Asterix Conquers Rome

Asterix Conquers Rome
(Les 12 Travaux d'Asterix)

Cover of the Dutch translation
Date 1979
Series Asterix
Creative team
Writers Pierre Tchernia
René Goscinny
Albert Uderzo
Artists credited to Uderzo,
thought to be Albert's brother Marcel Uderzo
Original publication
Date of publication 1976
Language French
Chronology
Preceded by Asterix and the Great Crossing
Followed by Obelix and Co.

Asterix Conquers Rome (French: Les 12 Travaux d'Asterix, literally "The 12 Tasks of Asterix"), first published in 1976, is the comic book adaptation of the animated Asterix film The Twelve Tasks of Asterix and "unofficially" the twenty-third Asterix volume to be published. The comic follows the movie very exactly. It has very rarely been printed and is not widely known even amongst Asterix fans. The English translation has only been printed as part of a one-off comic book annual, the Asterix Annual 1980. It is thus often excluded from "canonical" lists of Asterix volumes with the subsequently published Obelix and Co. typically being listed as the "official" twenty-third volume.

Plot summary

After a Roman centurion is continually defeated by the Village of Indomitable Gauls, he concludes that they must be gods. Julius Caesar sets twelve tasks that only gods could perform, similar to the twelve tasks of Hercules, to prove that the Gauls are mere mortals. If the Gauls succeed, he will admit defeat and let the Gauls become the rulers of Rome, but if they fail, they will become his slaves. The challenge is accepted and Asterix and Obelix are chosen to represent the village, eventually succeeding in all tasks. At the end Caesar admits the Gauls' superiority. He is shown living in retirement married to Cleopatra, although it is explained that the ending is what it is because it's just a cartoon film, so "anything goes".

Notes

The book should not be confused with the more widely published and translated illustrated text story book adaptation of the The Twelve Tasks of Asterix. The volume is only 28 pages long compared to the typical 44. The artwork, although credited to "Uderzo" in some printings, resembles that of the film and is thought to have been the work of Albert Uderzo's brother Marcel who had previously done reconstructive illustration on Asterix the Gaul. The French language edition was published in Belgium, not France, as a marketing freebie connected to a gas station company. An English translation based on the dialogue of the English version of the film was included in the Asterix Annual 1980 published by Whitman in 1979. It has also been translated into Danish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian and Serbo-Croatian. The Danish version was serialised in vol 301 and 302 of the comic book Seriemagasinet in 1983; it is in black and white. The Dutch version was a free booklet included in an issue of the magazine Eppo. The German version was published as a serial in the magazine Comixene in issues 24-29. The German and the Serbo-Croatian versions were published in black and white. The Italian version has been printed both in single book and serial format. The Norwegian version was serialised in vol 1 and 2 of the comic book Fantomet (The Phantom) in 1985; it is in color.

In other languages

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.