Asterix and the Golden Sickle was written in 1962.
I was a bit disappointed with the first Asterix comic. I guess I didn’t find the druid and Asterix joking around that funny.
Asterix and the Golden Sickle is much better because Obelix has a more prominent role in this story (he’s gained some weight since the first story!) Obelix is innocent and not the brightest guy. Asterix is quick witted and a leader. This is the beginning of one of the most famous duos in comic book history.
The story starts with the druid Getafix. He’s broken his golden sickle and need a replacement quickly because the druid’s conference is coming up. Asterix volunteers to go to Lutetia, where the finest sickles are made by Metallurgix. Coincidently, Metallurgix is a distant cousin of Obelix, so he decides to accompany Asterix.
In Lutetia, it seems that Metallurgix is not around. Where is he? Well, Asterix and Obelix have to find him... this leads to the discovery of sickle traffickers!
This story is a lot of fun. The big city of Lutetia has so much going on. Traffic jams, sporting events, bars with bards, food from all over Europe and lots of shady characters.
Throughout the story Obelix carries a menhir around. There are lots of arguments with Romans. The Roman prefect is a lazy man (there’s a man in the Spartacus that looks just like him) and all he does is eat eat eat.
Compared to Asterix #1, the illustrations have much more detail which gives the story a greater sense of adventure.
This story is a good read for children. They can compare Lutetia to their own cities and maybe realize that not much has changed over time.
-- just a side note -- there are always new words to learn... today’s new word is perspicacious (page 200)
