Like what it says on the tin, it's our heroes' joint birthday, and The Indomitable Village is holding a celebration along with many of the characters from the previous albums. And that's about it. Like Asterix and the Class Act, this is simply a collection of short stories. However, rather than present it in an anthology, they try and connect the stories to the birthday celebrations. It's similar to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in that it's a series of vignettes connected by a loose narrative.
With that in mind, let's look at some of my favourite bits. I think the best joke is at the beginning, where everyone in the village has aged fifty years. Unhygienix is disappointed that his son has been selling local fish since taking over the family business instead of importing them. Asterix has a large family, while Obelix is depressed over how much has changed. Uderzo shows us and explains what he did, and an uppercut from Obelix prompts him to revert back to the standard time-frame of the comics. Talk about breaking the fourth wall.
The Phoenician merchant Ekonomikrisis (from Asterix the Gladiator and Asterix and the Black Gold) gives our heroes a travel guide written by Lucius Circumbendibus, a former legionary and wheel magnate with whom they crossed paths in Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield. The text of the guide had originally been written by Goscinny, and Uderzo adapted it with a few panels from previous comics along with some additional illustrations.
Also attending is Laurensolivius, who led a theatre troupe in Asterix and the Cauldron until his arrest. It's surprising to see him attending, as he was due to be sent to the Circus Maximus in Rome, and was actually excited by the thought of dying for his art. Anyway, his vignette includes a few preliminary sketches from Asterix and the Actress, presented here as if they were outtakes.
A few antagonists show up as well, so it's kind of nice to see a few buried hatchets. For example, Squareonthehypotenus, the Roman architect from The Mansions of the Gods presents suggestions for an Asterix theme park (that's actually a thing). We also see Prolix, the fraudulent seer from Asterix and the Soothsayer, who envisions an art gallery dedicated to our heroes, allowing Uderzo and a few guest illustrators to make Asterix-themed pastiches of other famous works of art. Caesar even attends at the behest of Cleopatra, due to owing our heroes a debt of gratitude for protecting baby Caesarion from the power-hungry Brutus in Asterix and Son.
One notable absence was Orthopaedix, the Lutetian innkeeper who contested the village leadership in Asterix and Caesar's Gift, but his teenage daughter Influenza appears, and may be an item with Justforkix, the nephew of Vitalstatistix who visited in Asterix and the Normans.
There's not really much else which can be said. A series which can keep going for almost sixty years has to be doing something right. This would be Uderzo's final contribution to the series. The veteran illustrator retired in 2011, saying that he would be passing the torch to a new creative team.
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