"By the big salmon!"
They are there.
»In a setting of a snowy forest and wooden huts, emerging from a yurt, a shaman welcomes three unusual characters, who came by sleigh: Asterix, Obelix and the druid Panoramix!
The box is of those which appear in the next album of the irreducible Gauls, the 39th of the series, whose release is scheduled for October 21.
It was unveiled on Monday during a press conference intended to make the fans' mouths a little more water, without however saying too much ...
The title had been known for several months: “Asterix and the Griffon”, a legendary animal with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle.
Today, we know a little more.
The beast will be an opportunity to respect the tradition desired by the creators: an album in the village, a travel album.
This time, direction the country of the Sarmatians.
“It is a people who really existed but whose exact location we do not know.
We therefore created an imaginary territory between Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan…, tells the screenwriter, Jean-Yves Ferri, who signs his 5th volume on heroes.
They are the people furthest from Rome surrounded by fantasies and fears… This idea made it possible to take the characters to the outskirts of the world, in the settings of large snow-covered spaces, a little strange.
"
A trio of "bad guys": Dansonjus, Jolicursus and Terinconus
But why the hell go so far? The reason is simple: Cékankondine, friend of Panoramix, finds himself there, in bad shape. It must be said that cohorts of Romans also left due east, in these unknown and icy regions. With one objective: to capture a griffin, animal totem of the Sarmatians. Caesar dreams, to further consolidate his power, to present one to the circus in Rome. In the midst of this often terrified troop, a trio of "bad guys": Dansonjus, the chief centurion, Jolicursus, the gladiator specializing in animal training, and Terinconus, the geographer. And as in all Asterix, you need caricatures, the latter takes the features of Michel Houellebecq, author in particular of "the Map and the Territory" ...
One of the characters on the album, Terinconus, is inspired by the writer Michel Houellebecq.
LP / Olivier Corsan
Another tradition respected in this new opus: the evocation, as subtle as possible, of the great social debates through Gallic stories.
Here, for example, the relationship with nature.
“The Sarmatians are a people very respectful of their environment while the Romans arrive like
nags
with the sole objective of capturing an animal.
There is also a little the idea of global warming, in any case that nature can take revenge for what it is made to undergo ”, evokes the scenario writer.
Finally, lost in the steppes, the Romans seem to easily indulge in conspiracy ...
Read also Ave, Asterix!
That summer day in 1959 when the famous Gaul was born in an HLM in Bobigny
To discover more, and to judge the quality of this creation, it will be necessary to wait until October 21.
But already, “Asterix and the Griffon” is shaping up to be a new editorial phenomenon.
The previous volume, “La Fille de Vercingétorix”, sold over 2.3 million copies in France, a record, and 5 million worldwide, an increase of 7% for Asterix.
And the publisher does not despair of doing even better with his magical animal, the griffin.
LP / Olivier Corsan
"Asterix and the Griffon"
, by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad, Ed. Albert René, 48 pages, 9.99 euros.
In bookstores on October 21.
