By Toutatis!
Here's Asterix and Obelix ready for a new adventure.
While the first trailer for the film The Middle Empire was broadcast last night on TF1, the designer Fabrice Tarrin, a great admirer of Albert Uderzo, offers us the exclusive cover of his transposition into an illustrated album.
Read also
Asterix and Obelix - the Middle Empire
announced for next year
In this large image, we discover an Asterix who valiantly pulls a rickshaw inside which are seated Obelix, Dogmatix and a young and pretty Chinese woman whose name we do not know.
In the background, the Great Wall of China stands out against a backdrop of blue sky and mountainous landscapes.
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The film's plot summary states soberly:
"A chariot arrives at the Gallic village with Princess Fu Yi, only daughter of Emperor Han Xuandi, who came to ask for help after the coup d'etat of the malevolent prince Deng Qin. , who overthrew the Empress.
The reputation of the irreducible Gauls is known as far away as Shanghai...»
The young Chinese princess Fu Yi came to ask Asterix and Obelix for help after the malicious prince Deng Qin's coup d'etat overthrew the empress.
Albert René / Hachette 2022.
“The young Chinese princess is therefore called Fu Yi,
specifies the designer.
She was sent by her mother Bru Yi on a mission to seek help from Asterix and Obelix.
When I was offered to transpose the script of the film to make an illustrated album, I immediately chose to disregard the images of the feature film by Guillaume Canet.
It was a difficult exercise.
But I wanted to remain faithful to the graphic codes of Albert Uderzo's drawing.
The draftsman Fabrice Tarrin hard at work, sitting at his drawing table.
Vincent NGUYEN for Figaro Magazine
On the cover of this new album, we find the traditional atmosphere of the adventures of Asterix and Obelix, when they never went to China.
“It was a real difficulty
, admits the designer.
While remaining very respectful of Uderzo's style, I had to invent a China that is not in the albums.
Even if it took me out of my comfort zone, it was brilliant and exhilarating to design a whole new universe where the characters of Uderzo and Goscinny evolve.
»
A golden dragon on the handles of the rickshaw.
Albert René / Hachette 2022.
What appears on the cover in particular are the two small golden dragons on the handles of the rickshaw.
“Albert Uderzo loved adding animal heads,
underlines Fabrice Tarrin,
that's why I had this idea.
This is also how I added the red Chinese lamp to the back of the cart.
»
The accomplice “check” between Idéfix and Obélix... Albert René /Hachette 2022.
What we also notice on the image is this small complicit gesture between Obélix and Dogmatix.
“It wasn't in the script,
smiles Fabrice Tarrin,
but I had the idea of drawing Obélix and Dogmatix doing a 'chek'.
This underlines the complicity that exists between Idéfix and his master Obélix.
More generally, the two heroes are happy to go on an adventure with Asterix.
The image seems to symbolize a happy state of mind that implies something like: "We're going to have fun!"..."
In this image, Asterix is very determined, he is leading the adventure.
Albert René / Hachette 2022.
As for Asterix, he is shown in the front of the image, resolutely pulling the cart over the Great Wall of China.
“I did several cover tests,
confides Fabrice Tarrin,
because Asterix and Obelix take turns during the adventure.
But I quickly realized that this image was the funniest.
Asterix is very determined there, he's leading the adventure, and that's fine.
»
Perhaps amateurs will realize this, but the artist decided to treat this cover in the old fashioned way, working it with gouache and brushes.
“Instead of using the graphic palette,
he analyzes,
I preferred to find a more classic approach.
This is an old tradition of Franco-Belgian comics.
But I observe that it comes back more and more at the moment among cartoonists.
The gouache work on drawing paper adds a charm, an authenticity, a warmth that tends to disappear with digital processing...
»
"The album
Asterix and Obelix The Middle Empire
which appears on February 1, 2023 jointly with the release of Guillaume Canet's film will be printed in more than 150,000 copies for France,
concludes Céleste Surugue, general manager of Albert-René editions.
The album will benefit from a print run of around half a million copies for Europe...
” By Bélénos, the sky is still far from falling on the heads of our dear irreducible Gauls!