(Paris) The Asterix comic book series will have a new screenwriter on the occasion of the 40e album, the hilarious Fabcaro, whose gift for the absurd made the success.
This album numbered 40 is planned, as is the tradition every odd year, in the fall, precisely on October 26, Albert René editions said in a press release on Tuesday.
The title is being kept secret at this stage. And the draftsman remains the one Albert Uderzo had designated as successor from the 35e album in 2013, namely Didier Conrad.
A character born from the imagination of Uderzo and screenwriter René Goscinny in 1959, Asterix is a guaranteed success, in phenomenal proportions.
The latest album, Asterix and the Griffin in 2021, had sold over 1.5 million copies that year, in just over two months.
It’s also a very successful export product, with millions of copies sold around the world for each album, translated into dozens of languages.
Fabcaro (Fabrice Caro in civil status), 49, comic book author and novelist, is only the fourth screenwriter of the adventures of the irreducible Gaul, after Goscinny, Uderzo and Jean-Yves Ferri.
He is known for his hilarious satires of our society. His great success Zai zai zai zai in 2015, told of the escape of a man taken to task for having forgotten his loyalty card at a store, with a dose of nonsense rarely seen.
“I was big fan of Asterix. It’s a great gift that we make to the kid that I was, “said the screenwriter to AFP.
“I want to stay true to the specifications – even if the wording isn’t very pretty – or in any case to what makes Asterix so charming. With classic ingredients, such as anachronisms, puns or others. And above all stay true to the characters,” he added.
“Funny and effective”
A board unveiled by Albert René editions shows this telescoping between these inhabitants of the village that everyone knows and our contemporary obsessions.
While Asterix and his companion Obelix try to taste a wild boar, remarks from other Gauls will spoil the moment for them. “Eat sparingly and your body will thank you.” Then: “Nice tasting, my friends! And don’t forget: five berries and vegetables a day”. Finally: “For your well-being, remember to practice regular physical activity”.
“From the moment I was offered the project, very quickly I started to scribble, to look for ideas, to explore avenues, and it came quite quickly”, explains Fabcaro.
“Sometimes it happens that the authors say: ‘I took a risk there…’ In reality, it’s a very relative risk, you have to put things in their place, you’re not at the front either. At worst, we will say that it is less funny, ”he remarks.
The author of Broadway, The speech or of Formica, a tragedy in three acts was approached by the publisher when Jean-Yves Ferri wanted to focus on another project for the time being.
“When I read Fabrice’s synopsis, I was immediately drawn into this story. First because it was funny and effective, then because it seemed to me extremely faithful to the codes that my father had used and laid down, ”said Anne Goscinny, the daughter of the co-creator of Asterix, to AFP.
“In our reflections, we go first to our pleasures as readers. Fabrice is someone who makes us die of laughter. I’m a big boy fan ! “, added the director general of the editions Albert René, Céleste Surugue.
The other event of 2023 for Asterix will be the release on the 1er movie february The middle Empiredirected by Guillaume Canet.