New Asterix album title revealed as the Gauls head for Italy!

By John Freeman on April 12, 2017

Asterix and the Race through Italy – yes, the title of the 37th album recounting the adventures of our friends from Gaul created by two comic book geniuses – Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny – has finally been revealed, due for release in October.

The year is 50 BC. Italy is entirely under Rome’s control, well, not entirely… Though Caesar dreams of a united Italy, the peninsula is made up of various fiercely independent regions.

Yes – it turns out the inhabitants of Ancient Italy are not all Romans, much to Obelix’s dismay. The Italians want to keep their independence and take a dim view of Julius Caesar and his legions’ plans for total domination – and life isn’t easy for the garrisons of Roman legionaries charged with keeping an eye on them all!

After Asterix and the Picts and the brilliant Asterix and the Missing Scroll, Asterix and Obelix are back with another all-new story, the work once again of the talented Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad.

“Italy is so much more than Caesar, Rome and the Coliseum!” say Didier and Jean-Yves of the new story, who really nailed these new adventures of Asterix and Obelix in Missing Scroll for me – and which sold over two million copies in France alone.

“We realised that it was finally time for Asterix and Obelix to find out what Italy was really like! And we were sure Albert Uderzo would approve, as his family is originally from Venice.”

• Asterix and the Race through Italy will be released on 19th October 2017. Get ready for an incredible trip across the peninsula by re-ordering the book here on amazon.co.uk (using this link helps support downthetubes)

• Follow the adventures of Asterix on www.asterix.com | Facebook | Twitter

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.