Albert Uderzo has died | Hacker News Reader

Albert Uderzo has died

theguardian.com

370 pointsfinphil121 comments

Uderzo (and Goscinny, his partner in crime) are childhood heroes of mine, together with Franquin and all the other stripmakers they slowly got me into reading more substantial stuff. Supberb sense of humor and tons of tricks that you'd only appreciate if you read them again at a later age.

Naive? Me? ;)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DY83gwMW4AARkVP?format=jpg

I hold those two directly responsible for much of my love of wordplay. And a strong thank you to all of the translators around the world who made their work such a fun way to learn new languages. Cheers to them all.

Yes. I always marvelled at the translators ability to recreate the wordplay jokes (eg names) in another language

M'enfin

M'enfin is from Gaston Lagaffe, a Franquin's child, as far as I know.

Yup and that was me and my dad inside joke when I was a kid.

As a young child I learned more about ancient European history from Asterix than I did at school. Of course a lot of it was plain fiction, but the historical references made imprints on me, and it wasn't hard to separate that from the fiction, as I grew older. So I thank you Uderzo (and Goscinny) for bringing that education into my life.

Dito. I picked Latin in 5th-9th grade over French and Spanish only because I was so intrigued about ancient Rome and Latin from Asterix. Still remember visiting Rome for the first time in 10th grade. It felt surreal.

I spent hours of my childhood reading Asterix, Tintin and Gaston [0]. Each had an amazing slightly different universe.

Now living in the US it always amazes me how different the Comics culture over here is.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_(comics)

Le Journal de Spirou et Le Journal de Tintin were my whole childhood.

Coming from the opposite direction. I grew up reading Marvel and DC. Didn't care for too much of it as an adult. Then when I moved to France and discovered the BD titles weren't just plentiful they were high quality as well.

Ever read Oumpah-Pah (the probably slighly incorrect and insensitive native american character) from their beginning ?

https://www.bedetheque.com/BD-Oumpah-Pah-Tome-1-Oumpah-Pah-l...

I mean Asterix is also slightly incorrect and insensitive about a lot of European people ... and we love it.

There are a few bits of Asterix that are pretty problematic, too, for example the depiction of the African pirate. YMMV, but for me it's a small enough piece that it's worthwhile just talking it over with my kids (vs something like Dr. Seuss's "If I Ran The Zoo", which probably belongs in the dustbin of history, along with Song of the South and everything else that really isn't worth it at this point).

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/magazine/how-to-read-a-ra...

Wow, I've been reading Asterix since I'm 6 and never thought it was a gorilla, that's seem really stupid to me, or at least a very us-centric view, no offense.

I can see Tintin in the Congo being worth discussing, I mean it's from the 30s, but even as the child I knew to take some distance from it even without adult supervision.

> no offense

Of course no offense. You don't have a history of the most brutal systematic slavery in history and the ensuing racism that persists to this day. European subjugation and mockery of Africa is older and has left wounds that have had more time to heal. The wounds are still fresh in the US and they keep being reopened, so it's of course natural for them to still hurt in the US.

Not each time that a black character appears in a book is about slavery.

No, but every time a black character is drawn as a racist caricature with giant lips and a bone in their hair, it's a racist caricature which was systematically used in the US and other countries to hurtfully mock black people. There's a long history of such racist stereotypes in American and European culture. It's not benign.

There are other ways to draw black people in comic books that doesn't have to rely on hurtful stereotypes.

There are many ways to draw people, and Uderzo had theirs. Asterix is short, has a big nose and promotes drugs abuse, Obelix is dumb and will hurt the feelings of fat people, he eats wild boars and vegan children could feel unconfortable or pick up dangerous ideas reading this comics. Ideafix chase cats in a flagrant case of animal cruelty...

Is just a parody. Please calm yourself.

I'm really tired of this dark soup of neopuritanism, SJW and porcelain people. By the way, who are you to tell me how I must to draw an human figure?. Has returned Maoism or Degenerate art? Do you know what other artists create images depicting black people with big lips and different types of hair ornaments? All african artists.

If you don't like the comics, just don't read it. The solution is really simple.

