Asterix’s enemy in the 40se Album du Gaulois, set for release in several countries on October 26, features a figure of a philosophical guru named Vicevertus who is skilled in “positive thinking,” the publisher announced Monday.
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L’Iris blanc (48 pages) is published simultaneously in 20 languages with more than five million copies.
This is the sixth album designed by Didier Conrad, who took over the series in 2013 following the retirement of one of Asterix’s two creators, Albert Uderzo. He is supported by bestselling author Fabcaro on the script.
During a press conference at the Hachette Livre headquarters in Vanves, near Paris, the authors explained that the plot would revolve around Tulius Vicevertus, the doctor and philosopher of Julius Caesar, who had come to rescue the demoralized troops around the village of the “irreducible Gauls” to motivate.
The white iris is a school. He was inspired by a Greek philosopher for his method,” Fabcaro explained.
Vicevertus will not only raise the morale of the Roman soldiers, but also cause division in the Gallic village. This new philosophy, which advocates kindness, vegetarian diet and meditation, will find its supporters, such as the village chief’s wife, Bonnemine, and its detractors, such as the skeptical Asterix.
To draw him, Didier Conrad first imagined a fairly young man. But the screenwriter and editor chose a mature man with white, shoulder-length hair.
Each new Asterix album is, despite the disappearance of its two creators (the screenwriter René Goscinny in 1977 and the designer Albert Uderzo in 2020), a big event in bookstores every two years.
“Asterix couldn’t be better,” said Hachette Illustré CEO Isabelle Magnac. She pointed to the record number of visitors to Parc Astérix in Plailly, north of Paris, with more than 2.8 million visitors in 2022.
Éditions Albert René, owner of the rights, is one of the most profitable groups within Hachette Livre, a group that is currently being bought out, along with the rest of Lagardère, by Vivendi, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré.