Review: Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield

Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield by René Goscinny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first reading, I didn't find much interest in #11 of the Asterix collection. The Story lacked the usual bite and humor which made the previous entries endearing. In fact, with its plot felt like it was going from one place to another, literally, in search of clues and McGuffins like some badly made adventure movie.

The reason why I felt that the story was more on the serious side was because it was. Being an utter novice in regards to ancient Rome and the Gallic war, I had to look up several aspects of the story, such as Vercingetorix (who I actually thought was a made up name, and was hence trying to figure out what the pun was), and the Battle of Alesia.

Perhaps because Goscinny himself held some sympathies for the tragic hero, his loss and ultimate fate, or for whatever other reason, the mood got quite somber whenever someone talked about him or Alesia. Characters in story get mighty upset when someone so much as mentions the battle of Alesia (which, no one even knows where it was at the time)

Which is sort of hard since the mystery of the week, was for our duo to search out the lost shield of the Gaelic hero Vercingetorix which he had thrown in anger at Caesar's feet. At the anniversary of the victory, the C-man himself wants the shield to ride with it through the vanquished city, and hence reaffirm his dominance.

Asterix and Obelix who visit the city to Arvenian to cure the chieftain Vitalstatistix of his liver ailment, take up the task so as to rub it in the face of those snooty Romans.

The story itself is nothing much to write home to. If you've read the title, you can already get a pretty good guess as to where the shield ends up found in.

Even though it doesn't hold up that well for me story wise, for the interesting history lesson I deem it 4 out of 5

Ø The Hurricane of puns
○ Vercingetorix
○ Diagnostix
○ Noxius vapus
○ Wineanspirix
○ Circumbendibus
○ Therapeutix
○ Titus crapulus
○ Thermostatix


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