#< not french but asterix and obelix exist here too

[carriagelamp]

Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

[skopostheorie]

Don’t hesitate to info dump!! I would very much like to hear abt the lil dude!!!!

okay so BASICALY this is the plot of hte. plus like. pictures i think are funny

asterix is originally and for the most part only a series of comics!! the first one (asterix the gaul) was originally published in france in 1959! it’s written n illustrated by two guys originally goscinny and uderzo, but the writer (goscinny) died in 1977. the series was continued by uderzo but it’s a little more divided between fans whether those comics are considered canon bc they’re not as good. i mean some ppl think theyre bad just bc they cut out all the racist n sexist jokes which is not the problem at all. it’s just that the jokes are a bit.... off sometimes. it’s complicated lol. uderzo doesn’t work on it anymore either, so it’s written by two other ppl i forget the names of. so the series is still actively going i think? i mean a movie came out this year and asterix and the chariot race came out in 2017. but i could be wrong maybe there won’t be any more comics. i havent actually read too many bc i dont have the money but whey

most of the humour is based around the french language but it’s been translated into like a billion different languages and it’s still hilarious so they have good translators i guess. i try to read it in french sometimes but the jokes always fly over my head

WOW THAT WAS LONG AND I DIDNT MENTION THE PLOT EVEN ONCE. OKAY HERE’S THE ACTUAL PLOT.

the comics are set in 50 BC, during the roman empire. all of gaul (which im pretty sure is just modern day france. idk i cant read maps.) has been occupied by the romans EXCEPT for one fucking tiney village. it’s been able to hold out from invasion because they have a druid called getafix who can make a potion that grants anyone who drinks it superhuman strength. that’s why pretty much every single snippet of the comics you might see online usually involve fighting. they punch romans a lot sjkskkdgksasfsfsd. the gauls said fuck colonialism

ANYWAYS the main characters are asterix and obelix! fun fact asterix and obelix have the same birthday. theyre not twins or even related life is just like that. anyway asterix is pretty much a normal guy except he’s rly small. he’s Tiney. hes exceptionally smart and cunning, and anytime anything important needs to be done asterix (n obelix) are the ones who are trusted to do it. just about everyone thinks asterix and obelix are their best buds actually. i dont know why. heres asterix

obelix is the exact opposite of asterix. him n asterix were neighbours growing up and mega childhood friends. hes LORGE. because he was bullied as a kid asterix encourages him to drink some of the superhuman potion (they were like eight, they arent allowed to have some) but when theyre sneaking to go and steal some from getafix, obelix accidentally falls into the cauldron. straight up just falls into the potion. and it had a permanent effect on him, he’s permanently a superhuman basically. he can beat someone up on command. it;’s pretty funny. here’s obelix hes the one on the left

ALSO they have a dog called dogmatix and hes the tiniest motherfucker youll ever meet. he cries whenever a tree is cut down and that’s about it. hes in the above picture on the right

some other important characters:

getafix, the druid, the only person who knows how to make the superhuman potion (UNLESS you count that one movie as canon). every time he has to leave the village and the village runs out of potion everyone just goes apeshit. if getafix didnt exist these fuckers would be dead

vitalstatistix and impedimenta; the chief of teh village and his wife. they’re both dumbasses and i love them SO MUCH jkhdjkshjkh

CACOFONIX AAAHHHH I LOVE THIS GUUYYYYYY hes a really bad singer and he gets tied up at the end of every single comic because hes so terrible

theyre basically the only characters that appear every time except julius caesar but he actually existed so you dont need a character analysis of him lol

pretty much every single comic has a different plot and a lot of them are set in different countries. because when you were bored and it’s 50 bc  thats what you do i guess. you just Walk To Rome. there’s no ultimate goal it’s building up to, but they’ve never actually been conquered by the romans and it’s definitely never gonna happen because this series has to CAPITALISE and they cant do it if theyre dead.

the one thing that the gauls rly dont want is for the sky to fall on their heads but that literally happened in one of the comics and everything was fine so i guess that’s whatever

thats it i think. gay rights