Does a racist caricature exist? Does racism itself exist? If it does, what does it look like?

If you don't think the pickaninny or the mammy are racist, I have no idea what you think racism looks like.

The pickaninny and the mammy were part of minstrel shows and lots of other pernicious hurtful portrayals. Nobody has ever complained about the other characters in Astérix because there is no history of black people systematically enslaving whites and then making ridiculous shows and cartoons about the enslaved whites. Of course white people aren't offended by how white people draw themselves.

Uderzo didn't even invent the style in which he drew black people. He's just copying the same racist caricatures that existed long before he did.

I'm sorry for what you have been through, are still going through and all that.

I spent some years homeless and I post as openly female on HN, which at least historically was overwhelmingly male.

I do my best to educate people here (about homelessness, being a woman online, etc) and I try to keep it as conversational as possible. People who want to be good and want to see themselves as good don't react well to being attacked and accused. It tends to close minds and, with it, doors.

I'm not trying to attack you nor criticize you. I'm hoping to empower you with a better methodology.

Long experience tells me you probably won't see it that way. I don't plan to argue with you about the choice I've made to comment here.

Here's wishing you fair winds for your journey going forward.

> Does a racist caricature exist? Yes

> Does racism itself exist? Yes

> What does it look like?

Stupid, unfunny, monochromatic and afraid to normalize the appearance of interracial couples, or to show black, jew, indian, or hispane characters in positive roles, or to depict different cultures and religions living together.

Therefore, totally the opposite to this comics.

If comics for you, mean only US schools and Steamboat Willy cartoons, then this is just a tunnel vision problem. Can be treated by exposition to different schools of cartoonists. In Europe there are some really big: Uderzo and collaborators, Hergé (Questionable first history, corrected later), Franquin, Peyo or Ibañez among other. Ibañez is undoubtely the wildest one; If you think Asterix it's politically incorrect you're going to freak out with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERFdmt6NOGw

And yes, is for kids.

I'm not sure what you're trying to freak me out with in that video. Cartoon violence? That's pretty innocuous and not at all what I'm talking about.

Do you know about minstrel shows?

Si quieres continuar esta conversación podemos proseguir por correo: jordigh@octave.org

Creo que también estarás más cómodo en español.

I don't see why European artists should self-censor so as not to hurt the sensibilities of Americans just because your country was built on slavery and genocide. Sort out your wounds yourselves and let us live.

(For the record, there are plenty of "black" characters (Numids, Nubians etc.) in Asterix and Baba is the only one with his characteristic. Many of the others are depicted favorably, as the other commenter said)

I'm not from the US. I just know what racism looks like, unlike, apparently, many Europeans.

>or at least a very us-centric view

Exactly. Also the black characters in Asterix were not "black", they were Numidians or Nubians. They were characters with agency like any other, the Mansion of Gods comic is the best example.

The pirates are a spoof of another french Belgian comic named Redbeard (Barbe Rouge) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbeard_(comics) The wikipedia page even has the Asterix parodies next to the actual ones.

Not that it excuses anything.

The authors are mocking of caribbean pirates, not of black people. The character speaks with a thick caribbean accent and is a stereotype of a strong and dumb man in a multiracial team that acts by greed (and are punished again and again for that). Is not problematic at all. I've always seen him as a Latino character in fact.

There are thousands of other strong, brutish, malevolent, greedy or dumb-as-bricks white characters in Asterix also. The main antagonists are almost invariably white. They mock of almost any white stereotype and made fun of almost each european country and culture.

...But they don't trash it or are disrespectful. The histories always include positive characters ambassadors of those cultures, friends or relatives, that get in trouble and ally with the main characters to solve the problem together. They are treated always by Asterix as equals without hesitation, with one bold exception: A black woman.

In Asterix and Cleopatra the main characters are sent in a mission to help an african old friend in trouble and the druid goes also (to learn about some discoveries of african people). The friend is depicted as smart, hard worker and educated (architect chief). Another main character in the comic is Cleopatra, depicted as a beauty, very sophisticated and well bred government in charge, their main flaw is being whimsical. This is one of the few characters that is depicted not as equal, but over the main male characters, in an upper class.

