Customer Reviews

Asterix in Spain

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This a book that should keep you entertained. Asterix and Obelix must help a child from Spain get back to his village. On the way there they run into Roman soldiers, pirates, and plenty of adventures filled with laughter and comedy.

Rene Goscinny, Asterix in Spain (Orion, 1969)

If Asterix has to go help the Britons, he has to go help the Spaniards. It's like a rule. The feisty son of the sole village in Spain holding out against Roman rule (of course) is kidnapped by the legionnaires and spirited off to (where else?) Gaul, where he gets loose and runs into Asterix and Obelix, who promise to deliver him to his village. Hilarity ensues.

Most are likely to see Goscinny's portrayals of Spaniards here as the same type of gentle fun-poking as one can find in, say, Asterix in Britain, but for those of you with sensitive skin, be warned that some folks may find them offensive. Otherwise, another fine adventure from Asterix and co. ***

The Romans, after a bit of a dust up among themselves have been sorted out by Julius Caesar, and have finished their conquest of Spain. Well, except for one small village...

The son of the village chief is captured and held hostage by the Romans, who pass him around because he is such a brat. He ends up in a little Gaulish village. No-one else likes him, except Dogmatic.

Some great artwork featuring the little pooch in this one, as he and the brat Pepe become good friends.

"Asterix in Spain" is the fourteenth comic in the Asterix series, first published in 1969. There's a lot of adventure, great locations, and lots of wordplays that have been cleverly translated into English from the original French.

Caesar has taken over Spain, yet a small town holds out against the invaders. To bring them to surrender, Caesar kidnaps the chiefs son, and sends him away to Gaul. Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix find the boy while he's playing hide and seek with the Roman legionairies. They take him to their village, but he proves to be a bit of a nuisance, holding his breath when he doesn't get something he wants, stirring up fights and giggling at Obelix. They decide to take him home to Spain, across the mountains, and past many dangers. Will things be put right?

It's a really clever little comic.

In order to bring the rebel Spanish village (Still holding out against Roman rule) to heel , Caesar kidnaps the son of village chief , Huevos Y Bacon , Pepe, and has him spirited off the Gaul.
Pepe escapes from his Roman captors , and is rescued by Asterix and Obelix , who are tasked with getting him back to his village in the south of Spain.
Lots of colour and vibe , as Asterix and Obelix , with their little charge Pepe , and the dog Dogmatix, travel across Hispania (Spain), using a Basque guide for the first foray,, spending time in a nomad camp, and coming to the attention of Spurius Brontosaurus, charged by Caesar with responsibility for Pepe , who now disguises himnself to try and kidnap Pepe again from Asterix and Obelix. This brings all sorts of Spanish things into the adventure , including a spectacular bullfight , olive oil and desperadoes who charge at windmills.

A funny and charming book in which Asterix must help Pepe get home to his father in Spain. A funny adventure that will you laughing

The way the book portraits Spain is far from the reality of the country. Some of the stereotypes shown by the book are inaccurate if not downright insulting, as those of spanish people being lazy and looking scruffy. How could the inhabitants of an european country look like those in the comic? One could say that the country that is shown in the book looks more like Mexico than Spain but even that would be unfair with the real Mexico. Or that the spanish characters they all look like spanish gypsies, but then again the gypsy communities in Sapin are far more diverse than what the book would suggest.
Furthermore Spain didn't even exist at the time when the book is set, that is the name for the modern country founded in the fifteenth century. It should be called Asterix in Hispania, the ancient name for the Iberian Peninsual, which covered most of what nowadays are Spain and Portugal.
If you buy this book for your kids, please make sure to teach your kids a bit about the real Spain after they've read it. Or if you bought the book for yourself, take the chance and learn a bit about this country too.
And, of course, I'm spanish, from Catalonia.

My wife is of Spanish descent (her mom's a half-breed, descended from Central AMerican dictators, who traces her tyrannical blood line back to the Basque region of Spain, which really means she isn't actually Spanish, but the Central AMericans living in the land her anscestors ruled with such brutal savagery were not savvy enough to recongnize the distinction between the pre-IndoEuropean Basques and the Spanish and consequently thought of all of their oppressors as Spanish and, if all interested parties had imbibed enough wine after the banana harvest, kind of fun loving too) and there was nothing in this book that bugged me. It's Asterix at his best - kicking butt and showin' 'em who's boss!