2023-10-16 08:55:35
One week before the release of the fortieth Asterix album, screenwriter Fabcaro and designer Didier Conrad reveal the new character from the comics, a philosopher sowing discord among the Gauls with his “positive thinking”.
A villain between the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy and the former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, advocating “positive thinking”, to raise the morale of the Romans and divide the Gauls: this is the promise of the fortieth album of Asterix, L ‘White Iris, the outline of which was revealed this Monday during a press conference.
This new character, baptized Vicevertus by Fabcaro, the new screenwriter of the series, is at the center of this album which is in line with La Zizanie. In this 1970 volume, Fabcaro’s favorite, the nauseating Tullius Détritus infiltrates the village of the Gauls at the request of Caesar to provoke discord among them.
A character as evil as he is flamboyant, Vicevertus developed the White Iris, a school of thought from Rome which advocates benevolence, healthy living, individual development. Emperor Julius Caesar initially had the idea of instilling this state of mind in his troops stationed near the Gallic village resisting in Armorica.
“Thrive in kindness”
While mutinies and desertions multiply in Caesar’s camp, Vicevertus teaches his troops “to think positive” with perfectly abstruse (and hilarious) aphorisms: “If you send light it will come back to you”, “Pick what is ‘offer it to you if you want the benefits’ or ‘What does it matter to be in front if your soul stays behind!’
“We all have deep inside us a flower just waiting to blossom in kindness…”, this charismatic character further details in the album. “A happy legionnaire is a combative legionnaire. For that, there is nothing like positive thinking and a healthy diet…”, still advocates this guru-like thinker.
What Caesar did not foresee, however, is that this fashionable philosophy, which among other things recommends eating much less wild boar, will find its way to the Gallic village and divide it. With his white Iris, Vicevertus will even fool Bonnemine, the wife of chief Abraracourcix.
5 million copies
L’Iris Blanc, which will be published on October 26, is particularly anticipated: it is the first album whose genesis was not witnessed by Albert Uderzo, who died in March 2020. And the first album whose screenplay is by Fabcaro. Didier Conrad is back on the drawing board. The one who took over the series in 2013 is on his sixth album.
The cover of “L’Iris Blanc”, the new album of “Asterix” – Asterix – Obélix – Idéfix / 2023 Hachette Livre / Goscinny – Uderzo
“Each album has been an event and has succeeded in satisfying the fans”, welcomed the Albert René editions during this press conference. A success that continues in the cinema: The Middle Kingdom by Guillaume Canet has this year accumulated 4.6 million admissions in France, 3 million abroad and 20 million views on Netflix.
Like each Asterix album, The White Iris will be produced in five million copies worldwide (and available in 20 languages including Danish, Mexican and Greek). According to Albert René Editions, sales of this series started in 1961 reach 393 million copies in total.
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