The 40th Asterix volume once again addresses a social topic: A coach is supposed to train the Gallic village and also the Romans in positive thinking. But can this really work?
Every two years the comic scene comes into turmoil. Because then a new adventure about Asterix and Obelix appears with regularity. In the so-called Asterix year, sales figures are increasing overall, and the classic is attracting more buyers than usual to comic shops.
The new volume “The White Iris” is being released worldwide in an initial print run of five million copies. In 20 languages and dialects, whether Basque, Danish or Polish. In Germany alone, 1.7 million albums are brought to station bookstores, comic shops and kiosks. But it’s not just the new story that’s being sold.
“The circulation is as high as ever,” says Wolf Stegmaier, Egmont publishing director. “However, for us, sales of the backlist, i.e. the albums that have already been released, double every time a new work comes onto the market.”
New copywriter with new ideas
In the current volume “The White Iris,” illustrator Didier Conrad is working with a new scenarist for the first time. Because the author Jean-Yves Ferri, who is responsible for the last five adventures, wanted a break, Fabrice Caro, known as Fabcaro, who is still relatively unknown in Germany, causes unrest in the Gallic village with the help of a coach.
“The White Iris” stands for a new philosophy – which aims at positive thinking. Because the Roman soldiers are no longer interested in being beaten up again and again (“Without me, something like that is simply invasive and poison for my nerves”), a new attitude is urgently needed. Caesar’s chief physician Visusversus seems to have the solution with the white iris, because “only a happy legionnaire is a combative legionnaire”.
He sells the Romans the next fight with the Gauls as an opportunity. And from now on they expect defeat with a different attitude: “It promises an instructive fight.” He also introduces a new way of life to the Gauls in order to make them meek and undermine their vigilance. Fish instead of meat – talk instead of fighting. “Next, someone tells me that menhirs are no use at all,” says Obelix in surprise.
The world of the Gauls is turned upside down
As if all that wasn’t enough, the villagers let Troubadix play his harp without tying him up or gagging him, and even the old brawlers, the fishmonger Verleihnix and the blacksmith Automatix, get along instead of hitting each other with the fish. Wrong world.
It is clear that this cannot go well. And the fact that Gutemine, under the impression of the new thinking, turns her back on her husband Majestix and the village, tops it all off and is part of the strategy of the two-headed Visusversus, who lives by the motto: “Every problem ceases to be one as soon as there is no solution to it.”
“I wanted to write an Asterix that I would like to read myself,” says author Fabcaro. “It’s always an ambivalent thing. On the one hand, you have to preserve the tradition of Goscinny and Uderzo. On the other hand, I want to add my own touch, which is a bit tricky. Current topics have been taken up before. And things like that Coaching and positive thinking were the guiding principles in the air right now.”
All’s well that ends well?
Illustrator Didier Conrad found the story a bit strange. “Suddenly I was supposed to draw how everyone no longer quarreled but was kind to each other, eating grains and fish. That was just different. Even for me it led to a change. However, I started eating a lot more meat, than usual,” he says with a laugh.
Illustrator Didier Conrad (left) and author Fabcaro (right) with ARD reporter Alex Jakubowski
“Cautious change is the secret recipe,” says program director Wolf Stegmaier. The new author Fabcaro brings with him more dialogue than we know from previous albums. “That’s also because it mainly takes place in the village and doesn’t involve a long journey,” says Fabcaro, who primarily focuses on the psychology of the residents among themselves.
Of course, it’s not surprising that in the end everything is as usual with an Asterix. New school of thought or not. And finally, it is quite conceivable that Conrad and Fabcaro will embark on a new adventure in two years. “I really enjoy drawing pretty women,” says Didier Conrad. “My dream would be to make an album with the beautiful Falballa,” he says with a laugh and Fabcaro nods with a grin: “Who knows?” If only the sky doesn’t fall on their heads now.