Part: The Twelve Tasks Of Asterix. Asterix is a famous French Comic book, that has been translated into 100+ languages and dialects! (pretty impressive hah?). The first Asterix adventure (Asterix the Gaul) appeared in a magazine called Pilote and from then on, 32 other official Asterix comics have been published. Rene Goscinny wrote the books while Albert Uderzo illustrated them until the death of Goscinny aged 51. Uderzo then carried on the series. As well as the comic books, there have been many spin-offs including movie books, game books, Dogmatix books etc. Asterix is so popular, he even has his. | We are passing through a vast and beautiful forest the silence broken only by the twittering of birds . so begins the film of The Twelve Tasks of Asterix. And so begins this book minus the birdsong . The year is 50 BC and Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans . . . entirely No Somewhere in Armorica one small village of indomitable Gauls is still holding out against the invaders . . . 7 Here we have a family group showing the inhabitants of that little village which dared to resist the Romans. The gentleman perched on the shield is the formidable Vitalstatistix undisputed chief of the village. His wife answers to the name of Impedimenta Pedimenta for short and formidable though Vitalstatistix may be she has an irritating way of borrowing his shield and his shield-bearers when she wants to go shopping. To the extreme right you can see the bard Cacofonix. There is some difference of opinion among the bard s contemporaries as to his musical gifts perhaps he is just a little in advance of his time. On his left stands his chief critic the village blacksmith. Fulliautomatix. whose subtle method of expressing disapproval is to hammer Cacofonix into the ground. The little dog in front of the group is Dogmatix the village mascot and a great friend of Obelix the menhir delivery-man. To be perfectly honest we have to admit there are only two really sensible people in the village Getafix the druid with the long white beard and the famous warrior Asterix. In fact it is thanks to these two and Getafix s magic potion that the Gaulish village has managed to hold out against the Romans up till now. I I I I 8 This magic potion gives to anyone - who drinks it superhuman strength . for a limited period. From time to time Getafix prescribes it for his fellow villagers all except Obelix who fell into the cauldron as a baby and the potion had a permanent effect on him. Poor Obelix is furious at being left out since he hates to miss the chance of tasting anything that smells as good as .
