artist Didier Conrad, who drew the most recent Asterix volumes and continues to get Uderzo’s style and approach spot on, Asterix And The White Iris deserves to stand with the best of the best.

The comparisons with Obelix And Co. are clear. But in Asterix And The White Iris, rather than importing market forces to divide and conquer, this interloper from Rome brings in… a Wellness course. Positive thinking. Encouraging self-reflection, meditation, fresh fish and… well… just being nice to people. That’s the lesson of the White Iris philosophy of thinking and includes social rivals, business rivals and… the Romans. The Gauls are to be defeated – not by division, but by unity. While the Romans are also similarly affected, it seems to make the very point of the Asterix books seem worthless. The Gauls even appreciate their bard Cacophonix. Platitudes and proverbs fly, much to the annoyance of Asterix and Obelix.

But the book doesn’t stay insular; the stranger has a more devious plan, kidnapping Chief Vitalstatistix’s wife Impedimenta, though she may not have realised it, given that they are off to Lutetia, the ancient name for Paris, on a shopping trip, and to see her brother the chemist. And both Asterix and Obelix seem immune to the Gaulish version of Gwyneth Paltrow, bring Chief Vitalstatisix to come and sort things out, and give Impedimenta’s brother a taste of his own medicine. That’s Asterix’s joke, not mine, but I’m happy to nick it.

This means in Asterix And The White Iris; you get the great social commentary that Obelix And Co. brought us, combined with the great road trips of many of the other Asterix classics. But there is really one way to judge this book. And that’s by laughter.

I read Asterix And The White Iris in Hachette UK’s offices last week after handing in all my devices and being monitored by publisher staff in a cold, grey London office without a view. Not the ideal environment for Asterix, I recommend a roaring fire with a glass of something French. But that didn’t stop me from laughing out loud, again and again, and that includes the very first page. The jokes come thick and fast, piling pun upon pun within a single panel that I had to laugh, even at the audacity of it, as well as the skill. As ever, the localised English translations are a highlight, given carte blanche to rip up the jokes to find new ones that will make references unique to the time and culture.

I don’t know how the American translation will handle the scooters common in modern-day Paris, as “mini-chariots” in Lutetia; the English translation names the rental company Sand And Air, a take on the Santander bank that sponsors the Boris bikes in London. Those familiar with the tube’s “see it, say it, sort it” will appreciate the cod-Latin announcement for the chariots into Lutetia, vidit, dixit, fixit, almost but not quite Julius Caesar’s veni, vidi, vici.. I came, I saw, I conquered. That’s a four-level pun – and it’s funny. And yes, they have the artist Banksix in Lutetia, the Shakespearish play Cubitum For Cubitum, and a “cost of giving crisis”. Whether they are dealing with goth-botherers banging on about goth all the time or Chief Vitalstatistix singing Eric Idle‘s Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, this is as modern as any Asterix has any right to be while still remaining comfortably steeped in the classics.

Especially given that, in Asterix And The White Iris, it turns out that natural division, a certain bloody-mindedness about not getting on with your neighbours, is what might actually be keeping these Gauls from being invaded, as well as the local druid Getafix’s Magic Potion. The realisation that an element of dissonance, of conflict, of being a Karen, might actually be necessary for our very survival flies in the face of the usual messages we get and is expressed gloriously here. And it justifies the existence and attitude of every Asterix volume on the shelf. If Asterix would ever be in danger of being cancelled over expressing solutions through violence, this is its defence. But I don’t think anyone would dare.

And the comics look as fresh as they have for eighty years, though I would like to give some exceptional callouts to the first fight scene in the Roman camp, the Cacophonix concert, the carriages arriving in –  and the chase through – Lutetia. Detailed and energetic, the pages bring you right into the action. And with that big fight scene, there’s just the tiniest, teensy-weeny bit of a manga influence in Obelix’s punch. and it makes it better. I know. I literally can’t imagine a better new Asterix book than this one. Go buy it, pretend it’s for the kids like with Horrible Histories, and you can start thinking about the Roman Empire too. You won’t be alone; this will most likely be the best-selling comic book of the year. It always is. But with Asterix And The White Iris, it really deserves to be.

Asterix And The White Iris is published today, on the 26th of October, in both a British English edition from Sphere, translated by Adriana Hunter and an American English edition from Mad Cave/Papercutz, translated by Joe Johnson, Two separate English translations from the French original. Here’s a great article by Hunter about her first translation of Asterix, The Chariot Race, while Jo Johnson talks about retranslating the entirety of Asterix for a modern American audience over here.

Asterix And The White Iris

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Review by Rich Johnston

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10/10

Asterix And The White Iris by Fabcaro and Didier Conrad, the fortieth main Asterix volume, is my favourite Asterix book since original writer and co-creator Rene Goscinny died. Yes, that is a big claim. But I’ll stand by it.

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English translator

Adriana Hunter

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