And this comic was released in 1963. If there is something that Asterix isn't, is racist.

Not everyone loved it. Astérix and the Goths was an early and very unfavourable depiction of the Germans as militaristic and ruthless, written with WW2 still fresh in mind. The Germans did not like this early strip. Goscinny and Uderzo seemed to regret this early portrayal, as Goths in latter Astérix strips were depicted more sympathetically.

My point here is that "political correctness" has a point. Of course most Europeans love Astérix. It's usually harmless and in good fun. It's punching upwards or sideways. But making fun of genocided cultures by completely misunderstanding them is not in good fun. Oumpah-pah or Tintin in the Congo are a different sort of thing than Astérix In Helvetia.

That's funny, I am German and that comic book was always one of my favourites. I never made the connection that it was supposed to be demeaning or that there was a controversy around it. I always took it as being cheeky like Asterix in Britain.

Are you perhaps younger? It had a not great contemporary reception and when translated in West Germany included a lot of anti-East Germany propaganda.

I think you are talking about the first publisher who tried to insert controversial elements into Asterix. He was somewhat of a nationalist. His license got pulled and the comics got re-released in the normal format. Those were two different things.

Right, are you younger and far removed from the experience of a German reading this comic soon after WW2? Those were the Germans who did not like this comic.

Yes, I was not born when the original German translations were released, so I cannot comment on the reactions in the time. But I can also not recall any media controversy around the comic other than the initial publisher mishap, that is why I am bit confused about these comments. Surely there must be some people that complained to Uderzo but that is unavoidable.

Erbfeindschaft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French%E2%80%93German_enmity) is still alive and well in Germany so it's not like there is no awareness of these sentiments anymore. Although under the EU project that has improved a lot in the recent two decades because both the French and Germans found a common enemy in the Brits ha.

>Astérix and the Goths was an early and very unfavourable depiction of the Germans as militaristic and ruthless

As opposed to the real life French experience of them?

>My point here is that "political correctness" has a point.

That we should ignore historical experience and portray peoples and cultures as totally the same and interchangeable except in purely decorative areas (e.g. cuisine, music)?

Because a Germany that shed cruel blood and huge toll all over Europe was for 5+ years the direct experience of Europeans that wrote those comics, and for many decades still a trauma...

The English genocided southeast Asia contemporaneously but I'm not sure that was part of their characterization in the comics.

It would have been if the comics were made by southeastern Asians, but they were made by French who had other experiences (and weren't themselves that good to southeastern Asians)...

They were different times.

Tintin is rather fascinating in that regard, in that the first 3 albums at least are egregiously incorrect caricatures of russia/africa/america with a decidedly colonialist, white supermacist, paternalist bent (very real, inarguably so, take a read yourself). A product of being literally ordered by an ultraconservative catholic priest. At a certain point in his life, Hergé (the author) met what would become a close friend (the basis of the character Chang in the albums). This caused such a wild shift in his worldview that the albums shifted from being these oversimplified caricatures of "inferior nations" to being one of the most thoroughly well-researched and eclectic comic book series/universes of all time.

It is also a good reminder that the moral standards back in those days were completely different and I think we cannot judge those books with the moral standards of today.

But it also makes them dated products of their times.

Even in "those days" that posture was already inexcusable. The man who edited Le Petit Vingtième was a literal fascist. Quoting from wikipedia:

>Beginning a series of newspaper supplements in late 1928, Wallez founded a supplement for children, Le Petit Vingtième (The Little Twentieth), which subsequently appeared in Le Vingtième Siècle every Thursday. Carrying strong Catholic and fascist messages, many of its passages were explicitly anti-semitic.

To my mind what forgives this is not the fact that it was done long ago, but simply the fact that he so drastically changed his worldview, and repudiated his earlier work. It takes particular strength of character to admit one was wrong in one's core beliefs, and effect real change which reflects true regret.

I grew up with Asterix and Tintin too. Also Garfield.

I was also really into Fighting Fantasy books too. One day at the local library I stumbled upon an Asterix adventure book and it felt like Christmas had arrived.

With Gaston one of the neat bits was that every signature at the bottom of a panel was a gag in its own right. No two were alike.

