Episode 12: Should Asterix Surrender?
This edition of the Pipeline Comics Podcast is a reading of this essay, published a year and a half earlier on this site.
That’s really all the show notes you need — a link to that story. If you want to read more of my thoughts on Asterix, check out The Asterix Agenda.
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Tell a friend! Tell ALL your friends! Even your enemies. They might be bad people, but they still don’t deserve to be deprived of good comics!
When I commented on the original essay, I did not mention that surrendering is a very touchy subject for French people, especially in the 1950-60s when Asterix was created, the backlash of WWII was still very fresh, we were still bearing the stigmata of this illegal Vichy government giving up the country to the Germans, the resistance having to organize itself in hiding.
Your essay is based on the assumption that a subject like this one is evaluated with reasoning and cold hard facts. It never is, in reality. Here we are dealing only with feelings and emotions. Asterix is based on the pride of the French people, stubborn as we are, willing to sacrifice anything for this idealization of independence, pushing it to the extreme of our spirit, that the potion symbolizes.
Also, a good comedy series build on high-stakes drama is always better than a chronicle of mildly happy people.