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Joseph will travel to Ladonia tomorrow to follow the Olympic events that are being held in this nation divided into three regions Belluno, Bozen (South Tyrol), and Trento. He will be enjoying winter sports until the 21st, when he will return to Marselha where Claire Fontaine and The Grandma will be waiting for him.
The day is cloudy and the temperature is around 6-7 degrees, so Joseph has decided to stay at the hotel and read a new Astérix adventure, this time Astérix in Hispania, before heading to the Groupama Stadium.
Astérix in Hispania o Astérix in Spain, in French Astérix en Hispanie, is the fourteenth volume of the Astérix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). It was originally serialized in Pilote magazine, issues 498–519, in 1969, and translated into English in 1971.
The taking of children as hostages was not unknown in ancient times and offered means of maintaining a truce. Hostages were mostly well treated by their takers (even in this story, Caesar insists that Pepe be treated with the respect due to being a chieftain's son). An example is the young Roman Aëtius, given as a hostage to Alaric I the Visigoth. Aëtius thus gained first-hand knowledge of the barbarians' methods of battle. This was to prove invaluable when, in later life, he opposed Attila the Hun.
Pepe in the beginning confronts Caesar armed with a sling and says You shall not pass. This is a reference to the ¡No pasarán! speech delivered in Madrid by Dolores Ibárruri Gómez during the Spanish Civil War.
Various scenes depict stereotypical behaviour associated with Spaniards: their pride, their choleric tempers; and the cliché of roads in disrepair. The generally slow aid for car problems is spoofed too.
The scenes where various Gauls and Goths (Germans) travel in house-shaped chariots, are a parody on the vacations in Spain in motor homes.
Two locals in Hispania represent Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; this is made clear by their visual appearance and by Quixote's sudden charge at the mention of windmills.
When the frightened Roman Brontosaurus tries to act Spanish, his knees shake against each other, and Pepe says his knees make a nice accompaniment; this is a reference to castanets which make a similar sound when used while singing.
The travelers witness nocturnal processions of druids, a very clear reference to the religious processions associated with later Spanish people; one such procession places the druids in capirotes recalling those of a Spanish priesthood.
The conductor in the arena is a caricature of French conductor Gérard Calvi. He composed music for three Astérix films: Astérix the Gaul, Astérix and Cleopatra and The Twelve Tasks of Astérix.
The final scenes are a fictional depiction of the origin of bull fighting, a tradition in Spain. However, the comic features an Aurochs instead of a bull, an extinct cattle species.
The line A fish, a fish, my kingdom for a fish on the last page, is a reference to William Shakespeare's play Richard III, wherein Richard demands a horse in the same words. The line is also referenced with Astérix in Britain's Chief Mykingdomforanos, a dialect form of My kingdom for a horse.
Although the Iberian peninsula had long been controlled by Rome, this album mentions the Battle of Munda, which took place in 45 BC, five years after the alleged time of all the albums.
This was the first book in the series to feature Unhygienix the fishmonger and his wife Bacteria. It is also the first to feature a fight between the villagers, started by Unhygenix's fish.
Pepe's skill with the sling may be a historical nod to the ancient slingers of the Balearic Islands, famous for their skill with this weapon. The Carthaginian general Hannibal, and later the Romans, made extensive use of their skill in their armies.
Download Astérix in Hispania by René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo
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