Asterix in Switzerland (1970) is a roller-coaster of a story.
After a brief introduction in the famous Gaulish village, we are taken into a type of dark cellar where a bunch of Romans are having an “orgy”. Of course, there aren’t any nude bodies having sex but the woman’s faces are painted different colors, the people are eating like pigs and they’re all drunk drunk drunk.
The governor of Condatum, Varius Flavus is in charge of these orgies and he’s been using taxes to pay for all of this. He’s been “pocketing” the money while giving very little to Rome and plans to use the money to escape after his one year appointment is finished.
Unfortunately for Varius Flavus, Julius Caesar has sent a person, Sinusitus, to investigate things. Varius Flavus decides to poison Sinusitus to “take care” of the situation. Sinusitus is in such pain and very near death that he comes up with one idea. To have Getafix, the druid of Asterix’s village, cure him.
For this type of poisoning, the essential ingredient for medecine is a certain flower that can only be found in... Helvetia in Switzerland.
So off Asterix and Obelix go on another journey. Yes, this time it’s to get a certain flower for a Roman... Of course, Varius Flavus sounds the alarm bells and where ever A and O go, they are confronted by resistance by the Roman Empire.
This story has a lot of stereotypes of Swiss people. They are very punctual, always obeying their clocks and they are extraordinarily clean (not good for a Roman orgy!). It wouldn’t be a story about Switzerland without a bank with private safes and of course, if you go to countryside you’ll come across men yodeling. Cheese fondue is all that these people eat and there are gorgeous mountains to climb.
The story is pretty good but after reading several Asterix and Obelix books, I wonder if there’s every going to be a story with a serious plot twist. All of these books are written in good fun and the Gauls are always mighty invincible. I did find Obelix getting very drunk towards the end amusing...
I don’t know whether it’s good for kids to learn about other nations through comics since they only pick up on stereotypes, but if they learn that Switzerland is famous for watches/clocks and that many people in the world have “secret” bank accounts there, these children might get interested in doing a bit more research and make them more curious about the nation of Switzerland. This can’t be bad, can it?
