Asterix: Volume 37 due this year

A new Asterix is due out in French in October 2017, so the English edition should be soon afterwards.

The Asterix blog includes a page-trailer: Obelix is working on a menhir when a little boy remarks that it must be great making menhirs, but then says that when he grows up he wants to be a warrior like Asterix: smart and quick-witted and going on loads of missions. Obelix is disheartened and throws the menhir away. (It's not clear if the little cheek ends up under the menhir! :)

When Asterix asks why he threw the menhir, Obelix announces that he is giving them up. He will now be Obelix, the smart and quick-witted warrior. He gets himself a helmet like Asterix's and a little sword.

The question now is if the next album will be an adventure of Obelix the Gaul? All that the authors reveal is that it will be another story of the heroes travelling abroad.

The English version of the page is on-line, having been made available through the official Asterix and Obelix Facebook page last weekend (we also linked to it from our FB page - I know you don't like FB, mct16, but you do get more information by following our FaceBook and Twitter accounts!).

Looks to be a good start! :-)

...and we have a title!

It was revealed today that the new book is to be called Asterix and the Race Through Italy, with a publication date of the 19th October!

The adventure sees Asterix and Obelix traveling through ancient Italy and discovering that there was a lot more to it than just the "crazy" Romans: the local Italics are just as much against Caesar as the Gauls!

This French comics website gives a few more details about the album.

Essentially the story will have the Gauls discover how divided the Italian peninsula was before it was unified in the 19th century. In one scene Asterix describes to Obelix how it is divided between the Venetians, Etruscans, Umbri, Osci, Messapians and Apulians and adds that Caesar has trouble controlling them.

In fact, the usual map of Gaul is replaced with a map of Italy which makes the divisions clear, how the regions stick by their independence and how life is not easy for the garrisons of Roman legionaries.