New author, new Asterix album: Veggie Day instead of roast wild boar

Eat less wild boar? Asterix and Obelix face new challenges in their new comic album. A trend towards a healthy lifestyle and mindfulness is spreading – and more and more residents of the Gallic village are interested in the movement “The White Iris”.

This is also the title of the 40th volume, which will be published in October, as the French publisher Albert René announced on Monday. Suddenly there are Gauls in the village who refuse to eat wild boar – a real shock for Obelix.

I am not a New Age believer.

Asterix author Fabrice Caro

“I’m not a supporter of the New Age, but I don’t want to criticize this movement at all,” says the Frenchman Fabrice Caro aka Fabcaro, author of the new Asterix volume.

He is merely dedicating himself to a contemporary phenomenon in a humorous way, similar to how the author duo René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo dealt with capitalism, for example.

“The White Iris” is a mindset that first originated in Rome and was then discovered by Caesar, who wanted to use it to give his soldiers a new lease of life. “It only takes one iris to light up the forest,” is one of her rather banal wisdoms.

“Five berries and vegetables a day”

Fabcaro, who tells the adventures of the two Gauls for the first time, had promised fans that he would remain true to the characters. A previously released excerpt showed Asterix and Obelix happily tucking into a roast boar, but getting unsolicited diet tips from other villagers.

While the fishmonger Mietnix recommends “five berries and vegetables a day”, the blacksmith Automatix advises regular physical activity.

Fabcaro is the fourth author of the successful series after the two inventors Goscinny and Uderzo and most recently Jean-Yves Ferri, who according to the publisher now wants to devote himself to another project. Didier Conrad is also on board as a draftsman.

“The White Iris” is scheduled for release on October 26. The 39th volume “Asterix and the Griffin”, in which Asterix and Obelix search for a mythical animal, sold 1.5 million copies in France in 2021 within two months.

It was the last volume that Asterix co-inventor Albert Uderzo accompanied, at least in the beginning. Uderzo died in March 2020 at the age of 92. “Asterix” is the most successful French comic and has been translated into more than 110 languages ​​and dialects. (AFP)

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