Michigan Book

A kindred spirit...


Family portrait.


Sport/recreation/favorite pastime.

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For those not familiar with the Asterix comics, let me give you a bit of background, both personal and general.

Let me start with Julius Caesar.
We all know him, eh? And most of us probably know that Ceasar defeated the Gauls, thereby incidentally Latinizing and unifying them.

After conquering and annexing Gaul with a two-year war, fought from 52 to 50 BC, he did actually see a small rebellion, though not quite of the kind we encounter in the Asterix comix.

The Asterix comics are funny, despite the violence depicted in them, for a few reasons. I normally don’t find slapstick comedy amusing at all, but here it is funny because of the wild improbability of a small little runt like Asterix - your typical weakling brainy nerd stereotype, beating up those brawny armored Romans.

What is his secret? Similar to Achilles who was dipped into the River Styx which gave him superhuman strength/invulnerability, Asterix’s friend Obelix had as a baby, fallen into a cauldron of magic potion as brewed by the village bard, Getafix; the same magic potion that gives Asterix and the rest of his village superhuman qualities for a limited time after consumption.

And so, Asterix’s village turns out to have been poor old Ceasar’s secret nightmare - the Gaulish village he couldn’t conquer! Of course this whole concept is pretty fun from a French-person’s point of view.
The authors riff on many things through the course of the comics. One of them, for example, the way that the French are always going : “Nos ancêtres les Gaulois!” [Our ancestors the Gauls!]

There is constant play with how the Gauls’ names ended in the suffix “ix” (for example, one of their great leaders was named Vercingetorix), hence, in the Asterix comics, the druid is named Getafix, the big guy who carries a menhir or Obelisk around is called Obelix, the village bard is called Cacofonix,

(poor old Cacofonix - nobody ever appreciates his art - those barbarians!)
The fishmonger who always has smelly fish, is called Unhygenix, and the little dog is called Dogmatix.

Asterix in front, Obelix at back, and Dogmatix - middle.