Maybe René Goscinny realised in hindsight how few puns there were in the previous book, 'Asterix and the Soothsayer', so piled in as many as he could for album twenty, 'Asterix in Corsica'. It's also something of a reunion, courtesy of the annual anniversary celebration for the Gaulish victory at Gergovia. This year, Vitalstatistix has invited a whole slew of friends who fought the Romans too, most obviously in earlier books in the series.

Initially, it starts out like Chibi Asterix, though it's really just the Gaulish children mimicking their parents, right down to the Roman bashing, brawls over fish and repetition of "These Romans are crazy!" And there's setup for the real story over in Totorum, where the Romans have been stuck with a new prisoner they don't want. It's a special mission: Praetor Perfidius, Roman governor of Corsica, escorting an exile from that island. However, with the upcoming Gaulish celebration and its traditional Roman bashing, they want to be well away for a day or two for self-preservation, so they embark on manoeuvres, as an excuse.

But suddenly we're in strong reunion mode, with Petitsuix from 'Asterix in Switzerland'; Huevos y Bacon and Pepe from 'Asterix in Spain'; 'Instantmix' from 'Asterix the Gladiator'; O'veroptimistix, Anticlimax, Dipsomaniax, McAnix and Mykingdomforanos, all from 'Asterix in Britain'; Jellibabix, Drinklikafix and Seniorservix from three different cities visited in 'Asterix and the Banquet'; and Winesanspirix from 'Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield'. Of course, the pirates show up as well for their traditional scene, which is a longer and cleverer one than usual (and gets an encore), and I may have missed others, but that's quite the reunion already. Goscinny does well to keep it under control while also telling a new story.

As the Romans expected, it kicks off when the Gauls decide to have some fun with them. We ought to show our guests a good time, right? Well, why not pop round to Laudanum to beat up a bunch of Romans for old time's sake! Unfortunately the place is empty, as are Aquarium and Compendium. They hear voices at Totorum, so they pass round the magic potion to enable a "little punch-up by way of an aperitif." Ironically, Centurion Hippopotamus has already freed the Corsican prisoner, but he won't leave until he finishes his siesta. That's priceless.

He's Boneywasawarriorwaywayix, a nod to an old shanty poking fun at Napoleon, which is far too complex a time paradox to want to think about. Yes, it inspires Cacofonix to compose a shanty. It seems that Boney likes Obelix, dubbing him Little Man, and so he offers to show him and Asterix how they do things in Corsica. So off they go, with Dogmatix, to yet another new location for the series and, just like normal, Goscinny milks the stereotypes fondly to paint a picture of Corsica as both another nation of stalwart resisters of Roman imperialism and a realistic trigger for Obelix to proclaim yet another nation's people are crazy.

In fact, that happens before they even reach Corsica, because Boney can't wait for their boat to reach shore and dives off to swim the last stretch to his beloved home island. They follow suit, as Boney has unwrapped a Corsican cheese, which apparently stinks to high heaven, just not to him, because everything is the essence of Corsica: the cheese, the sea, the sand and, given the names, surely the food. We meet characters like Mortadella, Chipolata and, Salimix—all sausages—and a serious variety of pastas, not just Potatognocchix and Semilonagnocchix but Spaghettix, Raviolix, Tagliatellix, Cannelonix, Lasagnix, Fettucinix, Vermicellix and Rigatonix, most of them chiefs. One even married into a Caledonian clan, MacAronix.

If that underlines just how many punny names we have here, I should emphasise that that's only the start. Boney's great-uncle married a girl from the Violoncellix clan and somehow that ended up sparking an epic generational grudge between Boney's clan—he's a chief, of course—and their neighbours, led by Olabellamargaritix, for reasons absolutely nobody remembers. Lethargix is a Corsican druid. Carferrix was in charge in Boney's absence. Praetor Perfidius's right hand man is Courtingdisastus. There are wives or sisters like Errata and Desiderata, but it seems that smiling at them or talking to them is disrespectful to their husbands or brothers.

However, some time ago, I promised you a story and there is one here behind all the puns. What's going on is that Praetor Perfidius spends all year looting Corsica for taxes but the Corsicans steal it all back at Aleria right before it's shipped to Rome. This year, the Praetor has devised a plan to outwith them and, well, you'll have to read the book to see how well he doesn't do. Let's just echo that the Romans sent to Corsica aren't the brightest and best and the results aren't unexpected. However, the fun isn't in figuring this one out, it's watching it unfold.

It's a decent book, not a great one but an enjoyable one that scoots along capably and takes time to wrap up a number of minor story threads spun into motion, all while poking fun at the Corsican routine. It seems that they live long lives mostly by hardly working at all. Siestas are sacred and it seems like they're not lazing around all the time but taking it easy to ensure that they'll continue to be able to take it easy for a long time. The elders serve as a sort of Greek chorus, four of them sitting on a log on the outskirts of town with their canes and sleeping dogs, watching the world go by. They never join in, but they offer running commentary.

However, as lazy as the Corsicans seem, they're tough fighters and, whenever need arises, they leap into battle urgently and vehemently. There's a whole plot here about hiding in the Maquis, which is a nod to the bands of rural guerillas who fought Nazi occupation during World War II just as their ancestors fought Roman occupation in this book. The Maquisards were French or Belgian, but the name comes from the scrublands of Corsica. There are a dozen or so panels here set in the Maquis and they're wonderful because they're just speech bubbles over peaceful landscape until soldiers are thumped vertically out of it when hidden Gauls run into hidden Romans.

Goscinny and Uderzo must have enjoyed themselves with this one, because they give us not only one but two feasts to wrap things up. The first happens in Corsica, so prompting the vulture-like elders to leave their log in order to join in. The second happens a page later in its usual spot, as a closing banquet with Cacofonix bound and gagged so he can't accompany their meal with a song.

Next up, 'Asterix and Caesar's Gift' from 1974, as I start to count down towards book twenty-five. Goscinny and Uderzo had been going strong for over a decade, turning out an average of a couple of 'Asterix' books a year in addition to whatever other work they were doing, like 'Lucky Luke' and 'Iznogoud', two series Goscinny wrote that predate 'Asterix' but continued until his death in 1977. Like both of them, 'Asterix' continued after his death, initially both written and drawn by Uderzo. I've never read anything from that era, but I'll be getting to that point in April. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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