Asterix is the plucky little hero of the magnificent series of comix that bear his name. It is largely through his efforts (with a little help from an ancient Druidic brew) and those of his buddy Obelix--a delivery man for large standing stones-- that the great and not so great Legions of Rome have been unable to subdue their little Gaulish village.
So, natch, the comix were originally in French and display a particularly Gaulic sense of humour. Lots of slapstick and running jokes along with witty word play, puns, allusions, parodies of parodies and a little deflating of cultural stereotypes. The comix have undergone translation into about every language on Earth except American and some of the characters' names have been changed to preserve puns in the translated language. Ah, the names.
The chief in English is Vitalstastistix; his wife is Impedimenta.; his nephew is Justforkix.
The druid is Getafix.
An old man is Geriatrix.
The bard is Cacaphonix.
The fishmonger is Unhygenix; his wife is Bacteria.
Obelix's dog is Dogmatix.
The village hot tamale is Estelyn Telcontar.
opps, scotch that. It's Panacea, who these days looks alot like our Modess.
Anyhow, you get the pix? Female names end in 'a' -- check out a
Wiki list for more fun.
There's lots of Latin puns and for true history it provides often amazing specifix while overcoming the usual history soporifix. There's even an explanation for Stonehenge.
The official website offers fun.
I would proffer some more examples, but the night is late and there is somum not so bonum laborium still to be done.
Limerix for elempi? Hmm. I didn't know he wrote naughty verse.
