Asterix the Gaul adventures - Vol. 19 - Asterix and the Soothsayer

Sales in France for this album are always slightly lower than for the others. The only plausible explanation is that the disturbing cover may put people off. And yet it's a sheer delight to laugh about the gullibility of our dear Gauls. Any resemblance …

While the talents of Prolix the soothsayer have yet to be proved, predictions about the future (more or less intentional) abound. For instance, in the last panel on page 10 we can see our Gauls arranged in the same way as in a Rembrandt painting that would not come into being until much later. Further on, on page 37, the whole village poses, well before the camera was ever invented. And we also come across Albert Uderzo's country house, which didn't exist at the time, even if the menhirs offered by admirers ever since might have led one to believe so.