Asterix and the Picts (2013)
Asterix and the Picts Review
Asterix and the Picts is the 35th volume of the Asterix comic strip series that was written and illustrated by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad. It’s a surprisingly solid entry in the series.
In this book, Asterix and Obelix travel to Scotland, which was the second time they visited the British Isles after 1966’s ‘Asterix in Britain’. This was the first book not done by Uderzo after his last couple of books failed to connect. It was ultimately a great, necessary choice to bring fresh voices to this series, resulting in a sense of rejuvenation and excitement.
The story is archetypal for the series. Ferri did not go into any wild or particularly memorable territory, but he did stick with what worked, which was a classic Asterix trip to another country. This travelogue is surely not among their best, but also not among their worst adventures either. It landed squarely in the middle as it was reasonably diverting and quite fun, but never as sophisticated or as intricate as some of the best installments were.
Macaroon isn’t a particularly memorable character, though his look was striking. They made great use of the Scottish tattoos in this story. The villain of this story is your typical over-the-top, obviously evil guy that even has a green color to him. He didn’t work, but how the Romans factored into the story was ultimately pretty interesting.
There is the added subplot of a Roman worker sent to Gaul to count the population. It was a missed opportunity to fully realize this interesting scenario that mostly ended up being filler material, though he had his funny moments. Nessie is also here, but she was too cartoony and underutilized. But the adventurous elements really worked, the cave scenes were so charming and our heroes got to have some fun moments in this strange country.
As for the illustrations, Didier Conrad’s work is pretty strong. It’s not as good as Uderzo’s illustrations, but at least it came reasonably close to that quality. The colors pop off each panel beautifully, the designs of the characters are excellent and the backgrounds are gorgeous throughout. There isn’t anything particularly ambitious or artistic on these panels, but at least they looked pleasing to the eye. The dialogue is also solid and the characterization was pretty good, but the overall storyline could have been tighter, funnier and more exciting.
