Asterix and the Falling Sky is the thirty-third volume of the Asterix comic book series, by Albert Uderzo (story and illustrations). It was released on October 14, 2005.The album is explained by Uderzo as a tribute to Walt Disney, who inspired him to become an artist. It is generally disliked by fans, mostly because Asterix albums tend to be classical, and this album has aliens from outer space and a different, far less detailed drawing style.Uderzo had been adamant this was not to be the last Asterix album, saying in a Financial Times interview, "No, no, no, it is not the last. Certain journalists believed this because the cover was the mirror image of the first Asterix album. That is indeed the case but it was not at all my intention to suggest it would be the last album.
About the Author
Uderzo was born Alberto Aleandro Uderzo in Fismes (Marne, France), to parents, Silvio and Iria, who had recently immigrated from Italy. His name comes from the Italian village called Oderzo (formerly called Uderzo), where his family tree can be traced. His childhood ambitions were to become an aircraft mechanic, despite his talents in art at an early age.Uderzo obtained French citizenship in 1934, and during World War II, the teenaged Uderzo left Paris and spent a year in Brittany, where he worked on a farm and helped with his father's furniture business. He loved Brittany, both for its scenery and its people. Many years later, when the time came to choose a location for Asterix's village, Goscinny left the decision entirely to Uderzo, only stipulating that it should be near the sea in case the characters needed to travel by boat. Uderzo had no hesitation in choosing Brittany.Uderzo began a successful career as an artist in Paris after the war in 1945, with creations such as Flamberge and also Clopinard, a small one-legged old man who triumphs against the odds. In 1947-48 he created some other comics, such as Belloy and Arys Buck.
Book Plot
Breaking with the more or less historical setting in previous albums, two rival outer space alien ships appear above the Gaulish village.Before it, Obelix and Asterix were hunting boars, when they found one rigid. As they went back to the village, everyone is also rigid while indulged in a fight! Luckily, Getafix was in his normal state, and says he was just testing the magic potion, causing Asterix to realise the magic potion has made them immune to the effects, and also that Obelix has been giving Dogmatix magic potion. Soon, they found a spaceship resseambling a gigantic yellow ball which an alien named Toon comes out of it. He reveals he forgot to switch of a landing device, which has led to the village becoming rigid. Soon, when the ship moved out, everything was normal again.
The evil aliens Nagma want to know the secret of and confiscate the great weapon the Gauls have (Getafix's potion), that is "known throughout the universe", in order to conquer more planets. However a Tadsilweny called Toon comes to the village, after burning down a Roman Camp, with the mission to destroy the weapon. It turns out the potion causes immunity to many of the alien devices. Nagma was forced out of Earth in his defeat, and Toon erases all memory of his visit due to his embarrassment over him being temporarily enlarged to giant size when he consumed the potion due to it being incompatible with his physiology.The aliens are styled on the happy-faced Walt Disney and DC Comics superheroes of the American comic book style on one side, and futuristic robot and insect-like Japanese manga style on the other.
