Asterix and the Roman Agent (1970)
Asterix and the Roman Agent Review
Asterix and the Roman Agent is the fifteenth volume of the Asterix comic strip series that was written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. It was published in 1970 and it is another classic in the series.
When Julius Caesar resorts to psychological warfare to defeat the little Gaulish village: he’s sent expert troublemaker Tortuous Convolulus to set friend against friend. Jealousy soon spreads as the Gauls become suspicious of each other. Somehow, Asterix must outwit the wily Convolulus. This comic is basically the spin-off of the previous entry as it expands on that conflict significantly. This was a great idea that paid off to a degree, though the plot overall is uneven and weakly paced.
This is the one Asterix story where all the best action and humor happened in the middle section as the beginning is flawed and the ending is much less memorable in its excessive war action scenes. But the best moments are those with the wives. It is very rare to see female characters get their proper due in this series, but it happened in this installment and the results are hilarious. Impedimenta is a particularly memorable personality with her anger issues and obsession with status. Chief Vitalstatistix was so funny and their interactions stole the entire comic for me.
It was also interesting hearing the gossip from the ladies about the men, including Asterix and his bachelorhood. The suspicion and paranoia arising in the village was the highlight here while the magic potion subplot was the weakest part of this story. Asterix and the Roman Agent does have great dialogue and particularly strong characterization and sporadic humor, but the problem here were the illustrations. Maybe they were great in the original comic, but I unfortunately got to read the one with the bad print and it was frustrating to get through it.
