There's a piece on the BBC today about the controversy over Uderzo's stewardship of the franchise which meant pretty much nothing to me until I saw that the most recent volume had Asterix and Obelisk squaring off against ancient astronauts!
Not only ancient astronauts, but aliens who looked like our sun god (or 'Superman', in the vernacular) and our Anglo-Saxon fertility sprites, aka 'The Teletubbies'. Strangely enough this was volume #33 (# 17 was called Mansions of the Gods).
Of course, there was the usual cognitive dissonance- critics trashed it but it still sold in the millions. Funny how that works, just like Crystal Skull and Revenge of the Fallen.
Now if you'll excuse me I have to track down an English-subtitled copy of the Asterix meets Cleopatra movie. Monica Bellucci? Rowr.
