Well, no, not quite, given that a cyclone chose not to hit my city, but I've been on a bit of a comic/graphic novel kick of late (chiefly the former), and this time it's a childhood favourite that doesn't seem to have been mentioned here before.I speak, of course, of Asterix. I'm a little weary of most things in animated/illustrated form at the moment, what with the rash of overpriced Agatha Christie and Biggles comics that's been everybloodywhere for the last six months. And also a mild OD of manga/anime (more the former than the latter, truth be told). I mean, I still maintain that Spirited Away and Sailor Moon are among the most beautiful things ever to be put on film anywhere in the world, but I do like a slightly brighter background to my illustrated reading material than the average manga uses. I like colour- especially lots and lots of green, which is inevitable in the panels if your story happens to be set in a Roman-era village. I like the illustrations (half the reason I'll never be able to watch a live-action Asterix movie- they belong in 2D paper form for me). And I love, love, love the puns, which are no less amazing because they were translated from the French, sometimes (according to Wikipedia, which I shall treat as an authority since I don't know French) becoming punnier in the process. Goscinny and Underzo were genius, and I don't get why more people don't agree.
PS: The dashboard tells me this is my 100th post. It should probably be more, I don't know, fashiony and momentous, but this'll have to do.
12 comments:
My stepdaughter loves Spirited Away. We both loved Howl's Moving Castle.
The Wikipedia page on Asterix is very good... cleared up for me that panel in Asterix in Britain where the shopkeeper says, "Oh, so this melon's bad, is it?" and the reply is, "Rather, old fruit."
A hundred posts? Congrats! Now go on and shut down Stilts already. I still go and check for new posts there...
Nice pics in the prev post. For all your self-deprecation, you're actually quite good with a camera...
Hooray for Asterix. I knew my comedy post would leave out some biggies.
I absolutely love Asterix. :)
Also, see if you can get hold of someone called Joe Sacco. I've been reading him lately. Though he's hardly the same style, he's really interesting. And if you haven't read 'corridor' (http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/04/19/stories/2004041901630300.htm)and
'Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers' you're missing something. :)
oh how much i loved obelix! i still have a hardbound copy somewhere...
Wendy: I haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle, only read the book. Now I shall go look the movie up..
Perakath: I always thought the melon panel was pretty clear- at least in English. Though of course there could be a cross-pun with the French..
Yohan: it was still a pretty comprehensive post all the same..
Daddy: I know you do ;) I'll discuss the stuff with you when I've actually read it..I heard the Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers sounds like that old Bong book with the owl- dammit I forgot the name, but I know I've read of it.
Indi: My personal favourite was Dogmatix (canine environmentalist in the years BC? Priceless.). But I'm working on building my Asterix collection so I don't do something like blow my first paycheque on a box set.
That I did, but it may be time to give it another chance, it looked a bit...spare for my taste at first.
I really liked Corridor and The Barn Owl's Wondrous Caper. Floppy described them as unprepossessing.
Hehe. You replied to my incorrectly-spelled comment before I could correct it.
The puns are, in fact, different in the English versions. The French versions are hilarious, but Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge have done an astounding job with making the series sound like it was written in English to begin with.
Now that makes sense...and I fully agree with you about the translators- they did a brilliant job.
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