Asterix and the Falling Sky (Hardcover)

The Gauls have only one fear: that the sky may fall on their heads tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes, says Chief Vitalstatistix. Or does it? It looks as if it’s come at last for Asterix, Obelix and the other villagers. And some surprising new characters fall along with the sky. Our friends soon find themselves in the middle of a space race.This new Asterix story, the first in four years, is a brilliant and hilarious tale of misunderstandings that will be loved by his millions of fans around the world.

According to Uderzo himself, this book is poking fun at certain American comics and at manga in general. Although he stated that he has no resentment against manga as a genre, Uderzo conceived the nagma alien invasion as a metaphor of the massive import of manga in Europe during the 2000s

There is a really interesting article written by Anthea Bell in which she explains how she solves all the difficulties associated with Asterix translations. She says: translation of the text, if it is to be faithful to the spirit of the original, has to be very free, indeed unusually free, where the letter is concerned. (…) Often the task is one of adaptation rather than ordinary translation.” 010115/0618 pp. 48