2004-08-08 A classic Egyptian adventure for Asterix and Obelix

'Asterix and Cleopatra' is the 6th of 31 adventures published between 1961and 2001; This adventure is from 1965, and it was the second adventure to be published in the UK (in 1969). This adventure is sumptuous. It has Caesar and Cleopatra; it has stunning Egyptian architecture; it has slave unrest; it has our heroes in peril, with even Obelix (who fell into the magic potion when he was a baby) being offered some extra magic potion to help them out of a tight spot. Following an argument with Julius Caesar, Cleopatra commissions architect Edifis to build a magnificent palace. Druid Getafix, aided by Asterix and Obelix, travel to Egypt to help. Rival architect Artifis seeks to foil the construction. This is a classic adventure which I would class in the top 5 Asterix adventures. Many jokes mimic the Elizabeth Taylor Hollywood movie 'Cleopatra'. Egyptian building (including the Sphinx) is made fun of, and our heroes face some mild peril helping the palace to be built in the face of considerable opposition. Egyptian speech is often shown as Egyptian hieroglyphics, with subtitles (very funny). This new re-inked and re-coloured edition has been criticised for an updated front cover. The 1969 edition has a cover making fun of the 'Cleopatra' movie poster: 'The Greatest story ever drawn'; a cover now out of style with other books and so I can understand the decision to slightly re-draw the cover. When Artifis reads the Daily Nile newspaper, you can marginally see two strip cartoons: Ptarzan and Pnuts. In my 1969 copy, the Pnuts cartoon clearly contains Charlie Brown. In the modern re-release, this is changed, perhaps for copyright reasons. This 'restored' book, together with the excellent story, make this one of the finest Asterix adventures to own and enjoy.