Asterix, the indomitable pint-sized Gaul forever outfoxing the Romans, is taking a step back for a female hero for the first time in the beloved comic’s 60-year history.
In a move to update the books, which have been entertaining readers since 1959 and spawned multiple movie spinoffs and a theme park, the action in Asterix and the Chieftain’s Daughter revolves around Adrenaline, the teenage daughter of famous Gaulish king Vercingetorix.
With her long red braided hair, black trousers, gold headphones and grumpy teenage disposition, Adrenaline keeps Asterix and his oversized sidekick Obelix chasing after her during a period of adolescent rebellion.
The 38th comic book in the popular series is released across Europe on Thursday. It is written by Jean-Yves Ferri and drawn by Didier Conrad, the team behind the last three books. They have remained close to the original format started by the writer René Goscinny and cartoonist Albert Uderzo, who mentored both Conrad and Ferri.
However, the creation of Adrenaline is a big leap away from the blonde, femme fatales who usually turn up in the Asterix comics.
“We didn’t want to develop a character who would be based on her seductive side as we usually do with female characters in Asterix. Most of the time they are young attractive women who seduce Obelix and their role stops there,” Conrad said.
“[She] has just finished growing, but hasn’t fully developed yet, so everything that is feminine is focused on her face. At the beginning of the story she has the silhouette in the form of an ‘S’, so she’s a bit round shouldered and grumpy, as she starts to assert herself, she stands up straight,” he added.
In the latest book, Asterix and Obelix are tasked with protecting Adrenaline from the Romans, who have captured her father. However, this proves difficult for these two heroes, as her rebellious spirit disturbs the village’s day-to-day life.
“In terms of the vocabulary it was quite amusing because I had to create a sort of teenage language for the time. We don’t have a lot of documentation about that. So the idea was to use certain expressions like teenagers do,” said Ferri.
In reply to a reporter, Ferri and Conrad said the similarities between spirited Adrenaline and teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg were purely fortuitous.
Set in 50BC in Roman-occupied Gaul, the Asterix books have become a mainstay in the publishing industry, with more than 370m copies sold worldwide.
Five million copies of the French edition of Asterix and the Chieftain’s Daughter have been printed, with 2m of those remaining in France where new Asterix books frequently top the bestseller charts.
As well as being translated into more than 100 languages, the books have inspired a dozen movies and cartoon series, making it a global phenomenon.