Ah you are right, the Franquin signature was something to look forward to!

I also loved the Spirou comics. Le Petit Spirou was very "educational" as a kid.

Agree about the comic book culture, the only people I meet here in the US that have read Belgian comics seem to be other Europeans. But on the other hand, even though I was reading comics voraciously as a kid I knew nothing about DC and Marvel before the comic book movie craze started.

Gaston is one of my favorites, laugh-out-loud funny as a kid and adult. Such great set-ups, visual gags, and word-play. For adventure, sci-fi, and incredible art, Yoko Tsuno was another great one that has stood the test of time. Oddly, I don't like Tintin as an adult, it's too whiz-bang and bumbling.

After growing up on European comics, the ones in the US were bland, just plain crude (Garfield), or overtly political (Bloom County, Doonesbury). The only one that had the equivalent depth and humor, while being uniquely American, was Calvin and Hobbes.

Peanuts?

The Far Side?

Family Circle (sometimes, and before the original author died)

Peanuts was in its prime before my time, but when I read it, it was cute but not funny. To me it seemed like a bunch of kids with adult neuroses, it seemed disconnected.

I loved the Far Side when it was at its peak in the late 80's, but it's just disconnected one-frame gags. And upon re-reading as an adult, they were very inconsistent, and the surrealism hasn't aged well. Maybe some comics just belong in childhood/teenage years, but it's clear that some really work for adults as well.

Family Circle falls into the cute one-strip category, but it didn't have much depth either--too saccharine. To me it didn't compare to European comics focused on family antics like Boule et Bill, or Mafalda (Argentinian).

I really think the American comics were hampered by the daily strip in the newspaper format. Many authors did try to make longer story arcs over a week of strips, and I preferred those. Calvin and Hobbes was the best at it, but there were other good ones such as Mutts and Over the Hedge. There were/are authors working outside the strip format, making whole book comics like in Europe, but I never got into those--too dark (Maus) or super-hero (Watchmen) or never-ending. For example, the more recent Amulet series started out well, but each book went deeper and deeper into the story and never really resolved the initial tension--I gave up after 7 or 8 books.

Speaking of crudeness, Hergé's worldview was pretty racist... Those first 9 albums or so are pretty cringeworthy. Especially considering that they've been rewritten a couple times to adapt to changing times.

(I say that as a huge Tintin fan growing up.)

You are right, Calvin and Hobbes is in the same line. Very clever and funny cartoon.

The complete set of Asterix is on archive.org https://archive.org/details/Asterixcompleteset/mode/2up

that right there is worth another year's donation, although I have to say how is it even possible - surely these aren't out of copyright?

I'm not sure if this is the case here, but IIRC, the internet archive is considered a library, which grants them some special rights regarding copyright.

I believe that's the reason that allows them to host arcade ROMs as well.

That's not true. There is no special blanket copyright exemption for libraries (equivalent, everything is a library).

The exemption is only for making backup copies of circulating materials.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/108

Archive.org only serves things that copyright holders haven't demanded they remove. Some things they "lend" out to one person at a time using streaming technology, so it's the users fault if they copy it, same as with Blockbuster videotapes.

Their arcade ROMs at abandonware or streamed.

I read all of them over and over again as a child, then one more full reading in my 20s. They were even better as an adult. One of the oddities is that the names in English are actually much funnier than the original French names, e.g. Unhygienix the fishmonger, Getafix the druid, Fullyautomatix who makes the weapons. These two authors brought so many hours, days and years of joy. A life well lived

Some of the original French ones are hilariously funny. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters for their meaning.

I especially like "Abraracourcix" and "Assurancetourix".

In Norway, the fishmonger was named Hermetix (as in, canned food), and - two of my favourites - the Greek tour operator Setopenextrabus (Schedule an additional bus) and the drunken legionnaire Sophus Antabus.

In the UK version there is also dubbelosix...

My personal favorite is Idefix, the dog who is so imprinted on Obelix he has to follow him.

The English translation of "Dogmatix" is the most perfect translation ever. It kept the original meaning and even introduced a new pun.

