Less than a month after its release, the new Asterix, L’Iris Blanc, has sold more than a million copies in France, Albert René Editions, which publishes it, announced to AFP on Wednesday. . As Christmas approaches, the 40th album of the adventures of the famous Gaul, which marks the arrival of the successful screenwriter Fabcaro, remains at the top of sales with 1,062,370 copies sold, according to the GfK ranking, a reference in terms of sales of books.
Published on October 26, two months before the holidays like every two years, the latest Asterix had been printed in “more than five million copies” and in 20 languages, pending other versions. For the previous one, Asterix and the Griffin in 2021, the publisher had bet on five million and 17 languages. Result: 1.55 million comics sold in France alone in the first two months.
The protagonists of The White Iris are the village chief, Abraracourcix, and his wife Bonemine (in spite of themselves, because they find themselves separated). Between them intervenes the chief physician of Julius Caesar’s armies, Vicevertus. This follower of “positive thinking” instilled in the Roman garrisons, then the inhabitants of the village of Asterix, a new philosophy and ways of expressing oneself. Kindness, empathy, healthy living, harmony between beings… This noble speech hides goals that are less so.