Asterix and the Black Gold

Although I have them all, I am not a huge fan of the Asterix books - to my mind, they are not a patch on Tintin, but I must confess I have never been a fan of the sort of visual and verbal humour integral to the series. The Biblical references are fascinating, what with Yemenite Jews, Sumerians, assyrians etc etc. Best of all though is the roman style James Bond, a carefuly drawn caractature of Sean Connery, complete with sexy sports car [or chariot], explosive gadgets and a female underling [a carrier fly] who falls madly in love with him. The drawing is slick and the humour less slap-stick than usual.
It was good to meet up with the Phoenician Ekonomikrisis again [last seen in Cleopatra] even if we did see less of the usual characters.

Quick impressions: Another nice entry in this series. This time, when Druid Getafix runs low on rock oil, an essential ingredient to make that potion that gives Gauls superhuman strength, it falls to our heroes to go to the Middle East to find some. Light humor, a nice history lesson here or there (authors now and then do put in a footnote to real history in the text), and a few cute pop culture references. One of my favorite series.

(Full review on my blog later)

"Asterix and Obelix" is a curiously unpleasant series set during the times of the Roman Empire, and centers around a small village in Gaul (France) that is the last holdout against Caesar. Fortified by their druid's magic potion which gives them superhuman strength, these Gauls, especially the small and clever Asterix and the hulking Obelix, take pleasure in fighting Romans whenever they come across them. The series is populated with atrocious puns (I usually like them, but these are too contrived), and there is a distinct element of unfairness when the Gauls have practically superhuman strength at the swig of a potion. This story concerns Asterix and Obelix's attempt to find some black gold (oil), a critical element of the potion. A show more typical story. show less

An amusing Asterix adventure if not the greatest. Good for a laugh.

Five out of ten. CBR format. When Getafix runs out of rock oil, essential for magic potion, Asterix and Obelix go prospecting  for black gold in the Middle Eastern desert.

That doubleosix give Bond & Rowan Atkinsons Johnny English a run for their money,

ASTERIX ET OBELIX