Paris (AFP)

The 39th Asterix album is expected on October 21, announced to the Journal du Dimanche the screenwriter Jean-Yves Ferri, who became one of the "fathers" of the irreducible Gaul with the designer Didier Conrad.

"This is a + travel + album, since the last adventure took place in the village. Asterix and Obélix will leave for a new destination (...) this country does not really exist today as such" , said the screenwriter to the French weekly.

"Each album is a small step towards bringing something new. And Obélix continues its slow psychological evolution", he added.

Asked if he could still play with the clichés of the visited country, as this comic used to do, Mr. Ferri admitted that the task had become more complicated.

"In the 1960s, Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny could laugh at foreigners, caricature the English with their big teeth, the Greeks with their Greek profile. The atmosphere was good-natured. Today, you almost need a dictionary on your desk to know what we have the right to joke about or not, ”he said.

“Playing with clichés is part of Asterix's codes. But I don't mind straying from them a bit. I'm lucky that my personal humor doesn't lead me towards caricatures that are too frontal. In + The Girl of Vercingétorix +, I attenuated the way of making teenagers talk, for example, "continued the screenwriter.

The 38th album, "La fille de Vercingétorix", by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad, was the best-selling book in 2019 in France, by far.

Since 2013, the heroes imagined sixty-one years ago by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (who died in November 1977 and last March respectively) have alternated between an adventure in the village and a trip.

"It was tempting to talk about the coronavirus which affects the whole world, but I left that aside. The epidemic is a sad subject, full of anxiety. It is better to laugh at something else and wish that 'when the album came out, we finally turned the page, ”Mr. Ferri said.

"Even so, you might find an allusion to a potion that looks like a vaccine or a few small winks."

Asked if he had been able to exchange with Uderzo on this album before his disappearance, he indicated that "he was able to learn about the new theme".

"He approved of the story, he encouraged us. Contrary to what one might think, Albert was not on our back to control everything".

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