“We are in the year 50 before the birth of Christ. All of Gaul is occupied by the Romans”: With these words, every issue of an Asterix comic traditionally begins, including the volume “Asterix at the Olympic Games” published in 1968. 55 years later there is now a new edition of this comic on the occasion of the Special Olympics World Games.
What’s special: The special edition of “Asterix at the Olympic Games” appears in simple language and in a limited edition of 20,000 copies. The comic is available for 7.99 euros from the organiser’s web shop. In addition, the book will be given away to all participating athletes.
“It is a great honor for us as a publisher to be able to ‘participate’ in the Special Olympics in this way and to make the wonderful world of Asterix accessible to everyone,” said Wolf Stegmaier, publishing manager of the Egmont publishing companies. The comic adventures of Asterix and Obelix are published by Egmont Ehapa Media in German-speaking countries.
The story of the special edition is the same as the original: it’s about the Olympic Games in Athens, in which Asterix and Obelix are not allowed to participate as Gauls. Nevertheless, the two find a way to compete and face off against the Roman legionnaire Claudius Musculus. However, the speech bubbles in the comic have a simpler sentence structure and fewer foreign words. For example, instead of “pirate galley” there is now talk of a “pirate ship”, the word “sesterce” is replaced by “coins”, and “feast” becomes “banquet”. The drawings are by Albert Uderzo, who has been creating legendary Asterix adventures together with author René Goscinny since the late 1950s.
The Special Olympics World Games are the world’s largest inclusive sporting event. Thousands of athletes with mental and multiple disabilities compete in 26 sports. The event will take place from June 17th to 25th, 2023 in Berlin.
