The new enemy of the Gauls in the 40th album of the Asterix and Obelix series, which will be released on October 26th in several countries, including Canada, is a philosophical guru who knows about “positive thinking” and whose name is “Vicevertus”. , as publisher Hachette Livre revealed on Monday.
L’Iris blanc is published simultaneously in 20 languages with more than five million copies.
This is the sixth album by Didier Conrad, who took over the series in 2013 after the resignation of one of the two Asterix inventors, Albert Uderzo, who died in 2020. He is supported in the implementation by the successful author Fabcaro.
At a press conference at the Hachette Livre headquarters in Vanves, near Paris, the authors explained that the plot revolved around Tulius Vicevertus, the philosopher and doctor of Julius Caesar, who came to motivate the demoralized troops around the village of the irreducible Gauls.
The white iris is a school. Fabcaro explained that he was inspired by a Greek philosopher when developing his method.
Kindness, vegetarian diet and meditation
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, but also its critics, 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.
Despite the disappearance of its two creators – screenwriter René Goscinny in 1977 and designer Albert Uderzo in 2020 – each new Asterix album is a big event in bookstores every two years.
Asterix couldn’t be better, Hachette Livre Illustré general director Isabelle Magnac told AFP. She pointed to the record number of visitors at Parc Astérix in Plailly, north of Paris, with more than 2.8 million visitors in 2022.
The Albert René editions, which own the rights, are among the most profitable from Hachette Livre, a group that is currently being bought out, along with the rest of Lagardère, by Vivendi, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré.