Asterix game in the works

A new browser-based game based on the hugely popular Asterix series created by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny is in the works.


Already one of the best-known comic series in the world with thousands of UK fans, the new browser-based game is a project from Deutsche Telekom, Les Éditions Albert René and SEE Games, as DT increases its focus on the development and publishing of proprietary games and extending its portfolio of in-house game productions.

The game is being developed by Sproing in Vienna, which has many years of experience in the development of international productions, and has created major hits in the browser-based game space, including SkyRama, a massively popular management game.

“To develop an interactive adventure with such a legendary brand is an exciting challenge for us,” explains Marko Hein, Vice President Games at Deutsche Telekom. “We are working hard so that we will soon be able to offer devoted fans a unique experience and breathe new 'interactive' life into Astérix. This game is definitely the flagship of a range of products which will get Deutsche Telekom started in the growing area of game publishing.”

With 350 million comics sold, eight animated and three live-action movies produced, the Astérix Adventures are famous all over the world.

“Working with Deutsche Telekom as the publisher of the browser game is particularly groundbreaking for us.," says Martin Biallas, CEO of SEE Games. "Their coverage and marketing skills at a global level will guarantee that this new Astérix adventure will be a huge success for fans around the world.

"The Astérix online game is a flagship for SEE’s newest Hollywood-based product line, and we are proud to have Deutsche Telekom as a partner.”

Fans will soon be able to find Astérix as a free-to-play browser game also on the Deutsche Telekom games platform Gamesload.

 

Comics @ Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival

Hot on the heels of the Glasgow Film Festival with its impressive comics strand comes Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival with an equally impressive selection of comics names appearing over the course of the festival's nine days.

After his appearances at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last year, political cartoonist Steve Bell returns to Scotland to talk about his own work while no Glasgow festival these days would be complete without an appearance by writer Mark Millar. The last Saturday of the festival is busiest with DC Thomson writer and editor David Donaldson returning to Aye Write with his popular Broons and Oor Wullie team quiz, cartoonist David Shrigley talking about his work and, perhaps the highlight of the comics events, Asterix translator Anthea Bell will be talking about fifty years of the famous Gaul.

All the Aye Write! events take place in the Mitchell Library near Glasgow's city centre. Tickets for each event are £8 for adults (£6 for concessions) and more details and booking instructions are on the Aye Write! website.

Steve Bell
Saturday 5 March
1400-1500
In a talk illustrated by his brilliant cartoons he covers politics from the death of New Labour to the arrival of the ConLibDemolition. Steve Bell is our funniest cartoonist on politics, media and life. In a talk illustrated by his brilliant cartoons he covers politics from the death of New Labour to the arrival of the ConLibDemolition. Marvel at Gordon Brown’s progress from saviour of the world to the Rochdale disaster, ogle Silvio Berlusconi’s false breasts, celebrate the end of Dubya and cheer as Obama bounds on stage, thrill at the three party leaders’ hairstyles and gasp as Nick Clegg is buried beneath a humping heap of toads.​

Mark Millar
Monday 7 March
1930-2030
Multi award-winning writer Mark Millar has revamped the X-Men, launched a number one Spider-Man title, brought Captain America into the 21st century and made Superman a communist. He is the writer of the US industry’s biggest-selling comic book of the past decade, Marvel’s Civil War. His comic series Wanted and Kick-Ass were sold as movies before the first issues hit the stands. He talks about his work and takes questions from the audience.

The Broons and Oor Wullie: 75th Birthday
Saturday 12 March
1030-1130
Since 1936 The Broons and Oor Wullie have kept Scottish readers laughing at home and abroad. Now in the second quiz to be held at Aye Write!, (open to all the family) come and test your knowledge about our much loved characters, led by David Donaldson, scriptwriter of the The Broons and Oor Wullie for over three decades. Free and open to teams of no more than six. Prizes for the winners. Free tickets for this event are limited and only available from The Mitchell Library in person (Monday to Thursday 9am-8pm and Friday and Saturday 9am-5pm).

