Astérix la grande collection #7

Part of Hachette's handsome La Grande Collection series, this oversized 2010 edition presents Le Combat des Chefs — "The Chief's Bout" — with all the irresistible charm that René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo brought to ancient Gaul. Uderzo's cover art captures the chaos perfectly: a battered, dazed Vitalstatistix lies sprawled across a boulder in the foreground while a wildly decorated rival chief goes sailing through the air in a blaze of fire and colorful smoke, with Astérix rushing in wide-eyed between them and a packed crowd of silhouetted spectators cheering from behind a ring in the background. At 17.80 EUR, it's a generous, beautifully produced volume that reminds you exactly why this series has delighted readers across generations.