Hah, cool, I didn't know the English equivalent, thank you.

I used to read them in Spanish in Mexico, and I'm sad to say the early Spanish translations were pretty awful. A lot of them were done by Spaniards that apparently did not understand the puns, so they would just repeat the French names without offering any kind of translation. A lot of other jokes were translated without being apparently understood to the point where it was completely nonsensical in Spanish. It wasn't until I later learned French that I could appreciate the jokes in the names.

There was also a problem that the Spanish translations were very inconsistent and between one book to another characters would have different names.

For a while I envied the superior English translation. I wish we had gotten something as good in Spanish.

I have the entire Asterix collection in Spanish (perhaps the most prized inheritance my mother left me), and I don't think the translations are as bad as you say they are.

Do you have an example of a French or English pun or a name that got lost in the Spanish translation?

Abraracurcix, Asuranceturix... As I recall, those are the Spanish names, which make no sense. The Roman camps were called Petibonum or sometimes Hombrecitum depending on the book (inconsistent). I remember it was also always Babaorum, which makes no sense either. Just so many missed opportunities to actually bring the jokes into Spanish.

There are a lot of examples that you wouldn't even realise are wrong because you wouldn't even notice that there was supposed to be a joke there.

The translators, Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, did a fantastic job with the translation.

Cacofonix the singer

Impedimenta, Vitalstatistix's wife

The list goes on...

I recently gave away all of my scifi/fantasy novels to my nieces/nephews (my boys had read them all). The only books I now own are technical and my Asterix collection.

The Asterix comics really never caught on in the US, so I sadly have not read any of them, but multiple people that I respect have told me that I really need to check them out.

To someone who is almost completely unfamiliar with the material, what would be a good place to start?

Start at the beginning [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_the_Gaul

Generally, most of the Asterix comics that were written by Goscinny with illustrations by Uderzo are good. The later ones only by Uderzo or nowadays even by other authors are not always as good as the original ones.

"or nowadays even by other authors are not always as good as the original ones."

That is a very strong euphemism ...

But my nephews and niece still enjoyed them, so I try not to be too harsh.

i find the last ones by uderzo were the worst sadly. the new autors are actually decent.

Anything before the death of Goscinny, that is up to and including nr. 24, Asterix in Belgium. Some personal favourites are all the ones named Asterix in <area name>, Asterix and Cleopatra (that nose!), Asterix and the Normans, Asterix and the Soothsayer, but it's extremely hard to choose.

Also, check out other franco-belgian comics like Lucky Luke and Gaston Lagaffe.

I have read the English(British) translations and the American as well. In terms of the humour and slick wordplay they seemed quite different if not poles apart. Those American editions did nothing for me, some of them almost felt like an act of sacrilege. I guess its a cultural thing -- to give a trivial example, the name Readymix just isn't as funny as Getafix.

Apparently the notion of getting a fix was something that American children needed to be protected from.

"He was called Readymix (the name of a British cement firm) in newspaper comics during the 1970s, as Getafix was considered inappropriate for children." [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters#Get...

Asterix comics (the best ones, with Goscinny) are parodies about the French society in the 60s and 70s and France's stereotypical view of its European neighbors, so it's not hard to think that a lot of it is lost in translation.

While stories are mostly standalones, there are sometimes references to past events/characters, so maybe it's better to just start with the first one!

an easy would be the animated movie "The twelve tasks of Asterix"

I would recommend to look at the titles and choose based on a subject that interests you - the series makes very clever jokes about a lot of the history of the places they visit, and you'll get more of them if you're a little familiar with the material. A personal favourite for example is the one with the Goths, and a lot of the jokes there allude to the actual history of the Gothic tribes. If you're interested in any of the titular places, that's as good a place to start as any.

-Ah, the Goths! The west Goths (which are to the east of us...)

I find that Asterix skilfully plays on our own prejudices with regards to different nationalities, very much evident in the Goths and in Asterix in Britain. (in the latter, Asterix happens to introduce tea to the British...)

Start with the first one.