David Shrigley
Saturday 12 March
1700-1800
Harry Hill said ‘If you’re looking for a humour/art crossover, then David Shrigley’s stuff is spot on’. In What the Hell are You Doing?, Shrigley provides a beautifully designed and darkly comic collection of work, bringing together the best of his work, old and new. He talks about this work in a celebration of the surreal world of one of our finest contemporary artists, now living and working in Glasgow.

A Tribute To Asterix
Saturday 12 March
1700-1830
Asterix the Gaul is over 50 years old in 2011. All 34 books remain immensely popular across Europe and have been made into films and television series. Anthea Bell, translator of the Asterix books, provides a tour of the work, joined by Rob Shearman, author of the 2005 Doctor Who episode Dalek and huge fan and (another fan) Stuart Kelly of Scotland on Sunday. So, come and join Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix and others for ninety minutes of fun.

More details and booking instructions for all the events are on the Aye Write! website.

Druids secrets revealed in new Asterix book

A new Asterix book always attracts plenty of interest across Europe and we're sure Secrets de druides, released this week in French, will prove no exception.

In the new story, a lightning bolt has struck at the heart of the annual druids’ conference. This usually joyful reunion with its druidical competitions and punning festival, transmitted only by druid word of mouth (“Pass me the celt!”, “This food’s a bit sickle-y!”: you get the picture...), traditionally held in the Forest of Carnutes not far from Cenabum (Orleans), is troubled this year as these eminent wise men find themselves plagued by doubt....

Just think about it: Dubbelosix, the spy-druid working for Caesar, has taken it upon himself to reveal the source of the most wonderful druidical marvels by publishing a mysterious book of magic spells stolen from ancient archives. For the very first time, Secrets de druides will explain everything you wanted to know about the magic potions in Asterix’s Adventures but never dared to ask.

This just-released, hitherto unpublished and limited edition 48-page book (French version only for the time being) will be offered at all participating bookshops for the purchase of two Asterix albums. Inside, you will discover the perfect guide for the erudite druid, with:

• Druid magic: an annotated catalogue of all magic potions from the Asterix universe

• The druids’ network, bringing together the most famous druids and their communities of friends. These pages detail the many names of the most famous druids from the Asterix mythos across Europe and beyond

• The druid’s toolkit: all the utensils you need to prepare the very best potions

• Prepare for D Day by visiting the druidical version of the Virtual Village, Asterix.com. A special banner on the homepage presents Secrets de druides. And, even better, a special mini-site invites you to discover the most illustrious druids, as well as several pages from the new book and original wallpapers in “Panoramix” format.

Asterix © 2010 Les Éditions Albert René / Goscinny Uderzo

Asterix in Britain heads for the cinemas

Goodness gracious! A round of hot water for the entire Gaulish village! The long best-selling Asterix story, Asterix in Britain, is to become a movie.

Earlier this month, Les Editions Albert René and the Fidelite production company announced an agreement for a new feature-length film.

The fourth adaptation of the Asterix Adventures, Astérix chez les Bretons, to give it its French title, is to be directed by Laurent Tirard, who will also be co-writing the script with Grégoire Vigneron, based on the album.

The story sees the Romans invading Britain, but, like Gaul, one village still holds out against them. Asterix and Obelix cross the Channel to help the Britons, with plenty of digs at British culture along the way.

"Already produced as an animated film in 1986, Asterix in Britain is jam-packed with unforgettable scenes that we're dying to see in real-life action," say the Asterix team. "The excitement of Asterix and Obelix’s reunion at the Tower of London, an unexpected rugby match, an entire legion of wine-weary Romans, the delights of lukewarm beer and boiled boar with mint sauce, the exquisite care of the most impeccably kept lawn in the Ancient World, and the story of how tea became the Britons’ national beverage, thanks to Getafix’s well-meaning pranks....

