Review of "Asterix and Cleopatra," by Rene Goscinny

 Review of

Asterix and Cleopatra, by Rene Goscinny ISBN 9780752866079

Five out of five stars

The fun of puns with a little history

 Asterix and his giant sidekick Obelix along with his fellow Gaul Getafix receive an Egyptian visitor that is desperate for their help. The visitor is Edifis, one of the main architects working under Queen Cleopatra. Edifis has been told that he needs to build a massive palace in three months or he will be fed to the crocodiles. Faced with such a fate, Edifis travels to Gaul in order to seek help.

 Overjoyed, the three Gauls, along with the dog Dogmatix, travel to Egypt and set to work against the long odds. Made even worse due to the nefarious actions of rival architect Artifis. He is very jealous of Edifis over his acquiring the contract.

 Much is made of the size of Cleopatra’s nose and some of the dialog boxes are written in hieroglyphics. The most amusing ones are when the character is clearly swearing, first time I have ever seen swear words in comics expressed in such a manner. This is a very fun book, Asterix and his comrades are very entertaining characters and there is even a bit of history thrown in. The book is well worth rereading in order to catch any jokes missed the first time.