Presentation

The authors
One fine morning in 1951, Albert Uderzo, who is working for World Press/International Press, is told that someone new, called 'Gossini' is coming to join them. When Albert hears this name, his Italian roots get all excited. But he learns that "No, his name is spelt G.o.s.c.i.n.n.y. He's French and he's moving here from the United States."
Discover the amazing life of the two creators of Asterix in our pages dedicated to René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.

The series follows the exploits of a village of ancient Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. They do so by means of a magic potion, brewed by their druid, which gives the recipient superhuman strength. The protagonist, the titular character, Asterix, along with his friend Obelix have various adventures. The "ix" suffix of both names echoes the name of Vercingetorix, a historical Gaul chieftain. In many cases, the stories have them travel to various countries around the world, though other books are set in and around their village. For much of the history of the series (Volumes 4 through 29), settings in Gaul and abroad alternated, with even-numbered volumes set abroad and odd-numbered volumes set in Gaul, mostly in the village.




The Asterix series is one of the most popular Franco-Belgian comics in the world, with the series being translated into over 100 languages, and it is popular in most European countries. Asterix is less well known in the United States and Japan.


The success of the series has led to the adaptation of several books into 11 films; eight animated, and three with live actors. There have also been a number of games based on the characters, and a theme park near Paris, Parc Astérix, is themed around the series. To date, 325 million copies of 34 Asterix books have been sold worldwide, making co-creators René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo France's bestselling authors abroad.

Asterix



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Obelix

Obelix (Fr. Obélix) is a fictional character from the French comic book series Asterix. He works as a menhir sculptor and deliveryman, and is Asterix' best friend. Obelix is noted for his fatness, the menhirs he carries around on his back and his superhuman strength. He is the only Gaul in Asterix' village who is always strong since he fell into the cauldron with magic potion when he was a baby. Because of Obelix' already enormous strength he is not allowed to drink the magic potion ever again, a ban he regards as being tremendously unfair. Other characteristics are his simplemindedness, his love and care for his dog Dogmatix, his anger when someone refers to him as being "fat", his enthusiasm for hunting and eating wild boars and beating up Romans. His catchphrase is: "These Romans are crazy!", although he considers many other nationalities to be just as strange.

He is a large man who does not see himself as fat, preferring to call himself "well covered" or having a chest that has "slipped a bit". From Asterix and the Banquet onwards- previously he had simply expressed ignorance of being fat, such as when he merely commented that he wished he had known he was too fat to pose as a lion in Asterix the Gladiator-, Obelix is so in denial over this matter that he usually does not even notice when other people refer to him as "that fat one", and often shows total confusion over which fat person people are referring to.

 When he does understand the allusions are made on his behalf he flies into a rage and starts beating up the person who said it. Sometimes, when he is in a bad mood, just hearing the word "fat"- even if it is not in reference to him- can quickly enrage him. Being called fat, or being hinted as being fat, is one of the main causes of conflicts between Asterix and Obelix which leads to more developing conflicts in which they must work together, once escalating to the point that Obelix actually gave Asterix amnesia when he hit him too hard during an argument (Asterix and the Actress).

 Although they usually simply insult each other verbally they inevitably make up swiftly. Sometimes, Obelix can be so paranoic over the allusion of the word Fat that he can even break the fourth wall with the mere mention of this. Visibly in Asterix and the Black Gold, when the narrator points out that their(Asterix and Obelix) vessel was pulled like a "Big and fat fish", Obelix become clearly offended and yells "WHO IS FAT!?.