Monday 15 November 2004

Albert Uderzo signs copies of Lire magazine on the champs-Elysees

Press review

Following the huge success enjoyed by the special issue of Lire magazine dedicated to Astérix, Albert Uderzo has surprisingly agreed to sign several hundred additional copies to celebrate the opening of the new comic book section (350m²) at Virgin Megastore on the Champs-Elysées.
The signing will take place over one day only - 17 November 2004. Just this once won't hurt, so the Lutetians should consider themselves very lucky. Between 6 and 7.30pm, Albert Uderzo and his writer friends (Alexandre Jardin, Didier Van Cauwelaert, Eric Fottorino and Frédéric Begbeider) will sign copies of the special issue in aid of Lire et faire lire, the association promoting literacy run by Alexandre Jardin and Pascal Guénée.
Two important things to note here: only issues of the magazine will be signed and it has been all of 30 years since Albert Uderzo has agreed to a signing of this kind…Security at the ready!
Send to an indomitable Gaul

Monday 15 November 2004

Asterix wolrdwide!

Press review

To celebrate the 45th birthday of our small friend from Gaul, Cacofonix created a communication campaign that resounded around the world without a single sour note! It's enough to make you think that our bard was a founding father of that internationally known school Marketingmix. People from the world around raised their mugs of goat's milk and joined us in toasting the health of Asterix and his friends on the morning of 29 October.
In Turkey, which from the Gallic point of view, seems to vibrate to a European rhythm, the newspaper Zaman offered English-version quotations from Albert Uderzo concerning his upcoming album. It even alluded to the fright he and René Goscinny would have felt 45 years ago, had they known what a resounding success their project would be!
Radio Canada in Quebec paid tribute to Asterix by recounting the famous lines of our missive dedicated to the drinking of goat's milk - the list is long: go ahead and toast to everyone's health!
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Monday 15 November 2004

Majestix and Crismus Bonus

Encyclopedia

Who is known as "Piggywiggy" in that village in Gaul? Do you know?
To round out your knowledge on the leader closest to our heart and discover all the intimate secrets on Crismus Bonus, click here (personally, I love clicking here…).
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Monday 15 November 2004

The Dogmatix lookalike contest

Games and contests

A great thanks to all of you who participated in this high-minded, statistical contest! Whatever intellectuals may think, Asterix can be happy just having fun sometimes - in any case, those of us from the Village often enjoy a simple good laugh! For example, we even organised a banquet, with Sylvie Uderzo as presiding chairman, to help in the difficult task of naming three winners of the most talked-about contest this side of the Rubicon.
I had personally voted for Angelina Jolie until I suddenly realised that this contest actually focussed on selecting the most magnificent Dogmatix lookalike. No one else understood how anyone could vote for the most beautiful American actress, unless of course, hissed one of our indomitable girls, it was a simple dogmatic fixation. After pulling myself together, I listened to the deliberations, which were enough to bring a tear to the eyes of any Goncourt literary commission: outcries, protestations, flying fish... there were, in fact, several fish on the menu...
The finalist was a Belgian, whose name already promised a great future: Joelle Dirx from Dison. Second and third place went to Alexandre Malgouyres (from Cahors, France) and Erwan Jailler (from Chamaillières, France). Congratulations to all three!
We will now concentrate on the next contest… where we are debating between finding the most magnificent Vitalstatistix or the most breathtaking Mrs. Geriatrix…
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Monday 15 November 2004

Regional language versions of Asterix raise Caesar's hackles!

Edition

The first album to come out, according to the Roman calendar, was the Picard version…. On bookstands throughout the Picardy region from 27 October onwards, "Astérix i rinte à l'école" is already out of print: 45,000 copies sold in just two weeks!
The other regions are already wondering how they can possibly expect to beat this record. Rising to the occasion, publishers in the Picardy region have already gone back to work and expect to have new copies on the stands by 24 November.
Now, hold your horses, everyone! Wait until the books hit the shops! We're getting the delivery wagons ready as we speak!
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Monday 15 November 2004

Our website is the talk of the town

The official asterix.com website

The figures for October were excellent, with all the indicators on the rise. By reaching 240,000 visitors, it was the second-best month of the year. The English version of the official site is flying high while the German version is starting to make its mark and the Spanish version is just taking off.
With over 2.2 million pages viewed, the Gauls are striking a pose. What keeps us down-to-earth, despite all the success, is when we realise that every day, we have to start again from scratch…Yikes!
Send to an indomitable Gaul