final entry (PDF)

CATEGORY: Electronic and other mixed media using language

NOTE: This is meant to be a light hearted parody in the style of a research paper and should not be in any way
considered as one
TITLE

A Graphic novel concerning the dark and gritty crossover between
Marvel and the European Asterix comics franchise to make it
presentable to American Readers
Keywords: graphic novel, gritty reboot, Marvel comics, Asterix comics, plenty of spare time for a grad
student

I. INTRODUCTION
If we are to analyze the throughput of the current Hollywood industry, especially one that's
now driven towards maximizing the full exploitation of "nerd culture " (or " the collective consciousness
of adults who are overwhelmed by the possibility of fictional metahumans in tights fighting each other
onscreen, yet try to maintain a visage of maturity to their wives and girlfriends " for the politically
correct) , one common draw appears to be the concept of the "gritty reboot". Indeed a part of
Hollywood now is keen to reintroduce almost every iconic character from the vault of our collective
myth and fiction, characters like Snow White or Tarzan ,that are so much ingrained in popular children's
tales, with a gritty "reimagining". An underlying purpose might be to put these traditional characters at
par with the modern perspective of viewing superheroes as all brooding and dark even when such
aforementioned superheroes inhabit a world where the daily hijinks of villains appear too pointlessly
ridiculous and colorful to be considered anywhere near morbid. Thus, we might prepare ourselves to see
Snow White in full body armor leading an army of The Resistance towards the dystopian hordes of the
Evil Queen, or Rapunzel possessing the mutant ability of unleashing her sentient long hair to tear at
invaders of her castle, all the while pondering on some thought of existential crisis.
Whatever be the root of this ongoing trend, be it to equate classical heroes /heroines of
antiquity to the awesomeness of today's syndicated superheroes, or whether certain studios don't possess
the rights to the "cool" characters and hence exploit public domain options, we as an audience are now
certainly caught up in this ongoing trend. But the trappings of the gritty reboot can certainly be extended
to popular children's comics that exist outside of America, but yet to obtain the mass appeal here as in
their countries of provenance.
One highly well-liked example is the Asterix franchise, from France. Asterix comics
,which are a rave in Europe and Asia, describe the hijinks of a shrewd short-heighted Gaulish warrior
called Asterix and his behemoth of a friend ,the dim witted but adorable Obelix as they defend their
village in Gaul(France) against the occupation by Rome under Caesar in 50 B.C. Their select weapon of
choice against Roman invaders is a magic potion endowing them with superhuman strength ,brewed by
their druid Getafix. Although a brief synopsis or a cursory glance at the panels might appear to give the
impression of a typical children's comic, Asterix is in fact a pointed satire of European customs and
social perception of stereotypes that mature readers can certainly comprehend and enjoy. However,
subsequent attempts to bring this franchise to the US have not had as much success as another European
output,Tintin.

The author of this so called paper, in a bid to make sense of his time as a grad student and
some rudimentary art skills, decided upon a novel concept to popularise such a comic in the US by
passing this input franchise through a "Gritty Reboot" function. This means that the original gaiety and
atmosphere of this franchise will be clipped of all rainbows and sunshine ,and instead be made dark and
brooding and set in a dystopian world. Much like what Hollywood does with its gritty reboots of
children's fairy tales. Also to make the subject matter more contextual to American readers, a crossover
with a popular American comics franchise is proposed. For the novel "Gritty Reboot" function proposed
in this paper, we consider the Marvel comics franchise as the other adjusting input to the function, that
will help the potential readers identify with the Asterix comics. Specifically elements of the recent
"Avengers : Age of Ultron" are used .
The rest of this paper is organised as follows: In section II , the author "re-imagines" the central
protagonists of the Asterix franchise, Asterix and Obelix into a depiction better suited to American pop
culture tastes . In Section III, the author introduces a self-scripted comic with panels that describe what a
crossover between the Marvel's Avengers universe with the revised dark and gritty Asterix universe
would possibly look like . Section III
IV provides the conclusion.

Asterix and Obelix as they appear in the Asterix comics (not an original drawing by the author but ripped
off from a quick Google search)

II. THE AUTHOR'S RE-IMAGINING OF THE CENTRAL CHARACTERS

As can be seen from the above figure, the re-imagined characters have been completely rid of any baby
fat compared to their original versions. The gritty reboot hero has no time to gorge on excess sugary
treats to build up any excess body layer, unless it be composed solely of impressive pectorals and swollen
masculine thighs. The faces no longer convey any expression of warmth or familiarity, but are smug and
aloof, as the heroes' minds are being burdened by some form of existential crisis . They inhabit a
fantastical world full of magic ,with magic potion, yet they are very downcast and serious as they want
to impart some sense of "realism" ( a word noted to be often misconstrued by Hollywood) to the adult
reader.

III. FIRST PAGE OF THE SELF SCRIPTED COMIC

IV. CONCLUSION
The author concludes that ,contrary to initial expectations, this project took longer than expected. It is a
further conclusion that grad students typically have to get the idea of a paper published by any means
necessary quickly ,out of their heads. Initially, the author intended to make a larger graphic novel out of it
but such extra time was hard to find. However, it is optimistic to believe that even if such a crossover
were to really transpire officially, the best possible scenario would be that more and more readers in the
US will become drawn to the original source comics of Asterix and other European franchises that
deserve wider recognition.

REFERENCES:
Hard to think of something not made up