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"Made in Belgium :: Books"
"The Best Belgian Autors and Books about Belgium"
Search online for books, book reviews and summary,
novels and romans, discount on magazines subscriptions
Many history books, order and buy online at discount prices.
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"Asterix in Belgium : Biography and Books"
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Asterix in Belgium is the 24th comic book of the Asterix series, by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. In this edition, the main characters Asterix and Obelix travel to Belgium to prove that their villagers are in fact the bravest men of Gaul, and not the Belgians as Caesar stated.
The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Since the death of Goscinny in 1977, Uderzo has continued the series alone. The books follow a village of ancient Gauls resisting the Roman occupation. The villagers use a magic potion, brewed by their druid to get superhuman strength.
The humor of the Asterix is typically French and uses many caricatures and stereotypes of the European nations and French regions. Even though the stories reflect life in the 1st century BC fairly accurate, many people and things are borrowed from 20th century real life. For example, all the tribes are satirized prototypes of their modern counterparts, or resemble famous people of our times. The popularity of the strips is that it has comic elements for all ages: young children like the visual gags, while adults appreciate the cleverness of the allusions and puns that sparkle throughout the texts.
Asterix in Belgium is the twenty-fourth volume of the Asterix comic book series. In this book, Caesar states that the Belgians are the bravest enemies he’s ever faced (historically really stated by Caesar). However, until then the village in which Asterix and Obelix live has been the greatest terror of the Romans. To prove that they are indeed the bravest men of Gaul, they travel to Belgium and propose a competition. The contest consists of destroying Roman camps.
The entire battle between Caesar and the Belgians is a parody on the Battle of Waterloo. One frame features ‘The Peasant Wedding Feast’ by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The authors ridicule the Belgian way of speaking French, which made the English translation a little less satisfying. Other ‘borrowed’ items from this album are the detectives Dupond and Dupont (Thomson and Thompson) from Hergé's famous comic book series Tintin. The two characters are drawn in Hergé's typical ligne claire style, which is atypical for Uderzo. Hergé was Belgian and Asterix has also appeared in Tintin (Tintin and the Picaros). This also references the fact that Belgium is one of the most important countries in the field of comic strips.
About two-thirds through the creation of ‘Asterix in Belgium’, the comic was interrupted by the untimely death of Goscinny from a heart attack in 1977. Uderzo did not want to complete the book, but his publisher, Georges Dargud took the case to court, and Uderzo was ordered to finish the book. In the story of Asterix the weather becomes rainy from that point on, and never clears up for the entire album. On the last page of the book Uderzo drew a rather sad rabbit, symbolizing his feelings. The book's success helped encourage Uderzo to continue the series.
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