Asterix Omnibus Vol. 1: Collects Asterix the Gaul, Asterix and the Golden Sickle, and Asterix and the Goths (1)

My husband used to have a bunch of these in French from when he was a kid. My French was never good enough to read them, so when I saw this, I had to read it. I am not familiar with the show, so the only thing I knew about it was that my husband enjoyed it when he was a kid. But the first chapter in this book gives you the basics, so not being familiar with the story is not an issue! Basically, the Romans have captured all of Gaul with the exception of one little village that is fighting for all they're worth. Asterix is a particularly wily member of this village and his constant companion Obelix is basically the muscle. With the help of all this cunning and intelligence and a secret potion that gives the village strength (Obelix's is permanent because he fell into the potion as a child), they're able to fight off the Romans. There is plenty of humor and puns (ah yes, you either love them or you hate them) and the illustrations are wonderful. I'll definitely be interested in a full copy when this edition is published.Thanks to NetGalley and Papercutz for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to "Jeopardy" for having "Asterix" as the question to two questions last month. I had to look it up and got a good laugh from the cartoons on YouTube. Written in the 1960's, this comic about Asterix, Obelix, and the magic potion that gives them the strength to battle Julius Caesar's legions has some stereotyping typical of the period, but I'm mature enough to overlook it and not get offended. Vol. 2 and 3 arrived yesterday, and after skimming though them I can see that they are just as funny. Pay attention to the names, the chief of Asterix's village is Vitalstatisitx - vital statistics! LOL!

It's a Great story I remember from Sunday Comics. I really appreciate the series and the Asterix in Britain movie

I had these books from the spanish collection, and this version has the same qualify. Great idea having three books in one.

Apparently as Papercutz has been cornering the market with the Smurfs reprints and new stories, they've now ventured into the classic French comic known as Asterix. For those unaware, the tale goes something like this, in 50 BCE (or BC for you purists), Julius Caesar has conquered all of Gaul (known as France today), except for one small area, a village where a group of Gauls have held out against them. This, of course, is thanks to a magic potion, which gives a person superhuman strength. Which one exception, Obelix, whom unfortunately had fallen into a cauldron of potion when he was a baby, and it had a permanent effect upon him.Originally, I learned about the Gauls from my library, when I had located a hardbound 'Asterix and Cleopatra,' and began ordering the original UK publications from my local comic shop, and later on Amazon. With that said, I've loved the original translations, since they kept the names of the characters intact, with the exclusion of the American Edition of 'Asterix and the Olympic Games.'First off, the positive notes, the hardcover editions are well bound, and the colors are done well this time where you don't end up seeing items seep through the translations and such. And despite some slight differences, Papercutz does manage to pull it off with the Americanized Version.Now for the not-so-positive: the books are slightly smaller than the UK/Europe editions, and the type is a bit smaller than usual, making it sometimes difficult reading the stories. My other beef is, once again, the druid, Getafix, gets another name change in this rendition. Whereas in the original American version of 'Asterix and the Olympic Games,' he is called Magigimmix, here in this version he's referred to as 'Panoramix.'Though not anything really major, if you end up getting the animated versions from Prime, your kids might wonder why the druid's not called the other names. But on a sidenote, the Papercutz version did retain Vitalstatistix and Cacofonix's names in this one, so it's a bit of an equitable trade-off. So if you don't mind the bit of the 'name game,' you'll still enjoy the books.Volume 1 contains three Graphic Novel tales, which were the original starter tales of the series.'Asterix the Gaul' - The original tale which started it all, where we see the basic original characters, Asterix, Obelix and Panoramix (Getafix) appear and we learn of the basic plotline to the series itself. As with all beloved characters, the designs are a bit off but as series itself progressed, the designs started evolving into the ones we know and love.In this tale, Centurion Crismus Bonus, miffed how his army can be bested by one Gaul, let alone a village, schemes on discovering their secret. Planting a spy into the village, he learns about the magic potion, and decides on capturing the Druid. Deciding to force Panoramix into divulging the secret, Crismus Bonus intends on using the potion to overthrow Caesar and take over Rome. However, he underestimates the cleverness of both the Druid and Asterix. In this one, we don't really see Obelix too much in it. But the next tale makes up for it.'Asterix and the Golden Sickle' - When Panoramix accidentally breaks his golden sickle, he requests Asterix and Obelix to go to Lutetia, and purchase one from Obelix's cousin, Metallurgix. Regrettably, they stumble upon a mystery, as Metallurgix is nowhere to be found, and they must deal with the unscrupulous Clovogarlix and Navishtrix who are trafficking golden sickles.In this one, Obelix does appear, but lacking from the group is Dogmatix, who won't officially appear in the series until Volume 2. But getting to the last story.'Asterix and the Goths' - Similar to the first tale, but with a different spin on it. Shortly after the events of the Golden Sickle, Asterix and Obelix accompany their Druid to the local convention at the Forest of Carnutes. Regrettably the people wanting Panoramix happen to be the Goths, since they secretly spy on the convention and learn about the magic potion. Naturally their chief, Metric, wants to obtain the potion to invade and seize Rome. After capturing the Druid, Asterix and Obelix pursue them with hilarious results, and with the help of Panoramix, causes much chaos with the Goths themselves.Interestingly enough, this is the first of the series where different characters' voices are used with unique typefaces, in this case, the Goths speak with an Old English font, a joke on the fact this was used for films showing Germany or Romanian provinces. Also one of the rare moments the Gauls implement the magic potion for something other than having them bash their enemies.Overall, this is definitely an excellent volume and rendition of the series itself. Despite the slight differences with translations and name changes, the stories are great and I don't think anything is really lost between the two. A great way to also introduce young readers to Asterix, while offering a means for protecting your original collection. Definitely recommend getting these books just to add to your library,

