On Monday, Izneo.com launched the complete Asterix library in English digitally. There’s a big banner across the front page and everything.

This is the first time Asterix has been made available as a digital download in English. Like Metallica and iTunes, it held out for as long as it could. Now, here we are.

The Catch

Let’s take a look at a listing:

Zoom in on that gray bar:

Sigh.

Let’s double check on the Izneo iPad app:

No Asterix in English yet for those in North America.

I don’t normally use emoji or emoticons on this site, but:

=(

What Does This Mean?

Comic books being released in different parts of the world exclusively is nothing new.

Digital products being region locked is nothing new. Your DVDs and Blu-Rays are most all region locked.

But Asterix has never been available as a digital comic in English before today. Is this release a trial balloon? Or is it a sign of something bigger?

Will we see Comixology announce the release of Asterix in North America later this week? Am I just being too hopeful here?

I hope we do see the release next. It only makes sense. Let’s hope they can match the Izneo price, too.

A Bigger Library

Not only does the Izneo catalog include the 35 Uderzo-drawn books that I’ll be reviewing this year, but they have two more.

“Asterix: How Obelix Fell Into the Magic Potion” doesn’t get a volume number, but it’s part of the collection. It’s a 32 page children’s book originally written by Goscinny in the mid-1960s for Pilote Magazine, but finally published in 1989 as a book of its own, complete with new art by Uderzo to fill it up. It’s a completely different style from Uderzo, and completely charming. If you’re wondering what the story is about, take a look at that title again. Asterix and Obelix are six years old in this book.

(Update: Whoops, that’s part of the 35 books, already. Nevermind.)

“Asterix and the Vikings” is a tie-in to the movie of the same title, from 2006. It’s basically an Art Of book for an animated movie. It’s 73 pages long. Uderzo does some drawings over early models to correct them, but that’s all of him I see in the book.

No, they haven’t figured out how to get “Asterix on the Warpath: The Pop-Up” to work in a digital edition yet…

I’m sure I’ll review the other two books more completely by year’s end now. Stay tuned…

How Do The New Editions Look?

These are the latest and greatest editions of the printed books, with restored line work that was missing in the 2004 editions that I’ve been reviewing the series from.

Here’s an example, with the 2004 edition at the top and the more recent recolored and re-shot version at the bottom.

There’s a little softness on the digital image at the bottom there from me zooming in a bit to screen grab a bigger image. But check out some of the new lines we see now. In the second panel, look at Vitalstatix’s nose and Getafix’s neck. All of the lines are a little thicker, and missing ones now appear.

The coloring is taking me some time to get used to. It’s a little bolder, but also filled with a lot more gradients. It reminds me of Susan Daigle-Leach’s coloring on the Duck books in the 90s for Gladstone/Gemstone. The new coloring looks more like an animated cartoon. Gone is the texture in the colors, replaced only with gradients.

LOTS of bright gradients and attempts to made two dimensional drawings look for three dimensional.

Here’s another example:

Here you can see more examples of where they changed the colors. Most dramatically, the bright yellow huts in the background have been toned down to a tan color. The villager on the right in all red in the 2004 edition on top is now in brown and blue in the new edition below. Here you can also see how they stripped out the texture in the colors. Look at the patch of grass to the left of Cacofonix. It’s a flat green now.

There’s better definition in the inks lines now in places like the back of Obelix’s hair, the belt on the villager at far right, and the thatching on the roofs in the background.

Further Reading

If you’re curious about how they did all this work, there’s an explanation on Asterix.com. Run it through a translator and you’ll get a good idea. It’s an impressive piece of work.

Here are some more comparisons, from all editions of the series.

Special thanks to Dan and JC for providing those links earlier in The Asterix Agenda’s comment sections…

What Does It All Mean?

Perhaps nothing. Perhaps this is a big tease.

But maybe this is the first step in getting Asterix in English available digitally in North America, as well. I want that to be the truth. I want it to be easier for more people to read these books in any way possible.

Next year is Asterix’s 60th anniversary. I hope they do it by then, at least.