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But the much-loved cast of characters is unchanged: Asterix, the canny hero, his corpulent sidekick Obelix, Dogmatix the dog, Panoramix the druid (known as Getafix in the English translations), Cacofonix the tone-deaf bard and so on.īut while The Gold Book will doubtless sell as well as ever, the continuing commercial success of the Asterix series masks a painful reality that many fans prefer to ignore: For the past 30 years - ever since Goscinny's death in 1977 - the books have been frankly second-rate. Unlike most previous albums, The Gold Book comprises a series of short stories rather than a single tale. If modern-day France tends to see itself as a beleaguered redoubt holding out against the imperial forces of global Americana, then who better to represent it than a cheeky Gaul with a habit of clobbering the cloddish forces of Rome. Not only is he a prodigious (and rare) cultural export - 325 million books sold in 107 languages - he also exemplifies perfectly the national self-image.Īnne-Claire Norot Les Inrocks culture magazine They include a musical, a seminar at the Sorbonne and a costumed pageant on 29 October.įor the French, who take their Bandes Dessinées (BD, comic strip books) very seriously indeed, Asterix is part of the canon. And, over the following week a series of events will be held across Paris to mark the anniversary. On 22 October, a new album comes out, the 34th in the series, entitled, "Asterix and Obelix's birthday - The Gold Book". Half a century later Asterix - and Uderzo - are still going strong. It was the work of the Italian-born artist Albert Uderzo, who, with his script-writer friend René Goscinny, had dreamed up the idea a few months previously on the terrace of his Bobigny flat. On 29 October 1959, the first adventure of the diminutive warrior Asterix appeared in the comic magazine Pilote. An old man unveiled a plaque to mark the birthplace of one of France's greatest cultural heroes: Asterix. Asterix books are still being published, but should they be?Ī little-reported ceremony took place a few days ago outside a nondescript apartment block in the Paris suburb of Bobigny.