In Review: Iznogoud Rockets To Stardom

The despicable, but highly amusing, Grand Vizier of Baghdad who will go to any length to rid himself of his Caliph so that he can take his place may be going rather further than before in his latest book, Izogoud Rockets To Stardom.

The book consists as usual of a collection of short stories - in the title story Iznogoud purchases Baghdad's first space rocket to send the Caliph on a one way mission to the stars; in Iznogoud's Pupil he becomes the teacher to a neighbouring Sultan's son in an attempt to force that Sultan to attack Baghdad and depose the Caliph; in The Tartar's Talisman a necklace makes the wearer's dreams come true but not their daydreams only their uncontrollable sleeping dreams; in My Hat a straw boater turns its wearers mad; and finally in Dark Designs Iznogoud takes drawing lessons since if he rips up a drawing made with his magic pencil, the subject of that drawing disappears.

As ever Iznogoud's motives are always the same, remove the Caliph from power by any means possible to take his place which, unsurprisingly, he consistently fails to do. As each story begins with the status quo of the Caliph being in power and oblivious to Iznogoud's machinations, this is a book that could get boring very quickly. However, since it is written by Asterix's Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Jean Tabary, it does not and indeed remains surprisingly funny as Goscinny is able to come up with more outlandish and outrageous ways for Izongoud to attempt to depose his Caliph.

Of the five stories in the book two stand out for me - the title story of Iznogoud Rockets To Stardom and Dark Designs. The first shows how Goscinny took the world around him and incorporated it into the strip since this book was originally published in French in 1969 at the height of NASA's Apollo moon programme. The second is a long in-joke with Iznogoud being taught how to draw by the slow artist Tahbari Al Tardi who of course bears more than a passing resemblance to Tabary himself.

While it is the eighth Iznogoud title from Cinebook, this is a translation of the fifth French album Des Astres Pour Iznogoud which was originally published in English in the UK in 1980. Rene Goscinny passed away in 1977 and Tabary continued on with the books himself until 2004 when the 27th title was published after which a 28th album was created by his children in 2008. Jean Tabary himself passed away earlier this year.

Iznogoud Rockets To Stardom continues the short, sharp, funny tales of the perennially frustrated Grand Vizier and are a good starting point for children for whom an Asterix book would be too long.

• There are more details of the current British Iznogoud books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the French Iznogoud books at the Tabary Editions website (in French).

• There are more details of Iznogoud around the world at the Iznogoud World website.

In Review: Iznogoud The Infamous

The Grand Vizier of Baghdad, who's one desire in life is "to be Caliph instead of the Caliph", returns in Iznogoud The Infamous, his seventh book published by Cinebook. Written by Asterix's Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Jean Tabary, this book was originally published as the French album Iznogoud l'Infâme in 1969 and has previously been published in the UK by Methuen in 1977.

As is usual for Iznogoud books, it consists of several different stories. In The Sinister Liquidator he persuades a water demon to dissolve the Caliph, but will there be enough water left in the bucket for the demon to live in by the time Iznogoud and his man-servant Wa'at Alahf trek across the desert and reach the palace? In The Invisible Menace Iznogoud attempts to make the Caliph invisible so that his people will forget about him. In The Unlucky Diamond Iznogoud's greed over the diamond backfires badly on him. In The Magic Doll an African witch doctor shows Iznogoud how to make a voodoo doll that he decides to use against the Caliph. Finally in The Mysterious Billposter Iznogoud imprisons the Caliph in an enchanted holiday poster.

Is there really anything new that can be said about each Iznogoud book? In each story the character's motivation is the same, he goes about his current method of achieving his task in the most extreme way, he fails, he suffers his comeuppance and by the next story the situation has defaulted back to the status quo again. It sounds repetitive and basically it is.

However these are stories written by Goscinny which means that while the motivation and outcome is repetitive, the methods Iznogoud employs to dethrone the Caliph are wild and wonderful and Tabary's artwork is equally wild and wonderful. Perhaps the best example in this book is in The Mysterious Billposter in which our main characters are pushed into a magical wall poster of a holiday beach from which they cannot escape and climbing the palm tree to the top of the poster's scene brings them back out of the hole they have just dug in the sand below themselves. It is all quite surreal but intriguing as to how they could finally escape.

Iznogoud The Infamous is a quick fun read for adults and, with its selection of short stories, would be a good introduction to humorous graphic novels for youngsters who as yet would find the 48 pages of an Asterix story too long.

There are more details of the current British Iznogoud books on the Cinebook website.

There are more details of the French Iznogoud books at the Tabary Editions website (in French).

There are more details of Iznogoud around the world at the Iznogoud World website.

In Review: Iznogoud And The Magic Carpet

"I want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph!"

Baghdad's grand Vizier Iznogoud is an arrogant, conniving man with ideas above his station and that station is as number two to the placid and rather dim Caliph Haroun Al Plassid. Fortunately for everyone concerned the Caliph is oblivious to Iznogoud's, and his ineffectual manservant Wa'at Alahf's, attempts to dethrone him.

The humorous attempts of Iznogoud to become Caliph were written by Asterix author Rene Goscinny and illustrated by artist Jean Tabary beginning in Record magazine in 1962 before moving into Pilote in 1968. Jean Tabary continued the series after Goscinny's death and to date there have been 28 albums published and it has been made into a cartoon series and even a live action film.

Iznogoud And The Magic Carpet was originally published in French in 1973 as Le Tapis Magique and has been translated into English before appearing in the UK in 1980 published by Egmont/Methuen and again in the short lived Iznogoud Monthly in 1996. Unlike his Asterix books which were one story per book, Goscinny wrote the Iznogoud books as multiple short stories so as well as The Magic Carpet this book also includes Incognito, The Tiger Hunt and The Box Of Souvenirs.

In The Magic Carpet Iznogoud attempts to give the Caliph a magic carpet which will transport its rider to China and not bring him back again. In Incognito Iznogoud persuades the Caliph to dress as a beggar and go out into the city to hear what his subjects really think of him while, at the same time, ordering the palace guards to imprison any beggars that appear at the palace gates. The Tiger Hunt has Iznogoud persuading the Caliph that he needs a tiger skin rug and that the best way to get one is to attempt to hunt a tiger himself. In The Box Of Souvenirs a Japanese tourist arrives at the palace with a camera that reduces objects and people to mere photographs.

The basic premise of each story is the same, to eliminate the Caliph so that Iznogoud can take his place, and so the concept has the potential to get old very quickly. However Goscinny's writing is of a good enough standard that the reader's interest is retained often by using the national stereotypes that are also common in the Asterix books. Here we have Japanese tourists with cameras and the haggling of middle eastern market traders taken to extremes. For the British reader the story of the magic carpets may be the most interesting with the Scottish(!) magic carpet seller named Khaledonyahn. Tabary's artwork is much looser than Uderzo's is on the Asterix books but works for the stories of the manic Iznogoud and his depictions of life in the streets of Baghdad are particularly detailed.

Any good translation of a humorous story depends heavily on the translator and the Iznogoud stories, which are so full of puns, perhaps depend more than most on a good translation. Unusually for a Cinebook title there is no translator credited and no modern copyright on the translation. The original British translations of the Iznogoud books were by the excellent team of Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge and if this isn't their translation then it certainly feels like it and that is a very good thing.


Iznogoud And The Magic Carpet hits the mark well with its dastardly plots, witty puns and often manic artwork.

There are more details of the current British Iznogoud books on the Cinebook website.

There are more details of the French Iznogoud books at the Tabary Editions website (in French).

There are more details of Iznogoud around the world at the Iznogoud World website.