This album marks the end of an era. Over sixteen years, the legendary team of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo had produced twenty-three volumes in the saga of that one village of indomitable Gauls holding out against the might of Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire. 'Asterix the Gaul' set the series in motion in 1961 and they kept it going until 'Obelix and Co.' in 1976. Sadly, a year later, Goscinny died partway through the writing of this twenty-fourth album and it's easy to tell when, because Uderzo, who completed the book solo, made it rain as if the sky was crying along with his loss.

While it continues to rain for most of the next page, this isn't a depressing story. In fact, it's quite the celebration not only of the things that made 'Asterix' great but including other characters of note from the Franco-Belgian comic tradition. The key priorities are certainly taken care of, with a plethora of new punny names and what seems like no end of bashing Romans. In fact, the latter soon becomes the point, through the one departure from the series norm. Instead of our heroes visiting Belgium and kicking ass, they visit because Caesar has apparently called the Belgians the bravest of all Gaulish peoples and that feels like a challenge.

In fact, the book even begins with a brawl. Everybody in the village is upset at somebody else, all in a busy half-page first panel. The only regulars not there are Asterix and Obelix, who run in with news that Roman troops are on the move. And, we soon see, these are uncharacteristically happy Roman troops, singing as they march. They're telling jokes about the Belgians. One of them even wanders off into the forest for a walk on his own. Yes, that forest. Next to that village. Even after Obelix shakes him violently, he's still happy. They're back from campaigning against the Belgians and enjoying their "rest cure" in Armorica.

Of course, the Gauls don't want to be seen as a holiday camp and they're jealous. The Belgians are braver than them? Council meeting called. The result is Vitalstatistix suggesting that they wander over to Belgium to see what's so special about them and, while it's Asterix and Obelix who go, for once their chief goes with them. I had an absolute blast with the council, not because of what they say or decide but because Obelix shifts into a neat meta mode. He doesn't care about the council, he wants to fast-forward the story to the traditional banquet and tie up Cacofonix.

So, off they go, through the closed border, and soon bump into a band of rough-looking Belgians. They're on their way to razing a Roman camp to the ground and agree to the Gauls coming along with them, as long as they stay at the back and don't get hurt. If you're imagining competition at this point, you're absolutely spot on. The Belgians raze one camp, let the Gauls raze another and tell them "Not bad. Quite amusing." Now, they are kidding, which breaks the ice wonderfully and allows everyone to get introduced, but the competition is already apparent.

And, over dinner, it gets formalised. They pull out a map and divide local Roman camps between them, Gauls to the north and Belgians to the south. Best of all, they'll have Julius Caesar himself as the impartial judge. They'll wipe out as many camps as they can, identifying themselves in the process and, eventually, rely on Caesar to total up the numbers. I absolutely adore this idea and I appreciate how Goscinny and Uderzo managed to keep the constant carnage from getting old in a variety of ways. My favourite method is their involvement of the pirates. The Romans catapult a boulder at the Gauls, Obelix throws it back and it sinks the pirate ship. As they're not part of this conflict, they seek damages from anyone they can find, carrying one remaining board with them.

In fact, even with the majority of the book taken up with both Gauls and Belgians bashing Romans for sport, there's a heck of a lot here, not least a heck of a lot of references to classics, from jokes referring to Shakespeare or Roman literature, to a full-page painting in landscape that's a parody of a Pieter Brughel the Elder. That's a nod to Belgium, as the Belgians celebrate the joint victory over the Romans with the Gauls. The deepest such nod is the final battle pitting the Belgians and Gauls against the Romans led by Caesar himself being a parody of the Battle of Waterloo, which I had frankly forgotten was in Belgium.

Other nods include a great cameo from Thomson and Thompson from 'The Adventures of Tintin', who announce the arrival of Caesar in characterstic style. "Julius Caesar has arrived in Belgium," says Thompson. "To be precise Culius Jaesar has arrived in Gelbium," echoes Thomson. There's a tribal messenger who was clearly someone, even though I didn't recognise him as famous Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx. I did, however, recognise the characteristic little boy who's an overt take on the Manneken Pis statue in Brussels.

He's Manikin, son of Botanix and Cauliflowa, but there are many more names than those. Beefix of the Nervii and Brawnix of the Menapii are the Belgian leaders and we also meet Melancholix, Alcoholix and Potbellix. Beefix's wife is Bonanza. Those are cool, but the Romans have the day on the punny name front. Legionary Claudius Pseudonymus is a decent start and Senator Monotonus is a gimme but, even if we discount Umbelliferus, there are two of my favourites from the entire series: Saintlouisblus and Legate Wolfgangamadeus.

There's a running joke about the invention of chips, as in French fries not crisps, but my favourite running joke in this one has to do with the quotability of Caesar. In the Senate, the scribe doesn't record "Oh, stuff your cabbage!" but does record "I shall go, I shall see and I shall conquer!" Well, later that becomes, crush, annihilate, disembowel and massacre, which is rather descriptive. The best moment is when the pirate captain walks in wanting compensation for his ship and, as Legate Wolfgangamadeus states, Caesar's response—"You know what you can do with that ***** board of yours?" ably highlights how his standard of classical quotation is dropping.

Of course, at the end of the day, the Gauls leave the Belgians as friends. After a traditional feast in Belgium—and, my goodness, do the Belgians here know how to cook! Obelix is a notably happy man for once on that front—he finally gets to his traditional panel with Cacofonix once more tied up for their celebratory banquet. The competition? Well, you could say it was a tie. However, it's a fair point that the Gauls had magic potion on their side. The Belgians only had beer.

Next up, 'Asterix and the Great Divide', because, unlike 'The Adventures of Tintin', this series did not end with the death of its writer. Albert Uderzo expanded his role from artist to include writer as well and he produced the next seven albums on his own. I don't believe I've read any of these, so I'm especially eager to dive into them starting next month. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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