Asterix Marathon #9 - Asterix and the Normans

Another story centred on the home, but this time with no Roman plot.

Justforkix, the cowardly nephew of Chief Vitalstatistix, is being sent to The Indomitable Village from Lutetia to learn about courage. Unaccustomed to the rural life, he nonetheless strikes an unlikely friendship with Cacofonix. However, he later gets kidnapped by a group of Norsemen led by Olaf Timandahaf, who have travelled to Gaul to learn about fear.

I must admit that I'm not particularly keen on Justforkix. He's made to resemble a trendy teen, but comes off as a spoiled brat. Even after the character development set up for him to go through, I still don't find him endearing. All he really does is deliver a verbal beatdown to the Normans, which is admittedly kind of badass, but he doesn't do much else afterwards.

Which is a pity, because I love the characterisation of the Normans. They're depicted as being fearless to the point of not knowing what fear is, which causes problems as no fear of authority means they have no discipline (and curing hiccups is impossible). They're not here to conquer Gaul (that's for their descendants), they're here to learn about fear, as there is a saying that "Fear lends you wings". Taking this literally, they believe that they'll be able to fly if someone scares them. There are a few contemporary references to Normandy as well, mainly the heavy use of cream sauce in their cuisine. The mention of boar in cream sauce even piques Obelix's interest that he briefly stops fighting to ask about it.

There's even a satire of red tape with the Romans, who use excessive reports as a means to stay out of danger.

As for continuity, the most characterisation gets employed elsewhere. This album develops Fulliautomatix the Blacksmith (who had made a few minor appearances in earlier albums), by giving him a more distinct design and establishing him as Cacofonix's primary nemesis. It also introduces a running gag in which Dogmatix gets distressed when he sees someone knock down a tree.

So, it's good, but not as good. Fortunately, Justforkix doesn't appear in the main series again, but did get a breakout role in a series of "choose your own adventure" books. Well, he's also something of a blank slate, so that's quite suited to him.