Papercutz Brings Asterix to America. Finally. Should I Worry?
This is the news we’ve all been waiting for, right? I should be excited, right?
News broke today that Papercutz picked up the Asterix license with an “ambitious” plan to publish all of the albums over the course of the next three years or so.
While this should be news I should cheer, I have to admit that my first reaction is one of worry. There’s so many ways this could go wrong.
Let’s start with the biggest one:
Re-Translating Asterix
Papercutz is doing their own, all-new English language translations. They’re not using Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge’s texts.
This is, to put it mildly, an act of utter hubris. Or chutzpah. Take your pick.
On the other hand, I can see some reasons for it. There are some minor British-isms in those translations that should be Americanized for an American publisher hoping to introduce Asterix to this market.
Papercutz publisher Terry Nantier specifically called that out in his New York Times interview, calling the translations “very good” but more British. I think he undersells the first point and oversells the second.
I suppose there are people who would be outraged that the guy making the Magic Potion is called “Getafix.” Honestly, the original French name, “Panoramix” is a pretty good one, too, even if it doesn’t have any relationship to the Druid’s job and feels defanged by comparison.
But, uhm, other than that, I can’t think of too many reasons why you’d need to write a new translation, and that’s what worries me. The original is amazing. It’s written by one of the best translators who ever lived — and that’s an opinion people outside of comics have, too. Anthea Bell was such a pro that she once learned a language in a weekend so she could translate a book she wanted to do.
Previous Translations Best Forgotten
This also isn’t the first time the English translation of Asterix has strayed. There actually are multiple other instances of this behavior.
The most notable one happened in the 80s and 90s, when Robert Steven Caron translated all of five books in the series before giving up. For copyright reasons, he couldn’t use the Bell/Hockridge names for the characters.
I really hope Papercutz did a better job in negotiating this contract…. If they rename all of the characters, this might get absurd fast.
Also, some of the original translations of the material have already been rewritten (by Bell) to reflect some cultural sensitivities along the way. The accent of the black pirate, for example, was changed decades ago.
Change Isn’t Bad, But Can It Go Too Far?
Will they dumb it down too far? Is it a matter of making references that Americans will get? Or are we going to rewrite the book to simplify it for an American audience that doesn’t want to learn what “Alea Jacta Est” means?
Let’s face it, there’s a lot of obscure Latin phrases in the books that you won’t know unless you were an alter boy before Vatican II. Are we discouraging potential readers who will need to Google word balloons to get the jokes?
My biggest worry is that they’ll swap out French/British pop culture references from the 60s with American pop culture references from the 2010s. Let’s all hope Asterix doesn’t meet his ultimate foe in KimKardashianix.
This is a tough call. Asterix is very of its time in many ways. Why can’t it be of its time again today? Why are characters from 50 BC making references to singers from the 1960s OK, but from the 2010s wrong? Every country does its own translations and makes their own jokes to fit their own cultures. How beholden do we need to be to 1960s and 1970s France?
And at what cost?
Oh, and one other translation thing that’s a sign of the times: will they also rewrite the book to refer to its time frame as 50 B.C.E.?
I should probably stop giving them ideas now….
Of Course They’re Omnibi
I love individual albums, but I always knew that when Asterix made it to America, the publisher would go with the three-book collections format. That seems to be the way for a lot of series to go.
Cinebook did “Valerian and Laureline” that way when they were re-marketing the series for the movie crowd. They’re doing it now with Lucky Luke hardcover omnibi.
They do it also in another form with “Largo Winch,” where each story is two albums long. After the first couple stories, they moved there to publishing each pair of albums together as one book.
Papercutz has been doing it with the Smurfs, too. They started with smaller paperback single volumes, and then moved to the hardcovers collecting three of those books at a time.
Papercutz does a lot of book in individual book sizes (“Benny Breakiron,” “Dance Class,” etc.), too, but they can make them for under $10 that way, so it feels like a more agreeable price point for the younger market they aim at.
Dark Horse, IDW, and Magnetic Press all have examples of this publishing pattern as well.
I guess that’s the sweet spot in profitability. Individual books seem expensive to the average consumer when it’s one story for $15. But three stories for $30? That “feels” more correct, like you’re getting good value for the money.
