Asterix and the Class Act (, "Asterix and the Gaulish return; la rentrée is the French return to school after the summer break) is officially the thirty-second album of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations and some stories), published in 2003. Unlike the other Asterix books, it is a compilation of short stories, rather than one long story. Each story has an introductory page giving some of its original history.

History

Only one of these stories ("Chanticleerix") is completely original in this album; the remainder are reprinted from earlier sources, most notably the French comic Pilote. The majority of these stories were written by Goscinny. "Chanticleerix", "The Lutetia Olympics" and "The Birth of Asterix" were written by Uderzo after Goscinny's death. "Springtime in Gaul" and "Asterix As You Have Never Seen Him Before..." were also written by Uderzo alone. Most of these stories have had only very limited distribution prior to this publication. In the mid-1980s, a promotional collection of some of these stories appeared in a number of translations (but not English) as Astérix mini-histoires (Asterix Mini-Stories). In 1993 there was an earlier, smaller collection also called La Rentree Gauloise which was only available in French. It also contained a four page story called "L'Antiquaire" (The Antique Dealer) as filler which wasn't written by Goscinny, but drawn by Albert's brother Marcel Uderzo, does not fit with the other stories and contains two recycled and out-of-character villains. That story has not been reprinted, but otherwise "Class Act" is an expanded, updated version of this.

The stories

Introduction (Press Conference)

Originally an announcement page for Asterix and the Big Fight – Vitalstatistix holds a modern press conference for the upcoming stories (parodying the contemporary press conferences of then-president Charles de Gaulle).

Asterix and the Class Act

Asterix and Obelix catch the village children for the start of the school year, but Obelix is put in class too when he shows ignorance of current affairs.

The Birth of Asterix

Story of the village on the day of Asterix's and Obelix's birth, which interrupts a quarrel among their friends' fathers.

In 50 BC

Introduction to the stories (done for the American market): gives a synopsis of the themes and principal characters.

Chanticleerix

Dogmatix helps the village rooster (national bird of France) defeat an eagle (symbol of Rome) terrorizing the local animals, by stealing Asterix's gourd of potion to provide the rooster with the necessary advantage.

For Gaul Lang Syne

Obelix tries to use Gaulish customs to get a kiss from Panacea, but fails, and the kiss is instead won by Dogmatix.

Mini Midi Maxi

A fashion show generates a fight after Impedimenta quarrels with Mrs. Geriatrix.

Asterix As You Have Never Seen Him Before...

This is a mockery of the more outrageous "suggestions" made by readers, allowing Uderzo to show his facility with different styles of illustration:

The Lutetia Olympics

For the honour of Gaul, Asterix and Obelix help Lutetia (ancient Paris) win the chance to host the ancient Olympic Games by acting as security for the event.

Springtime in Gaul

Asterix helps a tiny anthropomorphic personification of Spring overcome Winter.

The Mascot

Some unlucky Romans try to take Dogmatix as their "lucky" mascot, which brings Asterix and Obelix's vengeance down on them.

Latinamania

A joke on modern French anxiety over the bastardization of the French language (cf. Franglais) shows the Gauls using Latin loanwords.

The Obelix Family Tree

The authors find a modern descendant of Obelix and invite him to their publishing house, only to learn that he is too much like his ancestor.

The Birth of an Idea

This story depicts a brainstorming session between the authors, in which they become too excited by the idea of the stories' fights and are as a result carted off to a mental asylum.

Obelix: As Simple as ABC

Obelix tries to learn to read after he receives a letter from Panacea for his birthday which he does not want to share with anyone else. This was later included in the book Asterix and Obelix's Birthday: The Golden Book.

In other languages

Reception

On Goodreads, Asterix and the Class Act has a score of 3.77 out of 5.