Asterix in Britain (1966)
Asterix in Britain Review
Asterix in Britain is the eighth volume of the Asterix comic strip series that was written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. It was published in 1966 and it is among the weaker installments.
A lot of hilarity ensues when barrels of potion are confiscated in Britain and chaos erupts. This is one of those travelogue episodes, but one that also includes a war, which leads to this odd mixture of the two approaches to storytelling present in Asterix comics. The best parts of this comic are the British cultural references, in particular the origin story of the tea and Obelix’s disgust at their habit of drinking warm beer.
These moments helped elevate what is otherwise a failure in translation. You see, this comic in the original French language was undoubtedly infinitely funnier due to the addition of English grammar within French language. Here, when translated in English, you lose all of those humorous elements and what you have left are the added colloquialisms that are repeated too often and aren’t that funny to begin with. There is only one funny line of dialogue regarding their repetition of the word “what” while the rest was repetitious.
Visually, Asterix in Britain is just as gorgeous as you’d expect, though not as beautiful as the previous entry. The background work is still strong and the world building continues to be a delight as Britain here is depicted in such a detailed, lived-in manner. The character highlight is easily Obelix, who gets all disgusted and annoyed at British cuisine. Others are fine, but it is only Obelix who shines in this particular story.