Have a read of this thread to get other suggestions, but also to see how important a good translation is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18255513

The best ones are:

Asterix and Cleopatra

Asterix The Legionary

Asterix in Britain

I really wouldn't rate any of those three higher than the others, although Cleopatra the art is probably the best (also I believe in the opinion of people with more developed aesthetic sense than mine). The Britain one might be slightly colored by my nostalgia in that case, it was a favorite from my youth.

There are some others that are I think great but slightly not as great

Asterix and the Big Fight

Asterix in Switzerland (another youthful favorite)

The Mansions of The Gods

Asterix_the_Gladiator

You could of course start with the first one Asterix The Gaul, but it is noticeably not as great as many later ones. But on the other hand it is probably greater than most comics ever.

on edit: fixed formatting.

Obélix and Company is pure genius.

that's true, but by the time I read it I was probably more into Tintin.

on edit: which might mean more of my opinion is caused by nostalgia than I thought.

I haven't read them. When I was a homeschooling parent, they were popular with some people covering either French or Latin as part of the homeschooling curriculum for their child.

I know some French and some Latin and my mother's a German immigrant. But I found it to be too steep a learning curve to get excited about, though I wanted to be interested because I wanted some way to further my study of French, among other things.

There are English language resources for helping you understand it, such as this which goes into explaining the Latin jokes, among other things:

https://www.everythingasterix.com/

That's not at all intended to be discouragement. I also feel like I've missed out, but that's not likely to ever be remedied. There's only so many hours in the day.

What's amazing is how fully formed everything is right from the first book.

From my goodreads review:

The first Asterix book is really quite remarkable, it deserves 5 stars. So much of what I associate with Asterix is already fully formed and developed straight out of the gate including the humour, style, characters, situations and some of the funniest bits out of all the Asterix books. Memorable stuff like the strawberries and the hair-growing potion.

Also be sure to check out the annotations: http://asterix.openscroll.org/books/asterix_the_gaul.html

I've always thought that the equivalent of Albert Uderzo in the USA was Carl Barks. I'm not sure why, but the adventures Uncle Scrooge got up to remind me of the adventures Asterix got up to.

There’s also Dave Sim, although I’d put an asterisk next to that comparison for sure.

I think the whole “went off the deep end pursuing a religious epiphany that required him to call women uncreative receptacles for male creative power” thing disqualifies Sim from being compared to Uderzo.

(And I say this as someone who leant a LOT about comics reading Cerberus.)

Duck comics are quite popular in Europe too and Carl Barks is honored, but I’d say he is not comparable to Uderzo / Goscinny. You could claim that Don Rosa is comparable though (looking at historical / cultural references, dedication to detail and effort that went into each panel). Can’t recommend „The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck“ enough.

"Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge" is an album by Tuomas Holopainen, which I really enjoyed listening to. And yes, it's related to the comic series. Don Rosa provided the cover artwork for the album.

Tuomas Holopainen the Nightwish person?

The same one!

Europe produced huge amounts of Disney universe comics, which apparently there was not enough market for in USA. This happened in 12+ countries but oddly not UK.

There are 500+ (!) books in the series that have been coming out since 1950s, in A5 pocket format and with 250 comic pages. Most have been written in Italy the translated.

They are so European that I cannot even find an English wikipedia page for them but here's something in Danish: https://comicwiki.dk/wiki/Jumbobog

There are still subcultures around, too. At least on reddit there is /r/LTB_iel which is a spoof of /r/me_irl: https://old.reddit.com/r/LTB_iel/top/

There are a lot of jokes in those that went over my head as a kid.

In German they are called Lustiges Taschenbuch and have been a fixture of most kids' rooms at least since the 80s

Having all Don Rosa comic books still in my shelf. Two of them with his autograph. Naturally all in Finnish, him and Barks being almost like national heroes in there.

While looking for comics for my kids at the local library, I was very happily surprised to find how Tintin-esque the Donald Duck Adventures were.

I loved those books as a kid. He brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people with his work.

-If you haven't reread them as an adult, do yourself a favour and get started. I, too, loved them as a kid - but have found that Asterix resonates on many levels. It is definitely a comic for grown-ups too, gently mocking the grown-up world in oh so many ways.

I'll pour myself a generous helping of calvados and reread a few of the albums tonight. RIP, Albert.