I don’t agree with that sentiment, by the way, but I’d wager heavily that that’s your average American comic reader’s reaction to this kind of material. I’ve had enough of those fights over the years of trying to explain to people why a $12 album is a much better deal than a $4 floppy. (“But it’s 3x the price for only 2x the pages,” they say, ignoring how much more art and story there are in those albums, for starters.)
I want Americans to have easy access to Asterix. Of all the complaints I could have, the Omnibus format is the smallest of them. At some point, you need to stop looking the gift horse in the mouth.
There are other issues to overcome, though.
A Question of Trim Size
UPDATE: We have an answer. ICV2’s coverage has the specs: The books will be 7.5″ x 9.5″. If you eliminate all the white space around the art, that’s the live art size of the page on a softcover album.
So long as Papercutz doesn’t include too much white space in around the edges of the page, the art should look fine. It won’t be full size, but close enough. We’ll see what the final printed editions look like, though..
That size will also look much shorter on your bookshelf next to the old albums, which run 8.5″ x 11.25″. But they’re not aiming these books at you, so don’t sweat it. Or, just buy the whole set from Papercutz and all will look aligned.
Also, the individual albums of new material (starting with “Asterix and the Chieftain’s Daughter“) will be only $10 for the hardcover edition. That’s a really good price point.
I’ll leave the rest in below for posterity’s sake:
How large will these books be?
There’s nothing specified in the initial announcement. This worries me, but I have hope.
I’m hoping Papercutz doesn’t do something supremely silly like shrink these books. Uderzo’s art packs every page with panels, background details, etc. You can’t shrink these books down. That way lies madness, on par only with that time DC reprinted Francois Schuiten’s work and botched the whole job by shrinking it down. Shrinking Schuiten’s art ought to be a federal offense in every nation in the world.
But Papercutz has done well by the Smurfs. While they print the stories first in shrunken form, they did come back with the “Smurfs Anthology” books, which are hardcover compilations of three of those books at a time, at full album size.
We can begin to take guesses about the format that Papercutz’s “Asterix” will take from the limited data we have. I have two data points here: a sample of the new cover art, and the price point.
This is the new cover art next to a page from “Asterix and the Big Fight” that I just screengrabbed from Izneo.com:
As you can see, the new Papercutz format is a hair less tall, but that’s also where all the white margins are inside the book. Uderzo did not draw for the bleed. Shaving off a few millimeters around the edges is not a big deal.
The image on the left of the new book is 400px wide by 508px tall. The page on the right is 400px wide by 528px tall. That’s a 4 pixel different on the top and the bottom. It’s negligible. It’s fine.
So the format is the same. The ratio of width to height remains.
What about the price? The announcement lists the cover price as being $22.99 for the hardcover and $14.99 for the softcover.
Orion, who publishes Asterix in English out of England, currently sells these three book Omnibus editions for $27.95 in hardcover and $19.95 in softcover.
Let’s look at Papercutz’ “Smurfs Anthology” books, though, which packaged three Smurfs volumes together and at a larger size — full album size. They’re all 192 page volumes, but the cover price ranges from $19.99 for the four four volumes and then $24.99 for the fifth. I suspect that price jump on the last book comes from low sales.
Putting Asterix at $22.99 for a roughly 150 page volume would seem to indicate to me that it’ll be full album size.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but I think that math kind of works out. But, then, I have no idea what the deal between Papercutz and Hachette is. I’m sure it’s different from the one they have with the Smurfs’ owners.
At Least They’re Not Re-Re-Coloring It (Right?)
The entire Asterix oeuvre underwent extensive renovations a few years back. They cleaned up a lot of stuff, including faded or lost ink work. They also fixed the off-register pages and recolored everything.
Some fans took exception to the new coloring. It began adding in some more modern coloring effects, like shafts of light coming in from openings in the walls or ceilings, or some extra shadows where none previously belonged.
It was also more literal. It carried more “serious” earthen and realistic colors, rather than the bright primary colors the original colorists were limited to by the printing technology of the day.
I haven’t seen anything yet to indicate that Papercutz will be going so far as to recolor the book. It’s always a possibility. They could decide to go crazy and go for a more sculpted, 3D feeling to the art. Put in lots of shadows. Use specular highlights. Add some fancy Photoshop effects. Gradients galore!
But that’s a big investment, and a completely unnecessary one with the remastered editions of the series.
I Almost Forgot the Lettering
While we’re rethinking Asterix from the ground up and throwing in a new American translation of the materials, what will happen with the lettering?
