Asterix and the Falling Sky (2005)
Asterix and the Falling Sky Review
Asterix and the Falling Sky is the 33rd volume of the Asterix comic strip series that was written and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. It was published in 2005 and it’s not a bad story against all odds.
A spaceship arrives carrying an alien looking for the Gauls’ secret weapon. He needs it in order to stop the other alien species from attaining it. This is the plot behind this crazy Asterix story that is unlike anything else in the series for better and for worse. It is the only science fiction story in the Asterix canon, and the two don’t quite mix well, but this is still nowhere near as bad as most readers would make you believe. In fact, it’s quite solid.
As the last Uderzo-helmed project, he went all in with this one as he tackled comics in other industries. The commentary here is very problematic. I appreciate that it’s there, but it was certainly not great. In fact, it was insufferable witnessing Uderzo have such disdain for both American and Japanese comics. Yes, he honored Disney through the Mickey Mouse-looking alien, but he lampooned superheroes, and he clearly has a big hatred toward manga, which was disappointing to witness.
How he depicted Nagma aliens as this insectoids who are Asians behind that insect shield was both ridiculous and quite offensive. But other than that visual design, I liked both alien species quite a bit. Toon was an instantly memorable one-off character and he was quite likable and endearing. The friendship that the Gauls strike with this alien was quite sweet. The entire conflict mirroring American horrendous foreign policy was interesting, and that commentary I did like as it was apt for the SF treatment.
But I found the superhero clones to be failed creations that were unnecessary to the overall story. He should have discarded them entirely. As a big fan of the SF genre, I have to admit that I enjoyed all those elements here. The spaceship looked cool, the aliens’ technology was interesting and their conflict did produce some memorable action in the second half.
As for our Gauls, they felt like side characters here unfortunately, though many of them got some solid moments nonetheless. How the magic potion did nothing for the aliens due to their different chemistry was definitely a nice, believable touch. The humor is mostly lacking here and the dialogue is only serviceable. As for the illustration work, it was a mixed bag. While colorful, polished and memorable in some designs and those SF elements were well illustrated, the decision to include so many huge panels over small ones unfortunately made this volume look cheap as a result.
