Iznogoud 2; The Caliph's Vacation

Iznogoud is the wicked Grand Vizier of Baghdad who's silly schemes, in an attempt to become Caliph, always result in catastrophe.

Iznogoud is the evil Grand Vizier of Baghdad under the reign of the much-loved Caliph, Haroun al Plassid and he has one aim in life - " to become Caliph instead of the Caliph".

The Iznogoud books all have a high fun factor and many of them make me laugh out loud due to their clever parodies and farcical events that frequently snowball out of control. Some of the jokes in these stories stuck in my head for over twenty years and I was extremely pleased to be able to rediscover the stories due to their republication.

The combination of imaginative stories, high-quality drawings and funny events means that I highly recommend Iznogoud books to those who like this type of book. If you like Asterix, you will also like Iznogoud.

Iznogoud & The Caliph's Vacation

Iznogoud and The Caliph's Vacation is the second in the English translations of the Iznogoud cartoon book series. Originally written in French by Rene Goscinny and drawn by Jean Tabary, the twenty seven editions of Iznogoud are being printed by Cinebook publications at a current rate of two per year.

The Caliph's Vacation: Iznogoud Vol. 2 (Adventures of the Grand Viz...

Cinebook, Ltd

~~$9.8~~ $9.58

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The Caliph's Vacation is a collection of four short cartoon stories featuring Iznogoud, the evil Grand Vizier of Baghdad, his faithful strong-arm-man Wa’at Alahf and the gentle Caliph Haroun al Plassid.

The four stories featured in this book are titled;

Summer vacation
Good Sports in the Caliphate
The Caliph's Cruise
Lihkwid's Bottle

The illustrations, by Jean Tabary, are excellent in this volume with some really amazing and amusing scenes from the streets of Baghdad. The stories are very amusing too with absolutely ridiculous schemes to get rid of the Caliph all of which backfire.

I will tell you a little about each story below.

1. Summer Vacation

In Summer Vacation all the inhabitants of Baghdad head for the beach and Iznogoud decides that this would be a good place to dispose of the Caliph. Schemes to do away with the Caliph include digging holes in the sand in which to trap him, feeding him to sharks, sending him on a deadly sailing trip and abandoning him to the tide, but, of course, they all backfire on unhappy Iznogoud.

2. Good Sports in the Caliphate

Iznogoud uses a magical weather-forecaster to induce snow in the desert! At the resulting resort he attempts to fix a skiing accident for the Caliph but ends up being the victim himself.

3. The Caliph's Cruise

Here Iznogoud arranges for a dealy cruise for the Caliph with a captain famed for his shipwrecks. Unwittingly the Grand Vizeir ends up accompanying the Caliph to visit an island inhabited by a cannibal tribe, a cyclops and a giant falcon from which they escape only to encounter greater problems.

4. Lihkwid's Bottle

Lihkwid's bottle is a giant bottle full of a bad-tasting but magical elixir that will turn the drinker of the final drop into a louse. Iznogoud uses all sorts of silly excuses to get the Caliph to drink it all, only to end up taking the final dose himself.

Goscinny & Tabary

The creators of Iznogoud

Rene Goscinny was the much travelled French writer of the Iznogoud books who was much better known for his collaboration with Albert Uderzo on the Asterix Books. In 1977 Goscinny died of a heart attack leaving Jean Tabary to continue the Iznogoud series alone. Goscinny also authored the well-known Lucky Luke series of cartoon books and was editor of Pilote magazine.

Jean Tabary is the French cartoonist who draws the Iznogoud series of books and since 1977 has also authored them, producing the most recent, La faute de l'ancêtre, in 2004. Jean Tabary is into his eighties and it is doubtful if there will be any firther additions to the Iznogoud series after this last, twenty seventh, volume.

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Have You Read "The Caliph's Vacation"?

More Iznogoud Books

	The Wicked Wiles of Iznogoud: Iznogoud Vol. 1 Legend has it that in Baghdad the magnificent, a great and particularly dark-minded vizier, who answers to the name of Iznogoud, works on his ambition to lay claim to the ... Cinebook, Ltd ~~$12.28~~ $3.12
	Iznogoud and the Magic Computer: Iznogoud Vol. 4 In Baghdad, the Caliph's Grand Vizier Iznogoud has one aim in life: to become Caliph instead of the Caliph. The benign ruler, Haroun al Plassid, is blind to his vizier's ... Cinebook, Ltd ~~$11.95~~ $8.75
	A Carrot for Iznogoud: Iznogoud Vol. 5 Iznogoud is Grand Vizier in Baghdad. He has only one dream: to become Caliph instead of the Caliph. He tries his hardest to no avail. But the usually oblivious Caliph has ... Cinebook, Ltd ~~$11.95~~ $7.34

Iznogoud 1; The Wicked Wiles Of Iznogoud

Iznogoud is the miserable Grand Vizier of Baghdad who's ridiculous schemes, whilst attempting to become Caliph, always end up in catastrophe.

Iznogoud 3; The Day of Misrule
Iznogoud tries to use the annual day of "misrule" to forward his plans of becoming the Caliph. Of course, there is only one person that suffers..... Iznogoud himself!

Read About All The Iznogoud Books

Iznogoud Book Collection
The Iznogoud series of books are a set of cartoon stories which take place in ancient Baghdad, revolving around the absurd plans of the evil Grand Vizier, Iznogoud, to do away with the reigning Caliph, Haroun Al Plassid, and become Caliph himself; these plans include trying to set up a skiing accident in the desert, rigging an election by using magic to influence voters, trying to get the Caliph lost on the road to nowhere and attempting to remove the Caliph using a time machine.

Updated: 10/17/2012, nickupton

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Tolovaj on 06/18/2012

Iznogoud is in my opinion even better character than any from Asterix series, what includes Asterix. He is witty and evil and he is one of biggest and most funny losers in world literature. Goscinny did a great job when he created him, but I think he didn't succeeded as much he deserved.

Maybe Iznogoud is too similar to average reader?

Or he just wasn't in the right time in the right place?

I noticed there is a movie and a series about 'Le Petit Nicolas' (my favorite Goscinny's series) made and some injustice to the author, known mainly by Asterix (what about hilarious Umpah Pah?) is finally corrected.
I bet there will come time for Iznogoud to shine in his full potential!

Thanks for heads up:)