h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In "Asterix and the Black Gold" (see Asterix article A23329), a special agent from Rome was sent, at Cæsar's request, to prevent Asterix from finding vital rock oil for the magic potion. The agent was named Dubbellosix, having achieved a score of zero on his exam papers the first six times he took them. There were other spy-fiction clichés such as the box that, at the press of a button, turned into a chariot ("we haven't figured a way of folding the horses up inside it yet"), and the wonderful "this papyrus will self-destruct after you have read it".

Oddly and somehow prophetically, while he was drawn as a caricature of Sean Connery, he actually resembles John Cleese, soon to be a permanent fixture in the Bond films.

I thought Dubbellosix was an excellent character in the Asterix saga, and though I never noticed the Clees reference, my memory isn't what it once was (or maybe I don't remember what my memory was )

I'm going to have to go to a book store now .

Sorry, what were we talking about?

Asterix the Gaul, that great learning tool for Latin students everywhere.

Pirate: "Alea jacta est!"

Pirate Captain: "And you can stop making jokes, my lad!"

Or something like that.

Yeah that sort of thing. We used to be able and sit in the school library and read cominc books cool. The librarian mever seemed to catch on the Spiderman, Superman or 2000AD were never translated out of the original English. Although I recently acquired a copy of Hamlet in the original Klingon.

I know what the problem with school teachers and superheroes like Spidey and Supes was - it's because their alter-egos weren't school teachers. (In fact, what a coincidence, they're both journalists! But then we all knew, journos were super!)

What a pity, the Atom didn't have any comics out when I was a kid (the Atom's alter-ego is a physics professor).