''Asterix and Obelix All at Sea'' (, "Obelix's

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

hip In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

) is the thirtieth volume of the

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

comic book series a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

, by

Albert Uderzo Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; ; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo, was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the ''Astérix'' series in collaboration with Re ...

. The album was dedicated to Uderzo's grandchild, as well as to the American actor

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

Plot summary

A band of slaves led by Spartakis (a parody of

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...

) has taken over

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

's personal

, prompting Caesar to send his Admiral Crustacius to recover the vessel. After some arguing about a safe place to disembark, the slaves set sail for the only place safe from the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

: the village of indomitable

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

s. The four outlying Roman camps rehearse a parade to welcome Crustacius, who is pursuing the slaves. Believing the Romans are about to attack, the Gauls prepare for battle.

Obelix Obelix (; french: Obélix) is a cartoon character in the French comic book series ''Asterix''. He works as a menhir sculptor and deliveryman, and is Asterix's best friend. Obelix is noted for his obesity, the menhirs he carries around on his bac ...

is (as usual) denied

Getafix This is a list of characters in the ''Asterix'' comics. Main characters Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix are the first characters with short descriptions usually listed at the beginning of each of the ''Asterix'' books (after the map of Gaul). They ...

's magic potion and sulks off. When Asterix asks Getafix why he denies Obelix a serving, Getafix replies that too much of the potion may incur side effects beyond his knowledge. As the Gauls return victorious, they find Obelix has turned to stone after drinking a remaining cauldron of magic potion. The former galley slaves are granted refuge, while Getafix tries to revive Obelix. Ultimately Obelix returns to life, but as a child and deprived of his usual strength. He is kidnapped by Roman soldiers and put on a ship bound for Rome, where Crustacius intends to use him as a bargaining counter for the return of Caesar's galley. Asterix,

Dogmatix Dogmatix () is a fictional white terrier dog who is a companion to Obelix in the ''Asterix'' comics. Dogmatix is a pun on the words dog and dogmatic. In the original French, his name is ''Idéfix'', itself a pun on the French expression '' idée ...

, Getafix and the former slaves set out in pursuit and rescue Obelix at sea. Crustacius and his adjutant Vice-Admiral Nautilus, as well as Caesar's galley, are handed over to the

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

, who plan to ransom them to Caesar. Spartakis and his crew take the Gauls to

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...

(the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

), but the Atlanteans, despite having the secret of eternal youth, cannot restore Obelix's adulthood. The Gauls head homeward, while the freed slaves remain on Atlantis as children forever. On Caesar's galley, the pirates unwittingly give Crustacius a dose of magic potion from a barrel inadvertently left behind by Getafix. He expels the pirates and plans on using his new strength to usurp Caesar; however, he makes the same mistake as Obelix and becomes a statue. Nautilus's ambition of obtaining a promotion for bringing back the galley is dashed when he forgets to remove the

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly ...

flag upon approaching Rome's harbour and the vessel is attacked and sinks. On their way back, the Gauls are intercepted by another Roman galley and Asterix is knocked unconscious by a catapult stone. Seeing his friend about to be thrown to the sharks, Obelix recovers his strength and size, and rescues him. Obelix then propels the galley into the Roman camp of Aquarium, before returning to the village for a feast. The statue of Crustacius is installed in the

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and lar ...

, while Nautilus and his crew are reduced to sweeping the arena. Asked by Cleopatra why he has erected a statue to commemorate his incompetent admiral, Caesar replies that although lions do not eat granite, things may change some day.

Notes

*The character Spartakis is obviously based on actor

and his role in the movie ''Spartacus''. *This is the only album in which two of the pirates are called by their names. *The Atlantean palace in the album has been modeled after the ruins of the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC ...

. Connections between Atlantis and Minoan Crete have also been explored in ''

Atlantis Mystery ''Atlantis Mystery'' (''l'Énigme de l'Atlantide'') by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the seventh comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in ''Tintin'' magazine from March 30, 1955, to May 30, 1956. It appeared in boo ...

'', ''

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis ''Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by LucasArts and originally released on June 1, 1992 for Amiga, DOS and Macintosh. Almost a year later, it was reissued on CD-ROM as an enhance ...

'', and other fiction. *The young Obelix lacks his usual great strength. This means he must be under six years old, as he was about that age when he fell into the potion and gained his strength (see ''

How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seidma ...

''). *This album has perhaps the closest thing in the ''Asterix'' series to a character actually dying, as Admiral Crustacius is left trapped in stone form at the end of the story, without Getafix to revert him to normal. *Cleopatra appears in this album alongside

; but her physical appearance is quite different from that seen in the album ''

Asterix and Cleopatra ''Asterix and Cleopatra'' is the sixth book in the Asterix album series by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. It was first published in serial form in ''Pilote'' magazine, issues 215–257, in 1963. Synopsis The book begins with an argument be ...

'', in that she is here darker-skinned and shorter-nosed, and is never shown in her characteristic irascibility. *The young Obelix here pronounces the name of Asterix properly; but

lisp A lisp is a speech impairment in which a person misarticulates sibilants (, , , , , , , ). These misarticulations often result in unclear speech. Types * A frontal lisp occurs when the tongue is placed anterior to the target. Interdental lisping ...

s in ''

''.

In other languages

*Croatian: ''Gali na galiji'' (Gauls on galley) *Czech: ''Obelix a Caesarova galéra'' *Danish: ''Så til søs, Obelix!'' *Dutch: ''De beproeving van Obelix'' *Finnish: ''Obelixin kaleeri'' (also translated into

Savo Savo may refer to: Languages * Savo dialect, forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia * Savo language, an endangered language spoken on Savo People * Savo (given name), a masculine given name from southern Europe (includes a list of people ...

dialect as ''Opeliksin orjalaeva'', roughly translatable as ''Obelix's Slave Ship'') *German: ''Obelix auf Kreuzfahrt'' *Spanish: ''El mal trago de Obelix'' *Greek: ''Η γαλέρα του Οβελίξ'' *Italian: ''Asterix e la galera di Obelix'' *Indonesian: "Obelix Yang Malang" *Latin: "Navis actuaria Obeligis" *Norwegian: ''Obelix på galleien'' *Portuguese: ''A Galera de Obelix'' (Brazil) ''O Pesadelo de Obelix'' (Portugal) *Polish: ''Galera Obeliksa'' *Serbian: ''Obeliksove nevolje'' (Obelix' Troubles) *Swedish: ''Obelix på galejan''

Reception

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

, it has a score of 3.85 out of 5.

References

External links