The fifth 'Asterix' book is a heck of a lot of fun, even if many of the references would be considered obscure today—especially when compared to the highly accessible anachronisms in the prior book, 'Asterix the Gladiator', and the many in-jokes about the French aren't going to have much bite for foreign readers. Certainly the thrust of the story is universal and, while it might seem arbitrary, it's quite a joy to a contrarian. General Overanxius doesn't just lose the bet he makes with Asterix, he gets the precise opposite of what he wants in the process.

Overanxius, whose demeanour matches his name, arrives at Compendium, one of the four Roman camps close to the only Gaulish village to resist the advance of the Roman Empire, to do what its centurion, Lotuseatus, hasn't been able to do: conquer that village. Of course, he fails, so he puts up a stockade around it instead so that they can't spread their resistance throughout Gaul. It's a great wall to keep this "one little village of dissidents" apart from everywhere else.

We have to acknowledge at this point that they could destroy this stockade any time they like and kind of do that on a small scale in order to set the story in motion, but this isn't about resistance, it's about spreading resistance because that's the last thing Overanxius wants. So Asterix makes a bet with him. If he can escape the village, tour the entire country and bring back the specialities of every region to display as proof at a banquet, then Overanxius will return to Rome in failure. If he can't do all of that, then presumably the village will accept isolation.

And so Vitalstatistix and his men break through the stockade at the southern end of the village to beat up the Romans there as a diversion, while Asterix and Obelix sneak out the northern end and begin their quest. A couple of notes are worth adding here.

For one, the journey is a tribute to the famous annual cycle race, the Tour de France, which is why the large sack that Obelix carries to serve as a shopping bag is coloured yellow—the colour of the jersey worn by the race leader—except in the cover art, for absolutely no reason whatsoever. For another, they're not alone on this journey, because they pick up a little dog in Lutetia, the former name for Paris, outside a butcher's shop. Oddly, they don't notice him following them throughout their entire quest, until the very last page, when he barks at the sight of the banquet and Obelix leans down to pet him. Of course, this is Dogmatix and he looks very happy with his large bone in the final panel, but he's not named yet.

A few things happen at each stop on the tour. Asterix and Obelix generally try to avoid the Romans through deception rather than use force to go right through them; almost as if they're equating a magic potion of invulnerability with what we'd call doping today. Maybe that's a real stretch, but it does feel like a deliberately opposite approach to 'Asterix the Gladiator', where they relied heavily on their invulnerability. They have to beat up some Romans anyway, because Overanxius has sent word to the entire Roman army in Gaul, so they're being actively sought everywhere. However, in a growing trend, the locals, who have heard about their bet too, increasingly help them out, thus demonstrating how they're successfully spreading resistance.

And, of course, they acquire a local delicacy, except, for some reason, Divodurum (the modern day Metz), where shenanigans prompt them to leave without, and Rotomagus (Rouen), which is seen as just a stop on the way to Lutetia. For those who care, what they acquire is ham in Lutetia (Paris), humbugs in Camaracum (Cambrai), wine in Durocortorum (Rheims, the capital of the Champagne producing region), sausages and meatballs in Lugdunum (Lyon), fish stew in Massilia (Marseille), very different sausages in Tolosa (Toulouse), prunes in Aginum (Agen) and oysters and white wine in Burdigala (Bordeaux).

Now, that's quite the shopping list and it all goes into the increasingly large yellow sack that's on Obelix's back throughout their journey. There's no attempt to make this realistic, not even with a new magic potion of Getafix, who doesn't appear this time out, so we're supposed to sit back and not wonder what condition this sack must have been after everything they go through on a tour of the entire nation. I can't imagine what it must have smelled like without any sort of refrigeration and there's no way that any of it would have looked as neat and clean as it does on the final page, as if they'd just moved it all from a pantry to a table rather than forty-four pages of shenanigans. Instead, the only other use it's given is to play into the running joke of Obelix being fat, given that the combined weight of him and the sack end up collapsing his horse.