Will they continue to use the same font style as the French and British editions? Will that oddly lowercased-“i” character continue to be used in the middle of words?
I’m a bit worried about this in either case. The lettering style on the Smurfs books is not my favorite. I don’t like the style, and I’m not thrilled with the way it handles special effects.
Asterix is a different kind of book, though, so maybe there’ nothing to worry about there. But with a new translation on the way, there will need to be a completely new lettering job done fo rate series.
It’s not a question of “if” the lettering will change here. It’s only a question of “by how much”.
What About Digital Comics?
Unknown still.
Papercutz on Comixology does include a lot of their European translations, so they are in the game.
I’d imagine for digital that you’d want to sell on an album-by-album basis to keep the price point lower. The economics of digital comics is different from that of print.
Asterix only went digital in English last year, but that’s only available to European accounts.
Asterix in America, At Last
I had serious doubts that anyone in North America would ever pick the Asterix license up. In many ways, it feels like a troublesome series to publish in today’s political atmosphere. Papercutz will need to make some interesting decisions about the material as they go along.
Honestly, this is a topic I have a separate essay I’ve been working on for a long time. Maybe this will be the spark I needed to go back and finish it…
I’m impressed that Papercutz is so committed to the series, and I hope their plans pay off for them. I hope they’re able to get these books in front of new audiences who’ve never considered Asterix before, but who would be very likely to enjoy it. It’ll be a lot of work, and the changes they’re planning I’m sure will tick off some of the purists.
I’ll be curious to see how much of a “purist” I am when it comes to Asterix. It looks like I’ll find out in the spring. By then, we’ll also have a lot more of the answers to all of the questions I posed here today.
It looks like The Asterix Agenda is nowhere near complete. A new chapter is just beginning…
The Pipeline Comics Podcast, Episode #19
I devoted an episode of the podcast to this topic. You can listen to it here:
For more details on the podcast — like where to subscribe, of course! — check out ThePipelinePodcast.com.
Curiously, being the Asterix fan since childhood, I’m not as worried as you are. As you were reviewing the books a while back, it appeared to me that the Bell (not Belle) and Hockridge translation was indeed very british, and at times strayed pretty far from the original. the reason why you don’t see the need for a new one is because you don’t know how far they were. As I was rereading the books along with your posts, I checked out a few books in english and compared them to the original French version, and there are many things I did not like; first of all, I did not like most of the english names changes. In today’s world, characters names have to remain consistent all over the world, if only for marketing purposes, but it’s not just that. For example the village chief Abraracourcix’s name gives you information about his personality: “A bras racourcis” is a french expression illustrating someone who is short tempered and prone to throwing loud fits. that is lost in the current translation.
sure, translating Asterix for modern audiences would be hard, unless you get tons of footnotes explaining the socio/political context of the 60s and 70s when they were written, but it’s not impossible. I’m generally weary of translators, but this time I’m ready to give them the benefit of the doubt until I see some samples.
As for the coloring, I, like most old-timers, did not like the 2004 revamp, I wish they would revert to the original but I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.
I’d be more worried about the size. What you said about the shrinking of the books is a valid point and a real concern; I’ve seen shrunk editions of Tintin and a few other classics, they make my eyes bleed. But for the new generations, I have to concede that things are different. today’s kids read on their phones, so that kind of makes sense to be introduced to the series via the more handy format, and if you’re really hooked, you’d check out the normal ones.
I’m keeping an open mind about the new translation, but I’m also very cynical about it. I can imagine all the ways this might go horribly wrong. And I also know a lot of the trouble they’re going to have with using the translations to correct parts that might not be palatable to a modern audience. I also think Bell and Hockridge did amazing work on the names, so I’m hoping they keep those. “Vitalstatistix” is much more recognizable and pronounce-able to an American audience than the French pun would be, though I agree that it’s nice to have something that describes the character better. (“Getafix” does that better than “Panoramix” does, for a reverse example. They’re likely to change that name first. Sigh)
I’m not a huge fan of the coloring, either. I’m fine with it, but there are times when it sticks out too much. They really just needed to clean up the line work and print everything on register (so the color plates lined up with the black and white line work) and they would have been fine. I can understand why they modernized it with the special effects, though. It could have been MUCH worse. I thought it was fairly restrained, even when it DID stick out.
But, yeah, the size is the scariest of all. I’m encouraged that it’s 9.5″ by 7.5″ inch, if only because it might have been MUCH worse. This leaves me with some hope.
