New Asterix Book

Folks,
I have heard rumblings for a while but there are now rumours of a new asterix book (after Asterix and the Falling Sky (2005)) is going to come out in October this year to coincide with their anniversary celebrations. This is not a rehashed story like how Obelix fell into the magic potion or the film book but a brand new story. Though I am not a huge fan of the new series I do like to buy them for completeness... Any news that folks in this forum can share or is this just plain gossip :-)?

Thanks!

There’s a bit here from January about the rerelease of How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He was a Little Boy, which does suggest that there may be a new album for the 50th anniversary later this year, with a release date of 22/10/09.
It’s not the best thought out article, I’ll grant you, as it calls HOFITMPWHWALB “new”, while also remarking that it came out in English in 1989, and even before it was a book in French it was a text story in Pilote magazine in 1965. So make of it what you will, regarding a further album.

It is entirely possible that the intention is to close the series on the 50th anniversary, rather than extend its run, as the article implies when it mentions the deal with the publisher from 2008. Uderzo is now 80, and apparently is having some problems with his hands; he has asked, as did Hergé, that no one continues Asterix after his death, a move apparently endorsed by his daughter. If he can complete this celebration, it could be a fitting end to the canon. However, there seems to be some confusion in what I have read if there is just one, or perhaps two books in the pipeline…

If it is the end of the series then I for one will not shed any tears. I never liked the post-Goscinny books (with the possible exception of "Asterix and the Black Gold") and always thought that Uderzo should have found another writer to contribute to the series. Raoul Cauvin for instance who has, and not without merit, become one of the most popular writer of humourus Belgian comics of recent years.

Oh dear :o( I do look forward to new Asterix books to add to my collection but I really do hope the story that he comes up with will be better than that Manga verses Disney story in the Falling Sky. My God that was awful. Why introduce aliens into the Gaulish world!?! The previous Asterix and the Actress wasn't good either. I think it all went a bit downhill from The Great Divide. Some of the books published after that contain too much fantasy for my liking. From what I read on that site it seems that a new book will be short stories a bit like Class Act maybe?