The new Asterix album has a unique trailer in the style of social networks

Nothing like a good marketing ploy to remind future Asterix readers returning from vacation of their memories!

Taking advantage of the upcoming back-to-school season, Albert René Editions had the good idea of ​​publishing a new trailer for the next Asterix, to be released on October 23, entitled Asterix in Lusitania . The aim of the game is to say as little as possible, while making the many fans of our dear Gauls, imagined in 1959 by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo , laugh.

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This unpublished page uses the codes of the press conference board designed by Goscinny and Uderzo in 1964 and published in the newspaper Pilote to whet the appetite of readers of Combat des chefs . The creators of Asterix and Obelix had at the time hijacked the speaking style of politicians in the era of General de Gaulle. In a solemn setting, with velvet curtains, a raised central table equipped with a chrome microphone, the chief of the village Abraraccourcix presented this album as if he were launching his own re-election campaign.

The panel published in the daily newspaper Ouest France makes fun of this same situation by bringing it up to date. This time, it's no longer Abraraccourcix, but Asterix and Obelix, who are taking part in the interview.

In a classic twelve-panel comic strip, known as a "waffle iron," Asterix and Obelix appear on screen. One is calm. The other is not. At the bottom of each image, there are "likes," just like on social media (from Cléopâtre_officiel to Sijorésujorépavenu, including Bigfloéholix, Squizix, and Mannekenpix). As Céleste Surugue , general manager of Éditions Albert René, explains: "There is a continuity. The different panels play with the communication codes of each era. Here, we were inspired by the images and short videos that we scroll through on social media. A first panel is then repeated. There are also likes at the bottom of the images. Unlike on TV, the Ouest-Gaule interviewer does not appear. The image is fixed. "

Our two heroes are interviewed about the content of this ^41st adventure, which this time takes place in Portugal. While Asterix appears perfectly calm in front of the journalist (or influencer), Obelix is ​​in a state of panic, even before he's asked the first question. "This one-page gag perhaps reflects the authors' stress about talking to the media while keeping secrets, " says Céleste Surugue, not without humor.

For decades now, on the occasion of the release of each new album in the series (the print run of which is estimated at 1.5 million copies in France alone), the whole challenge for journalists has been to "pull information out of" the authors about the main twists in the plot, the new characters, or the strong gags... And the authors, for their part, have to do their best to divert the fire of questions to maintain a minimum of surprise for the readers.

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With this trailer, Fabcaro and Didier Conrad had fun rallying our dear, indomitable Gauls to the media of the 21st century. The penultimate panel even contains a very successful gag: "This adventure will end with a beautiful banquet," the interviewer blandly declares. And suddenly, furious Obelix gets up to lecture Asterix: "And there you have it, by dint of giving him clues, he's guessed the ending... Bravo, Mr. Asterix!"

By Toutatis! This is a rather promising gag-esque appetizer.