How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy (1989)
How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy Review
How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy is an Asterix story written by Goscinny and illustrated by Uderzo. It was published in 1989.
This product isn’t really a comic book, but rather a storybook that functions as a one-off thing created to appeal to the fans of the series, and it certainly put a smile on my face. It was first written by Goscinny and put into a magazine, but eventually Uderzo illustrated it and the resulting story became a lovely 23-page storybook.
We have heard so many times before about this event that predetermined Obelix’s fate and character arc, so it was very nice to finally see it in full detail. The story is actually very slight as not a lot happens here, but it works in setting up the friendship between Asterix and Obelix with the former being a trusty narrator here.
As for Obelix himself, they wrote him an origin story for this book and it was surprising. Basically, he suffered bullying from the other kids. It was so wonderful seeing Asterix defend his friend, which deftly contrasted the eventual change in their dynamic. Obelix was created in a sense when he fell into that potion, thus constituting a superhero origin of sorts.
This storybook is particularly worth reading for the illustrations, which are truly astonishing. Uderzo has never done a better job before or after this one as the colors just pop off the page while the fairy tale style to the pictures made it super charming. The watercolor style almost resembled a Winnie the Pooh story. And we got to witness full-page panels here, which was beautiful. The one with the mossy rocks was especially stunning.
