New Asterix book - "Asterix and the Falling Sky"

In an interview, Uderzo - who has created the comic books single-handedly since the death of author Rene Goscinny in 1977 - said he was dabbling for the first time in international politics.

Mmm-hmm. The "first time"? Pretty rich, seeing as Uderzo has bowlderised and Disneyfied his own legacy.

But really, that last one (you know, the one where they meet Obelix's old crush again, and she has an evil spy twin, but she's ok really) made me so angry I could only read a few pages before throwing it across the room. I did like some of the post-Goscinny stuff (the one with the flying carpet, the one with the well), but...

Should I? Buy, that is.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0752866079.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

(Formerly "THE GREATEST STORY EVER DRAWN 14 litres of Indian Ink, 30 brushes, 62 pencils, 1 hard pencil. 27 erasers, 1984 sheets of paper, 16 typewriter ribbons, 2 typewriters, 366 pints of beer went into this creation!")

Ils sont fous, les americains ....

Yes I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for the authentic Portuguese take on Asterix In Lusitania:

Asterix thrives on deliberate anachronism, so obviously it would be missing the point to mention that Fado music only developed in the 19th century, salted cod started from the renaissance when longer ship travel became important and azulejos, as well as names like Oxalá, came from the Caliphate, so none of this would have existed.

I think the volume is at its strongest when it's satirizing globalisation and technological backward steps; there's no particular reason why that should take place in Portugal, but there also is no reason why it shouldn't.

The Portuguese specific jokes I enjoyed most were the ção references and Portuguese fatalism defeating Romans by making them melancholy.

The vinho verde being coloured red is almost certainly an error since it is far more commonly white, but red green wine does actually exist so I want to chalk it up to these guys being tru heads.

Obelix disliking codfish, however, will absolutely not stand - Obelix is supposed to be a big kid, and so I understand why he would reject fish in general, but cod is a very meat-y fish and there's lots of preparations in Portugal that are very kid friendly - cheesy cream sauce, fried with chips and eggs, a mayo and onion version. Also lord knows my German relatives would always complain about the excess of meat dishes in Portuguese cuisine - including boar!