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Albert Uderzo has died

theguardian.com

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Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#61

Post by jacquesm »

markvdb wrote: post #24
shaneos wrote: post #11

I read all of them over and over again as a child, then one more full reading in my 20s. They were even better as an adult. One of the oddities is that the names in English are actually much funnier than the original French names, e.g. Unhygienix the fishmonger, Getafix the druid, Fullyautomatix who makes the weapons. These two authors brought so many hours, days and years of joy. A life well lived

Some of the original French ones are hilariously funny. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters for their meaning. I especially like "Abraracourcix" and "Assurancetourix".

My personal favorite is Idefix, the dog who is so imprinted on Obelix he has to follow him.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#62

Post by ggambetta »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #30
tombert wrote: post #8

The Asterix comics really never caught on in the US, so I sadly have not read any of them, but multiple people that I respect have told me that I really need to check them out. To someone who is almost completely unfamiliar with the material, what would be a good place to start?

The best ones are: Asterix and Cleopatra Asterix The Legionary Asterix in Britain I really wouldn't rate any of those three higher than the others, although Cleopatra the art is probably the best (also I believe in the opinion of people with more developed aesthetic sense than mine). The Britain one might be slightly colored by my nostalgia in that case, it was a favorite from my youth. There are some others that are…

Obélix and Company is pure genius.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#63

Post by jacquesm »

lb1lf wrote: post #41
markvdb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the original French ones are hilariously funny. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters for their meaning. I especially like "Abraracourcix" and "Assurancetourix".

In Norway, the fishmonger was named Hermetix (as in, canned food), and - two of my favourites - the Greek tour operator Setopenextrabus (Schedule an additional bus) and the drunken legionnaire Sophus Antabus .

In the UK version there is also dubbelosix...

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#64

Post by jordigh »

conradfr wrote: post #49
phtrivier wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever read Oumpah-Pah (the probably slighly incorrect and insensitive native american character) from their beginning ? https://www.bedetheque.com/BD-Oumpah-Pah-Tome-1-Oumpah-Pah-l...

I mean Asterix is also slightly incorrect and insensitive about a lot of European people ... and we love it.

Not everyone loved it. Astérix and the Goths was an early and very unfavourable depiction of the Germans as militaristic and ruthless, written with WW2 still fresh in mind. The Germans did not like this early strip. Goscinny and Uderzo seemed to regret this early portrayal, as Goths in latter Astérix strips were depicted more sympathetically.

My point here is that "political correctness" has a point. Of course most Europeans love Astérix. It's usually harmless and in good fun. It's punching upwards or sideways. But making fun of genocided cultures by completely misunderstanding them is not in good fun. Oumpah-pah or Tintin in the Congo are a different sort of thing than Astérix In Helvetia.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#65

Post by jordigh »

conradfr wrote: post #55
mikepurvis wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few bits of Asterix that are pretty problematic, too, for example the depiction of the African pirate. YMMV, but for me it's a small enough piece that it's worthwhile just talking it over with my kids (vs something like Dr. Seuss's "If I Ran The Zoo", which probably belongs in the dustbin of history, along with Song of the South and everything else that really isn't worth it at this point). https://www.ny…

Wow, I've been reading Asterix since I'm 6 and never thought it was a gorilla, that's seem really stupid to me, or at least a very us-centric view, no offense. I can see Tintin in the Congo being worth discussing, I mean it's from the 30s, but even as the child I knew to take some distance from it even without adult supervision.

> no offense

Of course no offense. You don't have a history of the most brutal systematic slavery in history and the ensuing racism that persists to this day. European subjugation and mockery of Africa is older and has left wounds that have had more time to heal. The wounds are still fresh in the US and they keep being reopened, so it's of course natural for them to still hurt in the US.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#66

Post by fruffy »

bvandewalle wrote: post #19

I spent hours of my childhood reading Asterix, Tintin and Gaston [0]. Each had an amazing slightly different universe. Now living in the US it always amazes me how different the Comics culture over here is. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_(comics)

I also loved the Spirou comics. Le Petit Spirou was very "educational" as a kid.

Agree about the comic book culture, the only people I meet here in the US that have read Belgian comics seem to be other Europeans. But on the other hand, even though I was reading comics voraciously as a kid I knew nothing about DC and Marvel before the comic book movie craze started.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#67

Post by jordigh »

jacquesm wrote: post #61
markvdb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the original French ones are hilariously funny. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters for their meaning. I especially like "Abraracourcix" and "Assurancetourix".

My personal favorite is Idefix, the dog who is so imprinted on Obelix he has to follow him.

The English translation of "Dogmatix" is the most perfect translation ever. It kept the original meaning and even introduced a new pun.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#68

Post by fruffy »

jordigh wrote: post #64
conradfr wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean Asterix is also slightly incorrect and insensitive about a lot of European people ... and we love it.

Not everyone loved it. Astérix and the Goths was an early and very unfavourable depiction of the Germans as militaristic and ruthless, written with WW2 still fresh in mind. The Germans did not like this early strip. Goscinny and Uderzo seemed to regret this early portrayal, as Goths in latter Astérix strips were depicted more sympathetically. My point here is that "political correctness" has a point. Of course most E…

That's funny, I am German and that comic book was always one of my favourites. I never made the connection that it was supposed to be demeaning or that there was a controversy around it. I always took it as being cheeky like Asterix in Britain.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#69

Post by jordigh »

shaneos wrote: post #11

I read all of them over and over again as a child, then one more full reading in my 20s. They were even better as an adult. One of the oddities is that the names in English are actually much funnier than the original French names, e.g. Unhygienix the fishmonger, Getafix the druid, Fullyautomatix who makes the weapons. These two authors brought so many hours, days and years of joy. A life well lived

I used to read them in Spanish in Mexico, and I'm sad to say the early Spanish translations were pretty awful. A lot of them were done by Spaniards that apparently did not understand the puns, so they would just repeat the French names without offering any kind of translation. A lot of other jokes were translated without being apparently understood to the point where it was completely nonsensical in Spanish. It wasn't until I later learned French that I could appreciate the jokes in the names.

There was also a problem that the Spanish translations were very inconsistent and between one book to another characters would have different names.

For a while I envied the superior English translation. I wish we had gotten something as good in Spanish.

Re: Albert Uderzo has died

#70

Post by DoreenMichele »

tombert wrote: post #8

The Asterix comics really never caught on in the US, so I sadly have not read any of them, but multiple people that I respect have told me that I really need to check them out. To someone who is almost completely unfamiliar with the material, what would be a good place to start?

I haven't read them. When I was a homeschooling parent, they were popular with some people covering either French or Latin as part of the homeschooling curriculum for their child.

I know some French and some Latin and my mother's a German immigrant. But I found it to be too steep a learning curve to get excited about, though I wanted to be interested because I wanted some way to further my study of French, among other things.

There are English language resources for helping you understand it, such as this which goes into explaining the Latin jokes, among other things:

https://www.everythingasterix.com/

That's not at all intended to be discouragement. I also feel like I've missed out, but that's not likely to ever be remedied. There's only so many hours in the day.

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