But how many times will “good enough” be enough? I guess if it sells in large numbers to new readers, then it’s all the right decision.
Still, I’d love to talk to the translator(s) and editor(s) to see what they’re thinking….
Actually, Vitalstatistix is a brilliant name, not only does it represent his temperament by alluding to vital signs i.e. body temperature, blood pressure, pulse etc. It also alludes to his waist size, and the fact that, as chief, he’s got governmental responsibilities.
Just FYI, if you learn a language over one weekend, you’re probably not going to do a very good translation:)
Anthea Bell was not a normal human. 😉 Hey, let me keep this superhero scenario going for her. What’s the old line about “When the truth becomes legend, print the legend”?
Indeed, nor should Derek Hockridge’s contribution be underestimated.
What Mickey Mouse is to Americans, Asterix is to the French. What if they decided to have a Parc Asterix USA, Like they do with Disney World and Disney Land around the world and have Parc Asterix locations around the world like in Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Orlando, FL, New York City, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Beijing, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, Seoul and other places around the world.
I would love to have a Parc Asterix over here, too, but sadly I don’t think that’ll ever happen. They can’t even get an animated Asterix movie released in the U.S., let alone support an entire theme park.
The English dub of the 2006 Asterix animated film “Asterix and the Vikings” had an American voice cast in it.
Also there were 2 English dubs for the 1989 Asterix animated film “Asterix and the Big Fight”, Which had both an American English dub and a British English dub in it.
The English dub of Asterix and the Vikings had
Paul Giamatti as Asterix
Brad Garrett as Obelix
Dee Bradley Baker as Dogmatix and SMS
Sean Austin as Justforkix
Evan Rachel Wood as Abba
Jess Harnell as Cacofonix
Jeff Glenn Bennet as Getafix and the Narrator
Daran Norris as Chief Vitalstatistix
Grey DeLisle as Impedimenta
John DiMaggio as Timandahaf
Greg Proops as Cryptograf
Jack Fletcher as Caraf, Fotograf, and Captain Red Beard
John DeMita as Fulliautomatix and Nescaf
Corey Burton as Doublehelix
Jonathan Nichols as Olibrius
David Rasner as Pirate Lookout
Jill Talley as Young Viking #1 and Young Viking #2
Diedrich Bader as Unhygenix and Olaf
Philip Proctor as Geriatrix
Dwight Schultz as Dubbledekabus
April Winchell as Vikea
The American English dub of Asterix and the Big Fight had Henry Winkler as Asterix, Rosey Grier as Obelix, and Lucille Bliss as Impedimenta.
Yes in the American English dub of Asterix and the Big Fight, The Fonz from Happy Days voiced Asterix, A Black Person a former NFL player for the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams voiced Obelix, And the voice of Smurfette voiced Impedimenta. And the British English dub of the film was thrown away for some stupid reason, And many people to this day dislike the English dub of Asterix and the Big Fight because it’s not in British English, And Chief Vitalstatistix is Chief Bombastix and Getafix is called Vitamix, and the Roman Centurion is called Bossa Nova, And Impedimenta is known by her original French name in this film.
I’m sure there can be a Parc Asterix in the US, Probably in a place in the US where there’s a lot of people of French decent like Louisiana like, New Orleans, or Baton Rouge possibly.
If it does happen then, will any people come to it, or appear at the grand opening of Parc Asterix USA possibly, or will it fail and nobody comes to the grand opening of Parc Asterix USA wherever it’s at in the US.
Why can’t an Asterix movie be released in theaters in the US?
I think they did release one of the earlier live action ones, but it didn’t go anywhere. Asterix just isn’t well known over here. Without that base, movie studios don’t want to risk a large marketing budget on promoting it enough to make it do well. Who knows, maybe the new Papercutz releases will take off and create a market for Hollywood. Stranger things have happened.
Papercutz should release these in 6 story omnibus editions not 3 in 1 (we have plenty of those) and I like smaller for easy of holding, portability and shelving in bookcase BUT there has to be as little white space around art as possible (if possible max 5 mm) so the art which is very detailed is not lost.
