Asterix Versus Caesar: The Book of the Film

Asterix: Adaptations #Film Adaptation 2

by René Goscinny, Albert Uderzo

When the chief's niece, Panacea, is captured by the Romans with her fiance, Tragicomix, the Gaulish warriors Asterix and Obelix join the Roman legion in order to find them

Genres: Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Bande Dessinée, Humor, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

62 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

René Goscinny (1926 - 1977) was a French author, editor and humorist, who is best known for the comic book Asterix , which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris (considered the series' golden age).

Reviews

[Naveen N. Bhat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book containing the story and stills from the 1985 French–Belgian animated adventure comedy film, apparently the fourth film adaptation of the Asterix comic book series. The story, which combines the plots of Asterix the Gladiator and Asterix the Legionary, sees Asterix and his friend Obelix set off to rescue two lovers from their village that had been kidnapped by the Romans.

[Al Capwned · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never understood the concept of the novelisation of Astérix films. Nothing special at all.

[Karhum Ghassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally dislike orthopaedix he and his wife and impedimenta, I feel They are all loathsome and hideous well, whenever I see impedimenta in most of the other books I feel like skipping the part, but I also feel I have to read, but most of what she says is senseless so same thing with orthopaedix and his wife and they were the main characters in the story.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll start by saying I've not seen this film, and so I don't know if it's as much of as mess as this book is. Simply, this story blends the plot of Asterix the Legionary with Asterix the Gladiator, borrowing characters from both stories. Unlike in the original story, we meet Panacea's fiance Tragiccomix at the start of the story and both are taken by the Romans. As far as I can tell, the only reason Panacea was taken was to be a plot point so they could escape from the Romans only to be captured and take Cacofonix's role in Asterix the Gladiator.
The adventure that Asterix and Obelix goes on is a very brief stint in the legion before becoming a gladiator. Some of the gags are lifted straight from the books but the whole thing is really clumsily executed.
The 'artwork' consists of stills from the film, which look really poor printed on a page. On a couple of occasions the narrative text is dropped altogether and there's a frame-by-frame sequence of events. Dogmatix's scene when he recovers the lost magic potion gourd is a double page of pictures.
There was also the misguided idea that the story is told by Asterix and the games masters (who's not even relevant until the second half of the story). It was lazily done, I felt there was little love by the creators of Asterix about this film.
Let's just say I'm glad this only cost my 50p from a charity shop.

[StrictlySequential ArtNarrative · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Edition English HC = 1986 = First Printing

This is children's book text- not panel bubbled. That's always a let-down because you only get a few mostly large film stills per page instead of the fully illustrated bd format.

Story: ****
Nonetheless, it's a very fun read which fuses "Legionary" and "Gladiator" nearly optimally. I'd have included some things that they didn't at the expense of others that they covered but that's probably natural to anybody. So, it's not up to the standards of an "album" but it does fulfill an Asterix craving.

Art ***
As I explained above you won't get anything but stills so it loses a full star. They are great art in themselves though that also fulfill plenty.

[Andreas Stamatopoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το 1985 κυκλοφορεί η συγκεκριμένη απολαυστική περιπέτεια του Αστερίξ. Όταν δύο Γαλάτες, ο Τραγικομίξ και η πανέμορφη Φραμπάλα, συλλαμβάνονται από τους Ρωμαίους, ο Αστερίξ και ο Οβελίξ ταξιδεύουν στην Ρώμη προκειμένου να τους βρουν και να τους αποφυλακίσουν. Ωραία ιστορία με αρκετό χιούμορ και δράση που φτάνει μέχρι το Κολλοσαίο και φυσικά τον Ιούλιο Καίσαρα!

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Besluit: extra geld tachten te verdienen met een supercommercieel afkooksel van een nochtans goeie tekenfilm. De tekeningen zijn groot en mooi, de tekst is bladvulling.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book based on the film - but the film is based off of 'Asterix the Legionary' (?)

[Namitha Varma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a totally different experience as far as an Asterix "album" goes. It looks like a graphic novel at first, but turns out that it's the "novelisation" of the film of the same name made in 1985, with plenty of stills from the movie thrown in. It's a mash-up of Asterix and the Legionary and Asterix and the Gladiator. It was slightly weird reading an Asterix without the accompanying fun images, but eventually you get used to it. However, having read both the original comics (inspirations), I did not enjoy the narration as much.

[Edward Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second novelisation of an Asterix movie, this time a non original story based on The Legionary and The Gladiator. I suppose it makes sense to have a separate adaptation, but again it's a case of disappointment at this not being a comic book.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Asterix vs. Caesar – “novelization” of the ‘60s cartoon, itself derived from a combination of the plots of “Legionary,” “Gladiator,” and “Laurel Wreath.” Nothing to see here, move along.

[Usama Albastaki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I prefer comic's way which is not here!