If 'Tintin in the Congo' was a notably shaky start for a bestselling comic book series, horribly dated in almost every way, 'Asterix the Gaul' did much better two decades later. Here's the second in the 'Asterix' series, which is better still and full of some of the glorious punning character names that I loved so much about this series. How can you go wrong when the Roman prefect of Lutetia (which we know as Paris) goes by the name of Surplus Dairiprodus? I have to admit that Navishtrix took a moment, but every name here is gold.

What else is gold is the golden sickle of Getafix the druid; which is important not only because it's in the title of this book but because it's what he uses to harvest the mistletoe needed to brew up the magic potion that enables the residents of a particular Gaulish village to be invulnerable and thus effortlessly defeat the combined might of the Roman Empire whenever it tries anything. It's got to be gold or the magic won't work. What's more, it's also something he just has to have in his possession for the Great Annual Conference of Gaulish Druids in the Forest of the Carnutes, that, of course, he's about to set out for. And so someone has to take a trip to Lutetia to buy a new one from Metallurgix, who apparently makes the only ones worth using.

Of course, our regular heroes, Asterix and Obelix, mount this quest for Getafix, meaning that the other regulars, like Cacofonix the bard, only appear in the bookends. Asterix takes a hundred gold coins for the sickle and some bronze ones for expenses, along with a vial of magic potion to protect him from whatever might arise. Obelix takes a menhir as a gift for Metallurgix, who's apparently a distant cousin, even though they've not met. And, of course, the journey is entirely uneventful, except for moments when our heroes have to beat up bandits. Or barbarians. Or wolves. The sky falls on a lot of heads in this one.

Much of the story takes place in Lutetia, where they initially fail to find Metallurgix. He's not at his shop and everyone gets immediately scared whenever they ask about him. Something is going on and they start to realise why when the villainous Clovogarlix takes them to Navishtrix's private club, where the inevitable fight breaks out, to be broken up by news of a Roman raid. Everyone is quick to get out of there, because, get this, "all raids lead to Rome and the Circus Maximus". Ha! Anyway that gets them taken to the fat Roman prefect, Surplus Dairiprodus for the first of a long string of visits that always end in shenanigans.

It turns out that there's a golden sickle trafficking ring in play, because golden sickles are in great demand, what with the upcoming druid conference in the Forest of the Carnutes. Metallurgix has, therefore, either been kidnapped or murdered. Either way, he's disappeared and it's up to Asterix and Obelix to figure out what's going on, who's behind it and whether the latter's distant cousin is findable and savable. Oh, and lest we forget, they also need to acquire a golden sickle, which is not the easiest of tasks now, given that they've all vanished along with Metallurgix.

Much of this is good old-fashioned violent fun. Asterix and Obelix end up in a fight every few pages and that's all the funnier when it's at the Roman prefect's again and again. The comedic timing is as golden as Getafix's broken sickle and that bodes really well for the rest of the series. The first was fun but a little obvious and straightforward, as if the series wasn't yet fully formed. Here, it may not be particularly deep but it's already hitting all the beats like it's book ten and the series writer, René Goscinny, has been doing this for years. It may only be the first time that he used the memorable symbols in a speech bubble to represent outrageous swearing.

One thing that surprised me was the eco-friendly message that creeps in, given that this was first published back in 1962, after a serialisation in 'Pilote' magazine. OK, the English translation was a little newer, dating to 1975, but it still feels notably ahead of its time. There's a panel in which the Romans are building an aqueduct and Asterix points out that they're "ruining the landscape with all these modern buildings". That brings electricity generating windmills quickly to mind! Also, on the banks of the Seine, a fisherman is only catching amphoras instead of fish because residents of Lutetia are throwing all sorts of stuff into the river.

With acknowledgement of the Suindinum Ox-Cart 24 Hour race and a rather early rendition of the Cole Porter song "I Love Paris", here sung as "I love Lutetia in the springtime", that's about it for this second outing for Asterix and Obelix. Let's see what they get up to next time out joining their druid on his journey to the conference in the Forest of the Carnutes in 'Asterix and the Goths'. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles by René Goscinny click here
For more titles by Albert Uderzo click here