Asterix & Obelix’s Birthday: The Golden Book [René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo]

Written by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Illustrated by by Albert Uderzo
Orion
Hardback 2009
Comic
978-1-4440-0027-6
Periplus Plasa Senayan – IDR195,000

Okay, I went back to Periplus and bought the comic. I was actually wrong in this post. Periplus priced this IDR60,000 cheaper than Kinokuniya… You get the rest now :D

So much for the hype, the golden age, the importance of it, I won’t call this 34th comic a favourite. The main theme is (obviously) about celebrating the birthday which falls on October 2009. Vitalstatistix (the Chief) invited many guests from previous comics to the Gaulish village to celebrate. The guests and the villagers then came up with birthday wishes, presents and what they think of Asterix & Obelix.

Mrs Geriatrix presented her ideas for Obelix’ new outfits. Geriatrix talked about what he thinks of Asterix & Obelix at their younger age. Ekonomikrisis gives Travel Guide as a present, which occupies the next 8 pages… all bout travel bits and pieces including brochures and how tos. Cacofonix comes up with the idea of having reality show for a singing contest. Impedimenta and other ladies sit down over nice cuppas and discuss about the perfect brides for Asterix & Obelix… and so on.

Half of the comic is new stories such as the opening story “what if” Asterix & Obelix follow the  normal human condition at the age of 50. They would be married by now, having kids and grand kids, weak and bored. When they learn this was Uderzo’s doing, Obelix gave him a good punch that sends Uderzo flying like a Roman soldier. Another half of the stories are development of the previous comics.

Because there are many short stories inside and the only connection between them is Asterix & Obelix, the comic feels jumbled up.  It’s like eating a bowl of rice with too many side dishes!  Aaargh. I was frustrated and lost interest  since the first page  of it, which was the preface letters from Asterix and Anne Goscinny. Indeed, I managed to finish the whole thing in 2 days. Imagine, comic in 2 days!! The publisher could have chosen a different font for such a long preface. Any sans-serif fonts will not lessen the concept of these two letters.

Oh well, it’s a Golden book for golden Asterix & Obelix as shown on the cover page. Whatever inside is not as important as the celebration itself. Happy birthday Asterix, happy birthday Obelix!

Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix.