Asterix Conquers Rome

Asterix Conquers Rome (Les 12 Travaux d'Asterix)
Cover of the Dutch translation
Date	1979
Series	Asterix
Creative team
Writers	Pierre Tchernia René Goscinny Albert Uderzo
Artists	credited to Uderzo, but also his brother Marcel Uderzo, as Marcel drew the 4th task
Original publication
Date of publication	1976
Language	French
Chronology
Preceded by	Asterix and the Great Crossing
Followed by	Obelix and Co.

Asterix Conquers Rome (French: Les 12 Travaux d'Asterix, literally "The 12 Tasks of Asterix"), first published in 1976, is the comic book adaptation of the animated Asterix film The Twelve Tasks of Asterix and "unofficially" the twenty-third Asterix volume to be published. The comic follows the movie very exactly. It has very rarely been printed and is not widely known even amongst Asterix fans. The English translation has only been printed as part of a one-off comic book annual, the Asterix Annual 1980. It is thus often excluded from "canonical" lists of Asterix volumes with the subsequently published Obelix and Co. typically being listed as the "official" twenty-third volume.^[1] An unauthorized English language digital edition in CBR format, titled The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, is also known to exist.

Plot summary

After a Roman centurion is continually defeated by the Village of Indomitable Gauls, he concludes that they must be gods. Julius Caesar sets twelve tasks that only gods could perform, similar to the twelve tasks of Hercules, to prove that the Gauls are mere mortals. If the Gauls succeed, he will admit defeat and let the Gauls become the rulers of Rome, but if they fail, they will become his slaves. The challenge is accepted and Asterix and Obelix are chosen to represent the village, eventually succeeding in all tasks. In the end, Caesar admits the Gauls' superiority. He is shown living in retirement married to Cleopatra, although it is explained that the ending is what it is because it's just a cartoon film, so "anything goes".

Publication history

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The volume is only 28 pages long compared to the typical 44. The artwork, although credited to "Uderzo" in some printings, resembles that of the film and is thought to have been the work of Albert Uderzo's brother Marcel who had previously done reconstructive illustration on Asterix the Gaul. The French language edition was published in Belgium, not France, as a marketing freebie connected to a gas station company. An English translation based on the dialogue of the English version of the film was included in the Asterix Annual 1980 published by Whitman in 1979. It has also been translated into Danish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian and Serbo-Croatian.

The Danish version was serialised in vol 301 and 302 of the comic book