Pilote Lights

In 1964, Pilote magazine ran a one-off, one-page Asterix strip intended as a teaser for the forthcoming story Asterix and the Big Fight, which saw Chief Vitalstatistix hold a press conference homaging those held by Charles de Gaulle at the time. (This is taken from its reproduction in the short story collection Asterix and the Class Act, so some of the text has been changed so it works as an introduction to that.)

Sixty-two years later, adverts for Asterix in Lusitania take a not dissimilar approach... but Asterix and Obelix are now participating in an Instagram Live discussion. (This one has been taken from this week's Beano, as it happens; I'm sure it appears elsewhere, but I just really like that the new Asterix is being promoted there.)

Alea Jacta Est!

Translating into English as "the die is cast", if you didn't know, Alea jacta est! was a four-volume series of adventure gamebooks starring the famous indomitable Gauls published in France in 1988, with three of the entries being translated into English a year or two down the line; the original Latin title remains on the cover, but each book is also billed under the rather less imaginative heading of "An Asterix Game Book". The books boasted a full combat and inventory system, and directly mashed together the appearance of a regular Asterix comic album with the functionality of an adventure gamebook, using a mixture of text sections and puzzles based around illustrations. The English translations were done by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, who so brilliantly translated the original comics, which gives these versions a great sense of authenticity. And the series might very well be one of the most successful marriages of an existing property to the adventure gamebook format. But given such a category also includes Give Yourself Goosebumps, The Famous Five and You and Dick Tracy: A Catch-a-Crook Adventure, that doesn't seem like a terribly high bar to clear. So, what's it like?

Asterix in Britain's Broadcasting Corporation

Well, the history of Asterix cartoons on the BBC is perhaps not as interesting or mysterious as Tintin, which we covered last week, but there's still some interesting stuff there.