Whether we agree or not with the idea that Asterix survived the death of its two creators, Goscinny in 1977 and Uderzo in 2020, the fact remains that the publication of a new adventure remains a major literary event that tickles the curiosity of the readership. Since they took the reins of the series almost 10 years ago, designer Didier Conrad and author Jean-Yves Ferri have released five albums, the most recent of which, Asterix and the Griffin, appears Thursday.
A different album, in which we feel a certain relaxation on the part of the creators, who even allow themselves to offer us a story a little more introspective than usual when it is in the distant steppes of the east, among the Sarmatians, a nomadic people among whom it is the women who go to war, that our heroes meet. Their quest? To find, before the Romans, a mythological creature: the Griffin, half-eagle, half-lion. The author, Jean-Yves Ferri, tells us about what led the Gauls in this adventure.
This is the first album, therefore, without Uderzo around. Liberator or not? “Uderzo still saw the genesis of departure, but this freedom is not linked to him, since the writing was already in progress when he died. Freedom settled over the five albums. It is possible, this liberation, because we have experience with Asterix, which allows us to see other avenues. “
What has changed since the first time? “It feels like it’s pretty straightforward, Asterix, with recalcitrant Gauls handing out slaps, but, in reality, it’s a subtle balance. It is this recipe that was difficult for us to come up with: an adventure that seems quite naive in the first degree, but which turns out to be a little more drawer when reading. In addition, we wanted to add our own sensitivity. “
And this sensitivity, we find it in the structure of the story, a little different from the others. “Unlike the first album [Astérix chez les Pictes], 2013), which I had attacked with concern for the model, this one started with the pleasure of inventing a little tale that would begin with “Once upon a time… in the land of the Sarmatians”, whereas, usually, Asterix and Obelix are in the context of a real country, with stereotypes that we will laugh at. “
To take the bet to make fun of a culture, precisely, is to run the risk of offending, even without intention. It makes you wonder if it is not easier to talk about a people who have disappeared today. “Not at all, but since it was still new territory, since there are only very limited documents on the real Sarmatians, it allowed me to invent a kingdom and establish the rules there, in my own way. “