These foods are all real specialities of these French regions, so there's real educational value this time out, but the action in each town is also a real stereotype, showing that Goscinny and Uderzo were more than happy to poke as much fun at their own country as everyone else's. In Rouen, the locals can't give a direct answer. In Paris, the traffic jams rule (as indeed they did when our heroes were there previously in 'Asterix and the Golden Sickle'). The journey to Nice, which is described in this book as the Gaulish Riviera, is clogged up with bickering Parisian tourists.

And there are deeper nods here too, most of which I had to read up on. Our heroes find that they can't pay a postman for a ride from Reims to Lyon, so they hijack his mail coach instead. This refers to the trial of the Courier of Lyon in 1796, an innocent man executed for robbing a mail coach and murdering its occupants. Once in Lyon, the locals help them by getting the local Roman army lost in the mazelike streets of the city, which is a reference to the traboules of Lyon, covered passages that were incredibly useful for the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation.

Talking of resistance, the locals at the inn of César Drinklikeafix in Marseille are notable homages to characters in the cinematic trilogy of 'Marius', 'Fanny' and 'César', released in the early thirties and also set in Marseille. They delay the Romans' pursuit of our heroes by playing a slow game of bowls in the street, which equates to the card game in 'Marius' that lasts for five utterly magnetic minutes without a single card being played. It's far too long since I've seen those films. This would seem to be a great excuse to watch again. No wonder the original playwright, Marcel Pagnol, has said, "Now I know that my work will be immortal... because it's appeared in Astérix!"

One particularly interesting aspect for me here was that Goscinny and Uderzo don't just poke fun at their own countrymen, they aren't afraid either to paint some of them as absolute crooks. Our heroes fall prey to a scam when leaving Paris. They buy a used chariot in pristine condition that's led by a gorgeous black horse. One storm later, the horse is white as an angel and the wheels fall off, just in time for the convenient arrival of Nervus Illnus's breakdown chariot. They're betrayed not once but twice, by Unpatriotix in the countryside outside Reims and by Uptotrix in Agen. The way to conquer these indomitable Gauls is clearly through their stomachs.

I've mentioned a lot of punny names, the series being known for them. There are also Fishfingus and Spongefingus, who man Roman roadblocks; Poisonus Fungus, the Roman prefect at Lyon, who gets lost in the traboules, even when he puts down pebbles to show his way out (an idea copied by later fairy tale creators, according to a footnote); Radius and Ulna, a married couple celebrating their wedding anniversary with a romantic cruise; Jellybabix and Fibrositus, on opposite sides in Lyon; and my favourites, Villanus and Unscrupulus, a couple of unfortunate Roman highwaymen who steal Obelix's shopping bag and promptly get arrested and nearly executed by mistake, the Romans believing they've caught our heroes.

There are many other puns too, but, a few gems aside, they seemed weaker this time out. Best is surely the first. While Overanxius visits Lotuseatus, "peace reigns in the Gaulish village as well... it reigns too hard for the likes of some..." I liked the regulars at Drinklikeafix's inn in Marseille when they tackle 'Molly Malone': "Singing scampix and crawfix, alive, alive-o." A whiff of wild boar in the forest is "heaven-scent" and Asterix takes down one Roman soldier with a champagne cork. Brut? Brutes! Many of others are weak, to the degree that some of them may not have hit at all for me because I'm missing a cultural reference. I think I got RR VII being not Roman Road 7 rather than Rural Route 7, for instance, but that seems like a stretch.

All in all, this is another strong entry in the 'Asterix' series, merely one that digs a bit deeper into its historical references than usual. That's no bad thing, but it does prompt research, which I don't recall needing to do much when I devoured these books as a kid. Back then, that was mostly trying to figure out the Latin phrases, but a basic knowledge of French helped there. Even there, quotes are more obscure in this book, Goscinny going back to Lucan in 'The Pharsalia' after they sink the pirate ship once again. That's hardly a common text, even in Latin class.

Next month, one of the most famous 'Asterix' books, when our hero meets Cleopatra. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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