They tend to have different jokes in different languages. If you can read more than one language, then read Asterix in all of them for which there are translations (or originals).

It didn't just gently mock the grown-up world, some of the characters were straight-up caricatures of political figures and other famous people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters#Car...

"Alain Prost — Appears as Coronavirus, the Roman champion chariot driver in Asterix and the Chariot Race." say what now?

Ah, I used to love the Asterix books as a kid!

I also remember having a game, "Asterix and Obelix", I think it was called, though I can't recall if it was on the Atari ST or Commodore 64 - it was quite a complex game for the time, and my brothers and I were obsessed with it!

I spent my entire childhood reading Asterix comics. The best part about these comics is that the jokes make more sense as you age. This is sad news.

My favorite character is Caius Detritus, you know the guy that bring discord in seconds wherever he goes in "La Zizanie". That's my favorite because when I was young, I naively though it was not possible. And one day, I cross pass with a one in a million A..H... that was exactly like that. Remembering Asterix and exposing him as Caius Detritus incarnation, I stopped his misdeeds (until he moved to another room ....). Great moment, and bedtime story for my daughter after reading La Zizanie to her.

So what is the name of Courdeténis in your language? He is the Egyptian guy who speaks in hieroglyphs and thinks he's participating in a package tour while being enrolled in the Roman legion. He was one of the greatest characters ever. When asked for his name, his speech bubble only contained a hieroglyph of a tennis court, hence the name "Courdétenis" (tennis court).

His English name was Ptenisnet.

Great bunch of annotations that help explain some of the more subtle references: http://asterix.openscroll.org/book-annotations.html

From the 12 Tasks of Asterix: The Place That Sends You Mad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtEkUmYecnk

A brilliant parody of the French administration.

"Le laissez-passer A-38" is still a pop culture reference.

Took a French course at academie francaise when I just moved to France. When we as matter of exercise had to describe our experience so far in France I played this video instead. All including the teacher had painful looks of recognition ;)

Nostalgic blast from the past, Asterix and Obelix was some of my favorite comic books as a kid.

Surprised that you can find full length Asterix films on YouTube, with the first one released over 50 years ago and the latest just released last year, that's pretty rare longevity for kids comic book characters to have lasted through multiple generations of kids. It's one of the few I can remember that my parents used to read as kids as well.

I don't think I could ever fully forgive him for continuing the series after Goscinny's passing. While a handful may have been good (I like "L'Odyssée d'Astérix" a lot) most of them were average/bad. That being said, as an absolute fan since I was 7 years old, this makes me very sad.

regarding going on after Goscinny's death, i just now read this passage in "The Complete Guide to Asterix" (p.21): "Following the death of his working partner of the last twenty-six years, Albert Uderzo did not have th eheart to complete Asterix in Belgium. Dargaud [publishing partner] responded by taking him to court and forcing him to draw the book. Uderzo had no choice. He completed the album, but appealed against the court's decision. Ironically, the appeal court found in his favour - but by then the books were already in the shops." I think we can forgive him (even for the books that followed).

"Asterix chez les Belges" is actually quite good. And while this is an interesting anecdote, it doesn't explain why he kept going after that. I'm sorry, I can't forgive introducing aliens into an Asterix story :)

that is probably the worst story of the lot. before i didn't think anyone else could continue the work on asterix. but if the new authors realize that the best way to win over the readers is by listening to them, then they will have a chance

The graphic says it all

https://www.asterix.com/

I found an abandoned Asterix in a dump in my apartment block as a child in around 1984. My mother discovered it and loved them. Getting one was a very special treat, even more so in hindsight. I still have many and will read them with my daughter. Thank you Goscinny and Uderzo.

RIP Monsieur Uderzo

Noooooooooo. I wouldn't be the first one to call out the timelessness of Uderzo (and Goscinny's) work. My favorite was his trolling of Herge (Thomson twins in Asterix in Belgium)!!!

RIP Monsieur Uderzo. Even sadder than the loss itself is the realization that there aren't really any replacements for talents like these. We'll always have the books and thats it.

Same - brilliant and enjoyable on multiple levels.

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