“Asterix Generations” In English!

Here’s a bit of news I didn’t expect I’d ever be reporting.

Papercutz is publishing an English-language edition of “Asterix Generations” on September 17, 2024.

This book is a collection of tributes to the series by a broad spectrum of European artists, many of which have work that I’ve reviewed here before. It’s a super exciting bunch of artists, many of whom will be introduced to a North American audience for the first time with this book. I’m almost more excited at that prospect than I am about seeing this book in English.

I do wonder if anyone will get some of the jokes. I cheered when The Old Geezers showed up, but I’m the only one in North America who knows that series, even after Ablaze published it in English. (And there are two French movies based on the series, neither of which came over to America, once again proving that a movie based on a comic isn’t a guarantee of more comics sales…)

I own a copy of the original French edition of the book. I reviewed it here, and I recommend clicking through that link to see some of the art samples that might appear in the book.

“Might”?

Pardon my cynicism, but I’m not getting rid of my French edition of the book for several reasons:

1. I don’t know what the size of this book will be. The Amazon listing (yes, that’s an affiliate link) doesn’t have the page measurements, nor does Papercutz’s page. Even though this is an art book, I doubt they’ll go any bigger than their current size for Asterix books.
2. Will all the contributions to the book make it? Papercutz has a lengthy list of artists in their credits for the book. I haven’t cross-checked the whole list, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s page doesn’t make it past the North American sensitivity filter. (Milo Manara’s contribution is relatively tame, don’t worry.) Neither listing for the book includes a page count, so I can’t even judge from there.
3. There are also plenty of cameos of other creators’ characters in this book. I assume the rights were cleared in the original contracts for the French edition of the book, but you never know where lawyers might come in to ruin some fun.

On the other hand, for Asterix fans who aren’t slighly obsessive like myself and who haven’t built up a 1600+ DuoLingo streak to learn a new language so they can read French comics someday, this is most likely the only way to enjoy this book. There’s still a ton of good art and stories in it and some wonderful creators.

I’m just the old man shaking his fist at the clouds.

Wait, Will There Be More?

There are a couple of other tribute books out there.

“Asterix and His Friends” was a tribute to Uderzo on his 80th birthday. It featured nearly three dozen European creators drawing their characters meeting up with Uderzo or Uderzo’s creations. Stuart and Kathryn Immonen even did a short story for it.

I’m not sure this book would translate as easily as “Generations” to English fans. The Lucky Luke story includes American Indians, so that’s almost a guaranteed cut. Also, Uncle Scrooge is in one story, and I’m sure Disney would give such a reprinting/translating grief. They might have been OK with it in a birthday tribute story in a one-off book, but further printings might be trickier.

You can read my review here and see some of the art samples therein.

There’s another Uderzo tribute book called “Uderzo Sketched By His Friends” that’s sort of similar, from 1996. I never did a review of it, but it did feature a number of stories starring Uderzo drawn by some Franco-Belgian artists, most of whom I’m unfamiliar with. But I loved a lot of it. I think I just got tired of translating all the text, page by page, to read it. I’m much better with reading French now. I should give it another try.

You can see some drawings of Uderzo from that book in “The Many Faces of Uderzo,” which I think is the only instance in the history of this website that’s done in the form of a gallery you have to scroll through.