Asterix The Gladiator was first published in French in 1964 as "Astérix Gladiateur " and in English in 1969.Asterix and Obelix set out for Rome to rescue the Bard Cacofonix who has been captured by the Romans as a gift idea by Prefect Odius Asparagus for Julius Caesar.
This will be their first visit to Rome , they meet the unscrupulous Phoenician merchant Economikrisis who will feature again in later Astrix albums and for the first time they run into the Pirates (to the Pirate's great cost) as they will time and time again!
In order to find Cacofonix they become Gladiators and soon drive the slave driver Cauis Fatuous crazy . Cacofonix however is quite able to look after himself as his singing drives the Romans even crazier...
As usual their mission is successfully accomplished to everyone's satisfaction (except Cauis Fatuous who gets his comeuppance).

This is the first Asterix book I have read. The names of the characters are a little weird, but it's still an extremely good book!

Odious Asperagus, the Roman Prefect of Gaul, wants to give Julius Caesar a present. So he kidnaps Cacofonix, the Gaulish bard, to give to Caesar as a present! (Cacofonix is a really bad singer, too!) So, Asterix and Obleix go to rescue Cacofonix from the Romans.

This book is really exciting, interesting, and funny. The pictures in this book are great. My favorite parts are when Obleix says his favorite saying, "These Romans are crazy!" Whenever Obleix smells wild boar, he just dashes for it! (It's his favorite food.)

Me and my Dad are reading it together, even though I finished the whole book already! I think this book is just as super for kids as it is for grown-ups!

Julius Ceasar has conquered Gaul, almost all of it....except that little village of indominatable Gauls that still holds out. Aided by the magic potion of Druid Getafix that confer's superhuman strength, Asterix and Obelix confound Ceasar's plans in bring them under Pax Romana. In Asterix the Gladiator, the village bard Cacofonix (arguably the worst singer in the world) is kidnapped and scheduled to be thrown to the lions in Rome and the only way Asterix and Obleix can rescue him is by becoming gladiators themselves... This is one of the best in the series. The whole crazy cast of them is there...Vitalstatistix, everyone's favorite chief, Fulliautomatix the blacksmith, Unhygenix the fishmonger....and dont miss Cacofonix's hilarious performance in the arena when he decides to serenade the citizens of Rome.

First published in French in 1973 as Astérix en Corse, Asterix in Corsica was first published in English in 1979.
Asterix and friends free a Corsican chieftain, exiled by the Romans, at the camp of Totorum, and he asks them to accompany him to Corsica, to see how they deal with the Romans there.
There they help the Corsicans to defeat their Roman oppressors, through adventures in the marquis, and get to grips with the proud and touchy Corsicans, and their complicated clan feuds, while experiencing the wonderful sights, sounds, scents and tastes of Corsica.
Particularly amusing are the names of the Roman camps around Corsica on the map at the front of the book, and the culinary names of the Corsican clan chiefs!

As a child this was my favourite Astreix book. All the Asterix books are excellent and most highly recommended, but this on is the funniest by far. Now I am a parent, I an collecting asterix for my son so he can enjoy these books just as I did.

Great comic book layout, which word puns that adults can enjoy as much as kids. Reading this book again as an adult there are jokes that still make me laugh, and my son enjoys the pictures.

I have read Asterix since i was 5 and now at 28 years old, i still read it and never cease to discover new things in it.

For kids, asterix represents a very human heroe, with his limitations, idiosyncrasies and great deeds. But as one grows up and learns about history and modern culture, one begins to understand the subtle the historical references. A lot of Asterix is based on true history and gave me the impetus to want to learn more about the Roman world.

In a nutshell, great for kids, great for adults.

First published in French in 1965 as Le tour de Gaule d'Astérix , it was first published in English in 1979. An action pact , fun filled adventure , Asterix and Obelix tour Gaul (Ancient France) in order to win a bet to prove to the Roman occupiers that Gaul is their country and that they will go where they like in it.
The proof is food specialities from all over Gaul which is to be presented in a banquet. Naturally the Romans pull out all stops to stop our friends but as always (and as we shall see in the adventure ) the Gauls are irreperessible.

We get to see what Ancient Gaul in the minds of the writers looked like . This may have been a parody of France in 1965!

The humorous depiction of the adventures of the inhabitants of one small village in Gaul, (modern day France) which defies roman occupation in 50 BC with the superhuman power of a magic potion. Its full of beautiful visuals and excellent pun, especially the play of words in conversation and names of characters. Its gentle satire pokes fun on modern life, art and politics with caricatures of Napoleon, Shakespeare, Zorro and even James Bond!

An excellent addition for your collection. Also very good introduction if you are unfamiliar with Asterix & his adventures.

