Albert Uderzo: The Obelix Man

As the UK media gears up for the launch of the latest Harry Potter, across the Channel a different kind of hero is attracting attention, with the release on 14th October of a new Asterix book. Like that of any new Potter book, every Asterix launch is shrouded in secrecy, with even the title kept under wraps until publication.

Author and illustrator Albert Uderzo is a tall, courteous man, now in his 70s. He works largely from his home in Paris, creating a new album about every four years, and he oversees the main Asterix business, Les Éditions Albert René (EAR). EAR operates from an imposing stone building located just around the corner from the Arc de Triomphe and Uderzo's comfortably furnished office is filled with Asterix memorabilia and photographs.

Neither Uderzo nor his co-creator, René Goscinny, had any idea how popular Asterix would become when they were first approached in the late 1950s by editor François Clauteaux to develop a cartoon strip for a children's magazine, says Uderzo. They were given free rein.

"The only condition was that the articles came from our own culture," he adds. "In those days there were a great number of comics, generally from the US, but Clauteaux wanted his children to be nurtured by French culture."

Uderzo and Goscinny chose the Gauls for their subject matter. "The first thing you are taught about in history is 'our ancestors the Gauls'--although we didn't know very much about them," he says. "We decided that we would develop a story where all of Gaul had been invaded by the Romans except for this tiny village that resisted." It was all agreed very quickly--"in about 15 minutes"--although Uderzo adds, "If we had known what scope it would have, we'd have been terrified and might have spent slightly longer on it--maybe even three days."

Infantile, idiotic, successful

The cartoon industry was perceived very differently at that time, he adds. "Cartoonists were not recognised and were very badly paid so we said to ourselves, 'We may as well have fun and be as infantile and idiotic as we want'. I am sure that that is why so many adults enjoy the books."

But they also shared a desire to challenge the profession. "Cartoons, especially humorous cartoons, were not very good at the time in France. Our ambition was to really bring up the standards. But you had to be brave to go into that professionally. At the time, it didn't seem like children's cartoons had a future."

Both could write and illustrate, but Uderzo preferred drawing and Goscinny writing. They set to work and the first Asterix cartoon strip Pilote appeared in 1959. It proved so popular that by 1961 they were publishing whole albums dedicated to Asterix's adventures.

The speed with which Asterix was created brought a kind of revolutionary energy to their work, says Uderzo. "We worked so closely together on creating it, we really had osmosis, symbiosis, going on."

Among the first albums to be translated into English was Asterix the Gaul (1969). Goscinny, who spoke English, worked closely with translators Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge--who remain the books' English translators today. Bell says, "The most difficult album to translate was Asterix in Britain because of the terrible pseudo-English accent that the Gauls spoke. René Goscinny used to look through the English translations, his English was very good, and we'd discuss how we could handle things like this." Some expressions and puns simply could not be translated and the translators had to use their own humour and imagination.

Life after Goscinny

The first album to break through the one million sales mark in France was Asterix in Britain. Sadly, Goscinny died of a heart condition in 1977--he was just 51. "He seemed in perfect health, and then he left us, it was dreadful for everyone, for his wife and for me," says Uderzo. "I had worked for 26 years with him, we had total harmony and understanding. He considered me as a younger brother and advised me, I was Obelix to his Asterix."

At first it seemed unlikely that Uderzo would continue with the Asterix books but after two years he decided to put pen to paper. In 1980, EAR came into being and published the first new Asterix title, Asterix and the Great Divide. "The process was very different but I had written scenarios for stories before," says Uderzo. "I feel that René is still there, at my shoulder, and when I'm faced with a problem with a gag, I think, 'how would René have reacted?'"

The total print run for the new album this autumn is some eight million worldwide, suggesting that Uderzo has indeed managed to keep the voice of Asterix, although die-hard fans miss the shrewd, contemporary insights provided by Goscinny.

Asterix is now published into some 110 territories and languages, with Orion holding the English worldwide rights; Hachette is the French publisher. EAR has also worked hard to extend the Asterix empire beyond publishing, into film, a theme park and merchandise. Asterix, it seems, is more than ready to take on a new generation of fans.