-
They never found a writer to match René Goscinny after he died, so the earlier ones are the funniest. But all good.
They did a great job on the translations. Can testify that Asterix and the Goths is equally funny in French, English and German.
itsbruce-
Yeah, the first 15-20 were the best. I bought a few of the French versions as an adult to refresh my French - still enjoyed them, but my language skills weren't good enough to get all the wordplay.
-
Now that you say this, read a German book on Asterix and Obelix in the seventies published by Dumont that made a point how much of Goscinny’s humour is so brilliant it is untranslatable.
-
I agree to an extent--Goscinny proved irreplaceable--, but I think none of the volumes after 'Asterix in Belgium' are worth much. Uderzo himself never produced even a half-decent story, and some of the later volumes are utterly shit and make me wish he'd just ended it when Goscinny died and started a new series with another writer. I think the value of the series is much diminished by his stubborn continuation of it with vastly inferior material (as it is by the awful films). Oh well. At his best, Goscinny was rip-roaringly funny. My favourite by far is still 'Asterix the Legionary'.
As for languages, I've read most of them (the first 24) in French, German, and English, and I think the German translations are generally better than the original French, with the exception of some of the names, and the French is better than the English versions. I don't say that because I'm from Germany (I much prefer 'Tintin' in French, for example), but because the German translators of the time really did an astonishingly good job. (This is generally no longer the case.)
Anyway, RIP Uderzo, at the height of his powers a superb comic book artist rivalled only by the likes of Franquin. By the time of the last volumes with Goscinny, he had brought the figures to perfection, and the stories are totally amazing to look at just for his drawing style. I absolutely loved 'Asterix' when I was little, and I still like it very much.
kl
fussballclub
Oliver Schick
This makes me very sad - they remain amongst the funniest, most uplifting books I've ever read.