Asterix #9
Asterix und die Normannen (Asterix #9, Egmont Ehapa, 1971) is the German-language collected-album debut of the ninth story in the Goscinny–Uderzo series, a tale that stands out within the run for the notable character-development milestones it established. The album introduces the definitive visual design of blacksmith Fulliautomatix and, crucially, marks the first appearance of Dogmatix's now-signature distress over uprooted trees — the 'canine ecologist' trait that would define the character for every subsequent volume. It also breaks the running gag of bard Cacofonix being tied up at the closing banquet, giving him a rare moment of triumph. Beyond its in-series firsts, the story is a sharp piece of mid-1960s satire: Goscinny wove the generational conflicts of the beat and pop-culture era — youth rebellion, clashing education philosophies, Beatlemania-style hysteria — into the fabric of an adventure that also inverted the traditional Viking-terror narrative by making the Normans the ones desperately seeking to understand fear.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The story was serialized in Pilote magazine (issues 340–361) beginning 28 April 1966, with the French standalone album published by Dargaud in 1967. German readers encountered it first in serialized form in MV Comix issues 9–16 (1968), before Ehapa Verlag issued the collected hardcover album on 9 July 1971 — the edition catalogued here — in a translation by Gudrun Penndorf, who handled the considerable challenge of re-rendering the Norman and Gaulish name-puns into German. The 1971 Ehapa edition appeared in two price variants (5.00 DM and 5.90 DEM). A 2002 reprint changed the cover image, and a 2013 revised edition introduced new coloring and lettering consistent with the broader Egmont series overhaul.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Written by René Goscinny, drawn by Albert Uderzo; originally serialized in Pilote magazine issues 340–361 in 1966; French album published by Dargaud in 1967.
- German-language Ehapa album on-sale date: 9 July 1971 (announced 3 July 1971 in MV Comix); translated by Gudrun Penndorf. Two price variants exist: 5.00 DM and 5.90 DEM.
- The story had previously appeared in German in serialized form in MV Comix issues 9–16 (1968) before the standalone Ehapa album was issued.
- First album in the series to establish Dogmatix's (Idefix/Idefix) defining character trait: distress and howling whenever a tree is uprooted — the 'canine ecologist' quality cited by Goscinny and Uderzo themselves.
- Fulliautomatix (Automatix/Rührfix) receives his standardized character design in this album, settling into the appearance he would retain for the rest of the series.
- First album since Asterix the Gaul (album #1) in which Cacofonix (Troubadix) is not tied up at the celebratory closing banquet — the story's central plot inverts his usual fate, making him the hero.
- Introduces Justforkix (Grautvornix), a spoiled Lutetian teenager who became the protagonist of a successful series of Asterix gamebooks in the 1980s (Alea Jacta Est series), and whose sports-car-like chariot is a parody of Italian sports cars from Mediolanum (Milan).
- The animated film Asterix and the Vikings (2006) is a loose adaptation of this album's storyline. The album was also reprinted in the Egmont Ehapa dialect series as Asterix un de Wikingers (Plattdeutsch, 1995 series #10).