Seeing a classic comedy series hit all cylinders for the first time is a sublime feeling. You may know all the jokes and slapstick gags, but seeing all the ingredients blending in the right proportions tickles more than the funny bone. It does the heart good, too.
Asterix The Gladiator is where it all comes together for the “Asterix” French comic- book series. Art, dialogue, premise, resolution, side characters, sly parodies and goofy pratfalls: it all just flows from Goscinny & Uderzo like they have been doing this sort of thing for years.
And they had, too. Just not this well.
We begin at the Roman camp of Compendium, one of four encampments surrounding the village of Asterix and his indomitable tribe. The Roman prefect of Gaul, one Odius Asparagus, is informing the camp centurion he would like one of these Gauls to take to Julius Caesar for his amusement at the gladiatorial games:
Gracchus Armisurplus: “But, prefect, about these invincible Gauls…there’s just one snag!”
Odius Asparagus: “Well, what is it?”
Gracchus Armisurplus: “They happen to be invincible!”
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| A Gaul attack is expected after the Romans capture their bard. Compendium is also the camp that Asterix and his comrades tangled with in their debut book, Asterix The Gaul. |
Well, not exactly. While it is true Asterix and his village have this magic potion that invests them with amazing strength, they do have to drink it first. If they don’t, they can be captured, some more easily than others. Take Cacofonix the Bard.
Other than singing, Cacofonix has no offensive powers. Knowing he wanders into the forest to sing alone, Gracchus sends a detachment to capture him and bring him to Compendium. With the help of strategic parsley placed in ears, their mission is accomplished. Soon Cacofonix is en route to Rome. It’s up to Asterix and Obelix to bring him back.
While researching Asterix on the web for this review, I came across a marvelous site, Pipeline Comics, which devotes an entire section to Asterix. In it, author Augie De Blieck Jr. pinpoints Asterix the Gladiator as the moment the series began its shift into classic mode.
It was the last book that came from the era when Asterix first ran in Pilote, a French comics weekly. But there’s none of the choppiness that marked the prior installment, Asterix And The Goths. This time, the action flows like wine, with no time-wasting detours about druid conventions or whatever. Every subplot works toward the whole.
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| "We who are about to die salute you!" Trust Asterix and Obelix to put their own spin on that old saying. Image from https://www.everythingasterix.com/latin-jokes-content/2015/2/21/asterix-the-gladiator |
And while Uderzo’s art has been the star of the prior two books, here his partnership with Goscinny solidifies as the motive force of the series. Both artists take advantage of a story that allows Asterix and Obelix to freely roam…all the way to Rome:
Asterix: “Here’s my plan – we knock down everyone and everything until we find Cacofonix and then we make off with him!”
Obelix: “That’s a clever plan!”
The Roman Empire was the butt of much humor in Asterix. Here, visited for the first time, the splendor that was Rome generates remarkable visual and comedic effect. The ability to use this more advanced civilization to parody Western culture in the 1960s is too rich to pass up, and Goscinny has at it again and again. Meanwhile, Uderzo, clearly inspired by films like Ben-Hur and painters like Lawrence Alma-Tadema, splashes his vistas with gaudy color and detail.
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| The Roses Of Heliogabalus, depicting the legendary murder of Roman partiers by an emperor who buried them in rose petals, is a painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema echoed in Uderzo's art here, particularly in the Colosseum section. Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus |
The story really works, too. The rescue of Cacofonix is made tricky by the fact that Asterix and Obelix don’t quite know their way around Rome. They have to knock on doors and a few heads in order to figure things out. “These modern cities are all very well, but they’re not what I’d call friendly,” Obelix muses.
The device was used before, when the pair journeyed into Paris during their first adventure together, Asterix And The Golden Sickle. Here, though, the encounters each have their own comic payoffs while helping Asterix unravel the mystery of Cacofonix’s whereabouts. There are apartments where tenants yell at one another and complain when their arguments are drowned out by fighting on the street. Asterix and Obelix encounter saunas and paved roads, and shake their heads.
They also meet Julius Caesar, the famous Roman’s second appearance after his cameo in the debut Asterix The Gaul. Caesar is a wonderful comic creation, rather intelligent but somewhat hapless in his raving egomania. His manner with subordinates provides the books with some of its funniest moments, as when he attends the gladiator games:
Caius Fatuous: “This will be a great show, O Caesar!”
Julius Caesar: “I hope so, Caius Fatuous. If not, you’ll be in on the act.”
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| Julius Caesar is presented with the Gaulish captive Cacofonix. Unimpressed with the bard's fighting ability, Caesar decides to use Cacofonix's talents in another way, by feeding him to the lions. Image from https://mueli77.com/2013/07/14/asterix-review-special-4-asterix-als-gladiator/ |
Caesar’s habit of referring to himself in the third person, like he did in his History Of Gaul, doesn’t show up yet, but two other running gags make their debut: Obelix’s collecting enemy helmets in stacks while in battles and his refrain: “These Romans are crazy.”
The book has distinct sections. They include the premise of Cacofonix’s kidnapping; Asterix and Obelix hitching a sea ride with a friendly Phoenician, Ekonomikrisis, whose rowing slaves merely failed to read the fine print in their contracts; taking the sights in Rome; and enlisting as gladiators themselves to find Cacofonix.
Here they teach new games to their fellow gladiators. Instead of deadly combat, one has to answer riddles or avoid saying the wrong word. Everyone but Caius Fatuous seems pleased:
Caius Fatuous: “I don’t pay you for games like that!!!”
Gladiator: “Alright then, what about charades?”
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| Another familiar part of the Asterix series introduced here for the first time are the unlucky pirates who keep encountering them on the high seas. Here the stage is set for future encounters. |
The book culminates in the famous Colosseum, where the bread and circuses are pumped out along with more visual invention from Uderzo. Featured are a chariot race, lions, even walking amphoras of wine with painted slogans between matches:
Julius Caesar: “I wonder if the public really likes these commercial breaks?”
Caius Fatuous: “Maybe not, but they pay for the sand in the arena.”
It’s a standout sequence in a standout book, with much of the comedy built around playing with expectations. The more of a mess Asterix and Obelix make of the games, the more the crowd loves it. You expect Caesar, who has been shooting wrathful stares at Caius Fatuous all the while, to blow a vessel, but no: “The people are pleased…and that pleases me!”
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| Asterix rescues Cacofonix in the arena, while Obelix makes off with a stack of trophy helmets, thus beginning a collection which continues to this day. Image from https://www.shelfabuse.com/comic-book-features/asterix-gladiator-review/ |
The book isn’t perfect. The lack of creative tension with Asterix and Obelix being so unbeatable at everything was a challenge Goscinny faced for the rest of his life, and the gladiator training sections suffer from this especially. You don’t need wits when you have Obelix to handle all bullies.
But
the overall results of this first visit to Rome are magnificent, and elements established
here get used in many subsequent books. With Uderzo complementing this approach
with dynamic, zany designs, a formula was established that would carry the
series to lasting greatness.
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