I think they’re going with 3 instead of 6 to keep the costs down. A $15 price point is an easy purchase, but $25 is something people start to think about as an “investment.” But you’re absolutely right on the whitespace. That will be key. The page size is do-able if they print pretty close to the edges. The one production issue there, though, is keeping the margins wide where the binding of the book will be. You don’t want to start losing art in the middle of the book. That’s a big part of the reason for the margins for thicker books.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed…
Apparently they are joining FCBD this time, which is a very smart move.
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/12/19/asterix-spider-man-venom-street-fighter-stranger-things-free-comic-book-day-silver-gold/
I just saw that article, too. I’m guessing it’ll be an eight to 16 page excerpt from one of the first three books. That should work. It’ll be a good introduction to the world and the sense of humor.
The story’s been added to the next “Pipeline and Sundry” update. Haven’t done one of those in a long while, but I think I have a few little things I can put together now…
Or maybe one of the short stories from the Goscinny special. And the first opportunity for us, I guess, to get a feel of the new translation.
Although FCBD book are hardly available in Europe so you’ll have to cover that for us.
We have the description now:
“Asterix is celebrating 60 sensational years as an international comics superstar, and Papercutz is now his North American publisher! The stories are newly translated into American English for a whole new legion of fans! The story of Asterix starts here as we discover what gives the Gaul his super strength and quick wit!”
So it’s the origin story, which makes sense. I’m not at home with my collection, so I’m not sure what the best presentation of that might be… Can’t wait to see if they include the name “Vercingetorix” or not.
Do you know who Anne Goscinny is?
Yes, I do.
She’s Rene Goscinny’s daughter.
Yes, she is.
Anne Goscinny was 9 years old when her father died on Saturday November 5th, 1977 at the age of 51 years old.
So, Anne Goscinny had a sad childhood without a father.
Anne Goscinny had a father until she was 9 years old that is.
Anne Goscinny had a happy childhood until 1977, When she was 9 years old that is.
Until she was 9 years old that is.
Will Papercutz ever translate Lucky Luke or any other Franco Belgian comic series into American English at all you know?
When a beloved comic series has for decades been published with the same high-quality translations, there will inevitably be concerns when a new publisher comes along with new translations.
The main reason for the new American translations is money. Papercutz has looked at the massive sales figures of Asterix and wants a part of that action. Les Editions Albert René is also motivated by the desire to sell as much as possible; and now that Anthea Bell is dead, they need not worry about causing offense to her.
Another reason for the new translations is that Papercutz feels American children are too stupid to understand the Bell/Hockridge (and more recently, Adriana Hunter) translations and the clever parodies in the Asterix books. Papercutz publisher Terry Nantier said, “There is slapstick that kids love and political and pop culture parodies that only adults can catch and appreciate.” I feel this is a horrible insult to American children. Imagine if they read Obelix and Co, will they only enjoy the Roman bashing scenes and fail to appreciate the numerous jokes on economic theory? Or if they read Asterix in Britain, will they fail to recognize the caricature of Beatlemania?
I wonder whether Les Editions Albert René will have any final approval right or oversight for the American translations.
If the name of Panoramix/Getafix is to be changed on the grounds that Getafix is an unacceptable drug reference, I wonder if artwork of thick-lipped black characters will be altered (as many woke reviewers now decry such depictions as racist)? What about all the references to orgies? Will those be expunged? And as mentioned in the Augie’s post, what about all the Latin quotations?
I wonder if Papercutz will utilize the same translator, the very experienced Joe Johnson, who does the Smurfs translations for them? If so, Asterix should be in pretty safe hands, especially if Joe Johnson is assisted by an equally experienced translator/editor with a gift for original wordplay and punning — to ensure that jokes lost in a word-perfect translation will be rewritten as cleverly as possible. It would be a shame if there’s a meddlesome editorial committee that expunges jokes and names on the grounds of “too intelligent or politically incorrect for American kids”.
I notice the word “menhir” is absent from the Amazon description for the first Papercutz Asterix Omnibus: “Join the short, spunky, and super-powerful warrior from Gaul and his faithful friends–including the boar-eating delivery man Obelix and the ecologically-minded canine, Dogmatix–as they battle to protect their village against impossible odds.” Tough luck if kids are expecting to meet Dogmatix in the first Papercutz Asterix omnibus.
Vercingetorix doesn’t get a mention in the Amazon spiel for the Papercutz version of Chieftain’s Daughter. “Adrenaline, the daughter of the famous Gaulish chieftain is being hunted down by the Romans.” Oh, the famous Gaulish chieftain with no name! Is Papercutz afraid that the long name of a historic figure might deter potential buyers?
