The Ephemerist

The Smurfs are celebrating their 50th anniversary with a tour across Europe. So far, they’ve turned up in Angoulème, Ghent and Scheveningen, and in each of these cities, thousands of lifesize white Smurfs turn up. If you find one, you can take him home, paint him and take part in a competition. But at the same time, these little gnomes also create awareness about Unicef, the Smurfs’ and Studio Peyo’s charity of choice (remember the quite disturbing ad they did together last year).

Check out the mirth and surprise at each of these locations, and especially admire the Astérix smurf that Albert Uderzo painted in Angoulème.

And if you’re not in Europe, or just to lazy to go smurf hunting, why not buy your own ? They’re for sale at the Unicef Shop, they’re like three apples high (which is about 7 inches) and they’re only 10 Euro’s (which is about 15 USD, I gather). So, there’s no reason not to. Get one, paint one, fly.

Here’s a project from the Hamburger Technische Kunstschule in Hamburg, Germany.  I think it’s one of those students’ projects that takes an idea but doesn’t think it through.  I mean, what are you trying to say here : this car is small, so if your big you won’t fit in ?  It will cut your nose or your hair ?  And you’ll need to lose wait before this is a car for you ?  I don’t know whether that is the message you want to bring across.  Still, it’s comics content (more after the break).

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These vintage advertisments for Ergo products (chocolate paste and instant coffee, mostly) were sent to me by the Other One That Will Not Be Mentioned (in his case Under Any Circumstances). I know this is getting complicated. Anyway, he got them from some Italian blog, but we haven’t been able to trace which one. So, scusi.

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The Alianza Francesa de La Plata, the Argentinan branch of the Alliance Française, is organising an Homenaje a Astérix, calling a whole bunch of cartoonists and illustrators to celebrate Astérix and his creators, Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny.

So far, only three works have been published, but the roster of invited artists is impressive enough to keep an eye on this project.

(via Arte Arte Arte, Argentinan cartoonist Calvi’s blog, who contributed the collage above)

When Time Magazine devoted an article in 1991 to something called “The New France”, who else to put on the cover than Asterix The Gaul ? After all, the rest of the cover seemed to refer only to Paris. As if they wanted to say, ”

It’s 1991 AD and all of France has been conquered by American pop culture. All of France ? No, one little city near the Seine still resists…

On April 25, Astérix creator Albert Uderzo celebrates his 80th birthday. To celebrate this, the official Astérix site announced a competition open to fans aged 8 or older. To participate, you need to send Uderzo your best wishes in a letter or a drawing. Ten lucky winners are invited to meet Uderzo, visit the Uderzo studios and sit at the great banquet in honor of the master. But… You have to be French to participate…

For all (frustrated) others, a nice slideshow was prepared showcasing the highlights of Uderzo’s life and carreer (from which the image above was lifted). Check it here, and click the banner below for the latest info…

Asterix Et Les Belges was the last Asterix book René Goscinny wrote before he died in 1977. The album was published in 1979, and it was one of the first I read when it first appeared. It may not be the best book, but I feel a special attachment to it, since it deals with my own country (and it is very recognizable) and since I was aware of its publication being something special. I had the same thing when Tintin Et Les Picaros came out, the only Tintin album to appear for the first time since I was born (I wasn’t around when Les Bijoux de la Castafiore was published).

Anyways, since 2005 gave the world all kinds of Astérix celebrations, the Belgian post office decided to issue a special sheet, featuring five stamps with the main characters from the books, along with the Brueghel pastiche from Astérix et les Belges.

In my opinion, this is one of the best comics themed issues the Belgian Post has done so far. Its design is balanced and calm and the printing quality is superb. It pops up on Ebay sometimes, but not often.

Above is a card game that was given away as a bonus with cereal earlier this year. Print on cardboard, cut out and have hours of fun !