Great book as usual. This is the 6th I've bought in this series from this publisher. The only thing was the corner of the book cover was dented. So I'm disappointed about that. Maybe someone dropped it. The cover is a thick and strong cardboard, but when the book arrived the corner was bent and soft. :( That's the only reason for 4 stars.

My elementary schooler loved this book. He is asked to read at home each day and is allowed to choose his own book. I purchased this book as the first one for him to try in the series. He finished the entire book in just two days because he liked it so much. He even chose to write about it for a school project. The characters were memorable and he was excited to tell me all about it.

My grand daughter loves this. Three stories. Well illustrated. The history needs explaining for most kids.

Amazing book

J'aime beaucoup cette nouvelle édition d'Astérix en anglais américain

These were the first graphic novels I ever owned (so many decades ago). The collection is long-overdue and it's clear that the graphic novels have been compiled and produced by people who are fans who know how to publish quality material.

Kids love itT.

I got the Kindle edition of this omnibus because I already own all the hardcovers and just wanted something to put on the Kindle. Also, I figured the "remastered" versions in the Omnibus, with better colouring, would be nice.The colouring and reworking of the original art does not disappoint. It's nice to see the stories with character and uniform colourings looking more like the more modern volumes.Unfortunately these Omnibuses, at least the Kindle editions, feature the American translations instead of the British English ones I knew and loved. Character names are different (IE Getafix being called Panoramix), the place names are different (especially the Roman camps - no more Totorum Compendium, Aquarium, Laudanum) but even worse, the American translations are "dumbed down". Gone are the clever wordplays of Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge. In their places are boring and mundane translations with not so much as a nod to the clever wordplay the originals were known for. Even the various latin tags found throughout the originals are dumbed down - every single one is called out with an asterisk (or maybe "asterix") and explained. It feels like somebody is holding your hand while reading it to you, but worse, it feels like that person has no interest whatsoever in the stories and simply translated word for word.The effect is that the books go from timeless comics that older people can enjoy to bland, humourless children's books. The magic is gone.