In “The White Iris”, the new enemy Asterix is ​​a master teacher of “positive thinking”.

Asterix’s nemesis in Gaul’s 40th studio album, due for release on October 26 in several countries, is a philosophical guru character adept at “positive thinking” named Vicvirtus, the publisher revealed Monday.

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“The White Iris” (48 pages) is published simultaneously in twenty languages, in more than five million copies.

This is the sixth album created by Didier Conrad, who took over the series in 2013 after the retirement of one of the creators of Asterix, Uderzo. He is assisted in writing the screenplay by best-selling author Fabkaru.

During a press conference at Hachette Livre’s headquarters in Vanves, near Paris, the authors explained that the plot would revolve around Tullius Visvertus, Julius Caesar’s physician, as well as philosopher, who came to motivate the demoralized forces around the village of “irreducible Gauls.” “.

The white iris is a school. Fabkaru explained that he was inspired by a Greek philosopher to create his method.

Not only will Vicvirtus raise the morale of the Roman soldiers, but he will also instill division within the Gallic village. This new philosophy, which advocates kindness, vegetarian diet, and meditation, will find supporters, such as the village chief’s wife, Punmin, and detractors, such as the skeptical Asterix.

To draw him, Didier Conrad first imagined him as a fairly young man. But with the screenwriter and editor, the choice fell on a mature man with shoulder-length white hair.

Every new Asterix album, despite the disappearance of its creators (screenwriter René Goscinny in 1977 and designer Albert Uderzo in 2020), represents a huge event in bookstores, every two years.

“Asterix couldn’t be better,” said Isabelle Magnac, managing director of Hachette Livre Illustré. She noted the record attendance at Asterix Park in Blailly, north of Paris, with more than 2.8 million visitors in 2022.

Albert René Editions, which owns the rights, is one of the most profitable of Hachette Livre, a group that is in the process of being bought out, along with the rest of Lagardère, by Vivendi, controlled by billionaire Vincent Bolloré.