I’m irked that Amazon (acting on instructions from Papercutz?) gives the Asterix books an “Age Range: 7 – 12 years”. Does this mean people aged 13 and above should not be reading Asterix and that Asterix books are only for young children? Great way to discourage potential buyers.
The Amazon description for the second Papercutz Asterix Omnibus seems to be aimed at reassuring parents and librarians that Asterix is educational and a good role model: “These classic comics are not only incredibly entertaining, filled with humor, adventure, and great characters, but the historic figures are brought to life in a way that’s exciting and humanizing, providing educational elements to each story, similar to the Geronimo Stilton graphic novels.” Humanizing? Similar to Geronimo Stilton? Jesus wept.
An extremely minor quibble: I don’t like the term “graphic novel” being used to describe comic books or comic albums. Or illustrated children’s books.
The Amazon product description for the third Papercutz Asterix Omnibus indicates that some of the English names have been kept: “The Roman’s [sic] challenge Vitalstatistx, chief of Asterix’s tribe, to a one on one battle with the Gallo-Roman Chief, Cassius Ceramix of Linoleum.” Same description also mentions Anticlimax in Britain, and for the Normans: “We won’t even mention which pop star is parodied in this story.”
Interestingly, Getafix is not mentioned in any of the Amazon descriptions for the Papercutz editions, so perhaps his name will indeed be changed. Will he be called Magicspellix or Herbaltonix or Wizardix or Whizzix or Gandalfix or Redbullix or Cocacolix or Doctapepix?
Size certainly matters and smaller sized comic albums are not good — although I grew up with two Knight small-sized editions of Asterix (Big Fight and Olympic Games) and their insubstantial size did not diminish my enjoyment as my eyesight was perfect. People over 40 will tend not to enjoy small-size editions.
As for the re-coloring of the Asterix series, this was necessary for some parts of the first few books, as the liberal dousing of panels or characters in monochrome and some blurred outlines were not good.
I live in Indonesia, where the Asterix comics were for decades published by a company named Sinar Harapan (it means Ray of Hope), which used several translators over the years. The first was the late Bondan Winarno (a respected journalist), who was translating from the French originals to English. He was followed by Yayuk (and some others), and then most of the albums were translated by a lady with a name that would not be out of place in an Asterix book: Maria Antonia Rahartati Hardjasoebrata Bambang Haryo (known as Tati for short). The Indonesian translations have clever new Indonesian-style names for the Romans and some peripheral characters, but they kept the original French names of most of the Gauls. Even if Indonesian children worked out that Assurancetourix meant Comprehensive Insurance — was there a joke to get there?
While the Indonesian translations were generally good and clever, the lettering of the early editions was generally abysmal. As though it had been done by a drunk epileptic on a tightrope during an earthquake. Sometimes, the scrawled, spidery lettering went outside the speech bubbles. Sometimes the speech bubbles were left empty. Oh to have had an Indonesian Neil Hyslop (the man who masterfully hand-lettered the English editions of Tintin).
Change is inevitable and a few years ago, Sinar Harapan lost its rights to publish Asterix in Indonesia. The rights went to Indonesian publishing behemoth Gramedia. This company was smart enough to retain the good translator, Tati. The new editions come in two paperback sizes: small and normal (selling for US$2.15 and $3.60, respectively). They adopt a uniformly lifeless digital font, which is actually an improvement on the dreadful hand-lettering of the Sinar Harapan editions.
Tintin has not been so lucky in Indonesia. After being translated for decades by now-defunct publishing house Indira (which had translated from the English translations), the rights went to Gramedia, which commissioned fresh translations from the French originals. This meant there were some jarring name changes, while the books were published in a mini-size, which meant some text had to be cut and the remaining text was so cramped as to be unpleasant to read. Realizing its mistake, Gramedia later scrapped the mini-size books and published larger editions of Tintin (retailing for $6.30).
As for British English dubs of Asterix animation, all versions of the animated stuff pale in comparison to the Goscinny books. But one perfect bit of casting was the late Geoffrey Bayldon (who played a wizard named Catweazle on UK TV) as Getafix.