Asterix co-creator Albert Uderzo holds this early Asterix album in high regard. “In my opinion, René Goscinny’s best album will always be Asterix in Britain, thanks to an extraordinary trick that only he could have come up with since he spoke English: transforming the Britons’ speech with an English sentence structure.”

Asterix in Britain was also superbly translated on its original release by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge and like many of the early books, is an indicator of how important a good translation is to the success of foreign albums in the UK market. For me, reading the original Asterix the Gaul as a kid, nothing beats the scene in which Getafix and Asterix enjoy a round of wordplay at the Romans' expense...

• Notes about some of the "in" and visual jokes in Asterix in Britain on The Asterix Annotations

• More about the first three live-action films adapted from the Asterix universe on the official Asterix web site

Félicitations - Anthea Bell OBE

Our belated congratulations to Anthea Bell for receiving her Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours list for "services to Literature and Literary Translations."

Anthea is best known to us for the English language translations of the Goscinny and Uderzo Asterix books along with her translating partner Derek Hockridge. However the duo have translated many more bandes dessinees albums than just the Asterix books, from the cowboy adventures of Lt Blueberry to the Arabian humour of Iznogoud (now published by Cinebook).

She discusses her work on the Asterix books in an excellent article on The Art Of Translation written for the British Council's website as well as her love of the character on the Asterix International website.

In addition to these comic strips she has also translated many novels into English and is interviewed at Writer Unboxed about her work translating Cornelia Funke’s children's novels from German into English.

However for us she will always be part of the translation team who turned a Gallic Bard, who's original name translated as "Comprehensive Insurance", into the wonderful Cacofonix.

New Asterix Tales on the Way

One of the longest-running gags in the Asterix books, created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, has been given a revamped 'origin story' treatment in a new Asterix book, already on sale in France and due for release by Hodder in the UK in June.

New Asterix stories are also in the works for release later this year after the character's co-creator Albert Uderzo signed a deal with French publisher Hachette-Livre.

First released in English back in 1989, How Obelix Fell Into the Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy reveals how Asterix' clumsy friend and menhir delivery man Obelix ended up in a cauldron of magic potion and was permanently imbued with super strength.

Ever since he fell into the magic potion, there has been something mysterious about Obelix… What was it that happened exactly? How did Obelix manage to escape druid Getafix's eagle eye and taste that magic beverage?

René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo first explained the mystery in 1965, in Issue 291 of the French comic magazine Pilote, in a text story illustrated by Albert Uderzo, which lifted the veil on the childhood of our Asterix and Obelix and, for the very first time, introduced the pair's mamy fans fans to their parents.

How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy reappeared in album form in 1989 after Albert Uderzo, having reread the text with nostalgia, decided the text deserved a richer set of illustrations. That album, re-published in French this month to mark the 20th anniversary of the story's first album publication, is the latest release in an extensive program of "re-mastering" of the Asterix albums and features a new cover immortalizing the moment before the fall,

Narrated by Asterix in person, the story offers up legions of scoops and unforgettable images. We learn, for example, that Obelix was a frail, timid and bullied child, who was constantly taken to task by his classmates.

• In December 2008, Albert Uderzo finally decided to entrust Asterix's future to publisher Hachette Livre, paving the way for new Asterix stories. Describing Hchetter as "a great publisher, financially stable, and capable of guaranteeing Asterix international renown and continuity, the move was also approved by Anne Goscinny, René Goscinny's daughter, who considers that this was "the best way to guarantee the work's continuity".

Uderzo is now working on an album of new Asterix stories, to be published on 22 October as part of the celebrations commemorating the 50 years since Asterix was first created in the pages of the Pilote magazine on 29 October 1959. Uderzo has also revealed he has an idea for a new 44 page new Asterix story.

• How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy is released in June in the UK. Available via amazon.co.uk

• Take a look at the original pencil drawing by Albert Uderzo for the new cover of "How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy" on the official web site

• Try your luck in an Asterix Quiz on the official Asterix web site and win a copy of the "How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion When He Was A Little Boy" album