Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Klaus Motan on October 25, 2009 at 3:29am

...here in Austria and Germany, they´re sometimes used in school, `cause you can get them in a lot of foreign languages, as Latin, Historical Greek, and most living languages, and the pupils like them more to learn from than their regular books...

Permalink Reply by Jaume on October 25, 2009 at 4:57am

I've already pointed it out elsewhere in this group: Asterix was the collaborative work of Goscinny (script) and Uderzo (drawings). Since Goscinny's death in 1977, Uderzo assumed both roles, but he's nowhere near his friend's storytelling genius. Asterix in Belgium is the last book Uderzo worked on. Everything Uderzo made alone after this one is utter crap compared to anything the team did earlier.

And be aware that cultural references and puns abound in the Asterix comics. It's likely many of them will be lost in translation (it took me years to figure out some of them myself - I remember bursting in laughter when my mother sang an old popular song I'd never heard of: its main chorus line was altered in the comics to hilarious effect, but I missed it completely when I read it first).

Permalink Reply by Ariel on October 26, 2009 at 8:48am

I grew up on Astrix and Tin Tin long before I read mainstream comics. My dad owns a children's store, and both are sold in the book section.

Permalink Reply by Jaume on October 26, 2009 at 9:09am

Heh. In continental Europe, Asterix and especially Tintin are considered 'mainstream comics', while US superhero comics are considered 'fringe'.

According to French President Charles de Gaulle, “Tintin is my only international rival. Nobody notices, because of my height. We are both little fellows who won’t be got at by big fellows.”

Permalink Reply by Klaus Motan on November 1, 2009 at 2:49pm

I´d rather call US comics "mainstream" too, especially here in Austria...