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Asterix

World literature with wild boars

By Teutates! A true European cultural asset recently celebrated its 65th birthday, and the whole of Gaul celebrated. All of Gaul? Oh yes! And fans all over the world too.

On 29 October 1959, Asterix the Gaul made his very first appearance in the pilot issue of the French youth magazine ‘Pilote’. This first instalment of the adventures of the potion-swilling Celt began a remarkable success story: almost 400 million volumes of the comic series have been sold worldwide to date; they have been published in 80 countries and 111 languages and dialects. In addition, eight animated films, two computer-animated films and five live-action films have been released in cinemas.

The 40th volume in the series, ‘The White Iris’, was most recently published in autumn 2023, with 1.5 million books reportedly sold in Germany alone. The most loyal fans seem to live there, as almost a third of all Asterix volumes ever sold were bought in Germany. There are also dialect versions of the adventures in a total of 29 different German dialects! They're crazy, these Goths!

Big with the "Goths"

It was not initially foreseeable that Asterix would become almost more popular here than in his home country, where he is part of the national cultural heritage. The first German licence holder (‘Fix-und-Foxi’ maker Rolf Kauka) had to give it back due to gross distortion of the original. And while the title hero's typical journeys to other countries are an endearingly ironic play on national clichés, the Germans in ‘Asterix with the Goths’ all come off very badly: they wear spiked hats, march in goose-step, are devious, all secretly want to become leaders and invade their neighbouring countries (see IR425274). The memory of German aggression was still very much alive in France in 1963. It's all the more remarkable that German comic fans didn't hold these little nasties against the Asterix authors and took the cartoon Gauls to their hearts. Perhaps the Germans do have more of a sense of humour than is generally assumed...
The marvellous translation by Gudrun Penndorf also contributed significantly to the great success. Like her colleague Dr. Erika Fuchs with Donald Duck, she managed to congenially transfer the humour of the French original and enrich the German language in the long term.

The sky hasn't fallen on his head yet

At 65, Asterix is practically a youngster compared to Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or Tintin, but it's still a classic. Let's take a quick look at the technology in Asterix to mark the anniversary. The series features some interesting inventions. The most famous is, of course, the magic potion created by the druid Getafix (Miraculix in German; 1022703), which gives superhuman powers. Although cooking recipes are not patentable per se, a tonic with such a powerful effect would certainly be patentable.

Another recipe would probably also be quite successful on the market: Asterix's hellish soup from ‘Asterix and the laurel wreath’, which instantly cures even the grimmest hangover. Main ingredients: an unplucked chicken, black pudding, soap and lots and lots of peppers. Side effects: multi-level facial discolouration in the style of an Andy Warhol series portrait, hot flushes and greatly increased salivation.

Certainly, our examiners would also like to have a look at the application for the statue pedestal of the agent Dubbleosix, which turns into a chariot at the push of a button (from “Asterix and the Black Gold“). By the way, Dubbleosix with the facial features of actor Sean Connery is an homage to James Bond. “Cameo appearances” of this kind are characteristic of the series. The actors Jean Gabin and Bernard Blier were immortalized in the same volume. In other adventures, secondary characters resemble Kirk Douglas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vincent Cassel, Lino Ventura, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy and many other celebrities.

But let’s get back to the inventions: Undoubtedly, the manipulated acorns used by Getafix to regrow felled trees in a matter of seconds are every nature lover’s dream (“The Mansions of the Gods”). The flying carpet from “Asterix and the Magic Carpet” would also be a big seller.

Asterix can also teach you a lot about marketing: In “Obelix and Co.” it is inspiring to see how the snooty elite business university graduate Preposterus (by the way, a parody of the young Jacques Chirac) turns a rather clumsy accessory like the menhir into a bestseller. By contrast, Unhygienix the fishmonger, who is proud to procure his goods “from renowned wholesalers” in Marseille, hundreds of kilometres away, and has them delivered by ox cart, should urgently review his distribution channel.

Gauls are well protected

Needless to say, the authors and the publisher have not forgotten to protect their wild boar-loving and pugnacious rascals well: Not only the names of the eponymous heroes Asterix and Obelix are protected, but also the names of secondary characters such as Cacofonix (Troubadix in German – 1068120), Justforkix (Grautvornix in German – 305077236) or the luckless Bravura (Maestria in German – 2052555) are or were registered word marks.

Asterix vs. Alcolix: Legal history(ies) of parody and plagiarismPlagiat

Of course, the enormous popularity also has its downsides. The illustrator Albert Uderzo, who died five years ago, was known for his particularly vehement legal defence of his intellectual property. Uderzo had creative adaptations with a political message such as ‘Isterix und das Atomkraftwerk (Isterix and the nuclear power station)’ taken out of circulation, as well as flat plagiarisms.

Asterix therefore also went down in German legal history. The legal pitfall is the complicated distinction between plagiarism and parody. In German law, the protection of intellectual property is so broadly defined that, it is not difficult to consider a creative parody as plagiarism.

The Federal Court of Justice's (BGH) judgement on ‘Alcolix’ in 1993 became famous: as usual, Uderzo had filed a lawsuit against this parody, in which the title character indulges in alcohol to excess. The BGH confirmed the copyright protectability of comic characters, which not only included their graphic representation, but also their personality and characteristic behaviour. At the same time, the BGH laid down strict standards for the assessment of a ‘free adaptation’ of copyright-protected works. The distance to the original work is decisive. And this in turn depends on the viewer: is he familiar with the original and does he have ‘the necessary intellectual understanding of the new work’? (Judgements: BGH vom 11.3.1993 (Alcolix), BGHZ 122, 53 ff., GRUR 1994, 191 ff.)

New volume later this year

Fortunately, there is no end in sight to the success story: the ‘classic’ period of the unrivalled first 23 volumes came to an end in 1977 with the sudden death of the brilliant lyricist René Goscinny. Albert Uderzo carried on alone - with fluctuating content (not drawing!) quality. A few years before his death, he handed over to illustrators Didier Conrad and Jean-Yves Ferri, who published their fifth adventure, ‘Asterix and the Griffin’, in 2021. Fabcaro (Fabrice Caro) then succeeded Ferri as author and immediately landed a hit with the highly acclaimed volume ‘The White Iris’. The next adventure is due to be published at the end of October 2025. May many more follow, by Belenus!

Text: Dr. Jan Björn Potthast, Pictures: DPMAregister, Ehapa Egmont

Last updated: 19 March 2025