This is one of my favourite Asterix books.
Asterix and the Golden Sickle was first published in French in 1962 and in English in 1975.
Asterix and Obelix journey to Lutetia (Ancient Paris) to buy a desperately needed Golden Sickle for the Druid Getafix.
On the way there they easily deal with the mobs of bandits that attack them on the road , and also cannot find lodgings at Sundinium (Ancient Le Mans )
because they are there during the great-Ox-Cart race -The Sundinium 24 hours.
When they get to Lutetia they find that finding a sickle will not be so easy and that Obelix's cousin , the great sickle maker Metallurgix is missing .
To get to the bottom of this they must battle against the Lutetia underworld as well as the Roman authorities (and make a journey through the forest that will later become the Bois de Boulogne).
I wont spoil the ending but we all know that every Asterix adventure ends with a feat under the starry sky to welcome our heroes back to the village.

I have been reading about the adventures of Asterix and Obelix for years. I first learned about them while living in Europe and I still have all my copies with me back here in America. It's really hard to rate one over the other. They are all so much fun to read. All their names crack me up. I recommend any Asterix book to anyone of any age! They are all great!

A traveller, claming to be a soothsayer, takes refuge in the village. It isn't long, before the entire village is in his thrall, desperate to believe the wonderful things he has foretold.
Only Asterix sees him for what he really is. A fraud, who lives off peoples credulity.
Even Obelix is taken in by his sweet talk, and falls in love with Geriatrixs' rather gorgeous wife.
The false soothsayer falls into the hands of the Romans and is promised his freedom if he can get the Gauls to leave the village.

He actually manages to do this, and only Asterix and a reluctant Obelix stay. Luckily the Druid Getafix gets back from his Conference in the Forest of the Carnutes, in the nick of time.
Asterix and Getafix put their brains together to deal with the Soothsayer and the Romans.

Some really witty jokes in this one, where we get to find out about all the Gaullish gods, as well as the Roman policy at the time to arrest and deport all Gaullish soothsayers.

This book was the first one I ever bought in the Asterix series, and it's still one of my favorites. Everyone in the village wants to believe the rosy future predicted for them by the soothsayer, with only Asterix expressing any skepticism. I really love the artwork in this series, as well as the attempt at giving the reader a feel for the historical era --- even though it's as historically accurate of ancient times as the Flintstones is of the caveman era! Still, a fun-to-read set of books!

I love this book!! It's not a comic book, but it tells you everything about Asterix's and Obelix's chlidhood, including that how Obelix fell into the magic potion. Asterix tells to the children Obelix fell the whole story. There are lots of full pages and 2 full pages pictures in it, and there are 10-12 lines text for every illustration. There are 32 pages in the book. The cover page isn't worked out, but the other pictures are great!!

I love it!

I have read asterix for around ten years and this is my second favorite. Obelix mistakenly hits getafix and which makes getafix lose his memory of who he is or how to make the magic potion. When this happens the romans make a plan to concure the village. Will getafix regain his memory in time to save the village from becoming sitting ducks? It is full of all the puns and jokes you expect with a asterix book.

First published in French in 1975 as La Grande Traversée, it was first published in English in 1976.

Asterix and Obelix volunteer to go fishing, as Getafix needs fresh fish, which Unhigienix, the fishmonger, as usual, cannot provide.

Stormy weather blows them to a strange destination where they meet up with a strange people who they cannot quite identify (of course we have the benefit of hindsight and know that this is America and these people are Native Americans.) Before the end of the voyage they also get to run into Vikings (A slightly different breed it seems, to those we met in 'Asterix and the Normans').

As usual our friends voyage to interesting places and upside down. In the Asterix albums we have met parodies of figures such as Boadicea, The Beatles, Napoleon, Laurence Olivier and 007. In this one we get to meet up with a spoof of Harold Wilson, British Prime minister when this book was published.

Of course the theme of food also comes up quite a lot. It seems the authors of the Asterix albums had quite an obsession with food!

En la linea clasica de grandes historias de Asterix & Obelix, esta es una de las mejores, ya que en ella Cesar pone en marcha el mejos plan que se le ha visto, para derrotar alos galos, ya que manda a una legion de mujeres a que se establescan al lado del pueblo y les hagan guerra psicologica hasta desesperalos y que abandonen el pueblo todos los habitantes, ya que la caballerosidad gala, les impide golpear a una mujer. Pero siempre hay un plan de apoyo y las mujeres del pueblo pelean en esta ocasion paar defender su hogar y su tierra.
Muy recomendable para que muchos entiendan que hombres y mujeres somos iguales y que debemos responder a la hora de pelear.