As for the Ferri-Conrad books, after a bad start with Picts, the Missing Scroll was pretty good (apart from the plot part where Cacofonix plays an absurd instrument). Something’s awry in Chariot Race, not least the Britons being erroneously described as Bretons (and that fortune-telling is deemed legitimate is an incredibly lazy way of getting Obelix to buy a chariot). And Chieftain’s Daughter could have been so much better with better writing/plotting. Asterix is on the path to becoming Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck — insofar as both flourished in classic comics by Floyd Gottfredson and Carl Barks respectively, but under other authors/illustrators they just became lazy commercial commodities to become flogged to death. Let’s not forget that the early Mickey Mouse strips also inspired the creation of Tintin by Herge, whose wishes to protect the character’s legacy did not prevent that awful Hollywood film version. Asterix desperately needs to regain his wily cunning, rather than just meandering through poorly plotted narratives. The possibility of dumbed down American translations may be the least of his problems.
I hear your concerns but at the same time, I totally understand why a new translation makes sense in order to reach a new, younger audience. I was raised on the french version of those books and when I reread them today, I get all the puns & references, because I was born in the sixties and grew up as the series was topical. The Bell & Hockridge version was aimed at British kids of roughly the same generation. I totally understand why a french kid today would miss 80% of what makes Asterix great to me. Even though the remaining 20% still makes this series stand above most of whatever else is on the market, but still. It’s understandable that the publishers would want the series to remain relevant by reworking the most dated parts of it. Much in the same vein that Hergé kept redrawing and rewriting large chunks of Tintin albums until they reached that intemporal quality. I remember a few years ago, the french publisher of Enid Blyton series The Famous Five caught some heat here because they rewrote the books into more contemporary language, to be more in line with how kids talk today. As a result, the books shrunk about 50%, taking into account the current audience’s limited attention span and dislike of big words and antiquated grammar.
As for Papercutz, not even factoring the British/american colloquialism discrepancies, a modernization may horrify us previous generation but from a commercial perspective it makes sense. And we’ll still have the originals anyway, so…
I’m not sure that an American publisher’s reworking of dated pop culture and political references in Asterix should be equated with Herge’s fastidious improvement of the art and accuracy of the early Tintin albums (though he did whitewash black characters to please Casterman). The bowdlerization of Blyton has not made her books more appealing, and I don’t feel that updating Asterix will win legions of new fans. But perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised if Papercutz comes up with some clever improvements.
One thing in Asterix that did puzzle me as a kid was the name Boneywasawarriorwayayix. I twigged that it was a reference to Napoleon Bonaparte, who I knew was born on Corsica. And I loved the absurdity of such a long silly name for such a terse, abrupt character. When I looked at the French edition and saw the name was equally long (Ocatarinabellatchitchix) I was none the wiser, although the French name sounded much funnier. Closer scrutiny of the French edition’s preamble (not in the English edition) revealed the name came from a song by a Corsican singer. One Tino Rossi, I later learned. And I eventually learned that Boney Was a Warrior was an English folk song. Not getting this didn’t put me off Asterix, and I don’t think American kids would be deterred either, as long as they’re interested in reading European comics. If too much of the Asterix content has to be updated and altered by parties with purely commercial motives, it’s time to leave the classics as is, and create something newly relevant and original. Like Big Nate’s Dork Diaries of a Wimpy Geronimo Stilton.
You make good points here, maybe you’re right, maybe it’s a futile last resort to modernize a franchise that would better be left alone to pass as a dated footnote of its time in pop culture history while we move on to new shinier things. It’s interesting cause I’m usually the grumpy old man complaining about betrayals to my beloved childhood icons, but in this case I can’t seem to resolve myself to it. I can see where they’re coming from.
As you said, let’s wait and see what they come up with.
Btw, if you scroll back down this veery site to Augie’s review of Corsica, I believe I posted a link to the Tino Rossi song in the comments. It’s a french classic that sticks in your head forever.
Just perusing the Papercutz website, I see it refers to Panoramix, so it seems the druid will revert to his original French name for the American editions.
Have you ever heard of the Chilean comics character Condorito before?
I think you should review Condorito someday, I recommend you check it out someday.
This is probably old news, but it looks like Papercutz is using the recoloring job from the Grande Collection editions of the books. They have a 4-page preview on their site.
I’ve read the first few Papercutz Smurfs translations and I am not a fan. They are very literal, to the point where the text does not flow well in English due to the structural difference between the two languages. In the late 1970s there were translations of some of the Smurfs comics done in the UK and released in the US by Random House and those read way better. I hope they don’t do the same for Asterix.