Asterix creator Albert Uderzo dies at 92
The Guardian
By Alison Flood
March 24, 2020
French comic-book artist, who created Asterix with the
writer René Goscinny, dies at home ‘from a heart attack unrelated to the
coronavirus’
Asterix illustrator Albert Uderzo has died at the age of 92,
his family has announced.
The French comic book artist, who created the beloved
Asterix comics in 1959 with the writer René Goscinny, died on Tuesday. He “died
in his sleep at his home in Neuilly
from a heart attack unrelated to the coronavirus. He had been very tired for
several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told AFP.
One of the best-loved characters in French popular culture,
with more than 370m albums sold worldwide, 11 films and an Asterix theme park,
the small-statured Asterix is a warrior from Roman-occupied ancient Gaul, who
together with his best friend Obelix and dog Dogmatix – Idéfix in the French
original – takes pleasure in outwitting Roman legionnaires. Fortunately for
Asterix, Obelix fell into a cauldron of magic potion as a child, making him
invincibly strong.
Each comic starts in the same way, before Asterix and his
friends go on increasingly farflung adventures – in Asterix in Britain,
he introduces tea to the ancient Britons; in Asterix and Cleopatra, Obelix
knocks off the Sphinx’s nose. “The year is 50BC. Gaul
is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely … One small village of
indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy
for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium,
Laudanum and Compendium.”
Waterstones children’s laureate Cressida Cowell, author and
illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon books, said: “I loved Asterix as a
child, and his style was absolutely iconic. Creating a huge cast of
individually recognisable characters, and the minute detail of all those group
battles and the action scenes is an achievement in itself, but his real skill
was combining fast-paced adventure with such humour and warmth. Children come
to reading in a lot of different ways, with comics and graphic novels being
hugely important for a lot of kids. Asterix has taught generations of children
around the world to love reading.”
Comedian Chris Addison was one of many fans to mourn Uderzo’s passing online.
“Very few people’s work will ever give me the amount of pleasure his has ever
since I was very young. One of my greatest culinary regrets is that I’ll never
get to eat wild boar the way he drew them for Asterix. Chapeau, monsieur,” he
said on Twitter.
Mark Millar, the creator of comics including Kingsman and Kick-Ass,
called Uderzo “the Master” and “my gateway drug to beautiful European comics”,
while Rafael Albuquerque, illustrator and co-creator of American Vampire, said
Uderzo was “one of my biggest influences in comics”. “Asterix was the first
comic I read, from my aunt’s bookshelf. With him I learnt about expression more
than anyone. Merci maître!” he wrote on Twitter.
Writer Oliver Kamm, whose mother, Anthea Bell, translated
the Asterix books into English, said Uderzo was “a cartoonist of genius, whose
skills perfectly combined with those of the brilliant René Goscinny”. Kamm said
he was deeply sad and added: “Though not an English speaker like Goscinny (a
keen anglophile), Uderzo had gracious appreciation of the Asterix translations
of my mother.”
Uderzo met Goscinny in 1951, and the pair began creating
characters together, including Oumpah-Pah, seen as a precursor to Asterix. In
1959, they were asked to create a magazine called Pilote, which would feature a
“typically French hero”. They agreed to set their story in ancient Gaul, with
the first issue published in October featuring The Adventures of Asterix the Gaul. More than 300,000 copies were sold.
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Goscinny died in 1977, during an exercise stress test for a medical checkup.
Uderzo continued the adventures of Asterix alone. The Great Divide, the 25th
Asterix album, was published in 1980 and was the first to be written and drawn
by Uderzo alone. In 2009, Uderzo retired, selling the rights to the character
to Hachette.
UDERZO, Alberto (Alberto
Aleandro Uderzo)
Born: 4/25/1927,
Fisemer, Marne, France
Died: 3/24/2020,
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France
Alberto Uderzo’s westerns –
comic book illustrator, writer:
Watoki
le valeureux – 1949
Oumpah-pah
– 1958-1962
Asterix
in America
– 1994 [writer]
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