Asterix

The Asterix series is a popular French comic based on the comedy and satire genres. It is written by the well known French author Rene Goscinny. Albert Uderzo was chosen as the illustrator of the series. The series initially made its appearance in the Belgian-Franco comics magazine called Pilote in the year 1959. When author Goscinny died in 1977, Albert Uderzo took over the series for writing the series’ next books. The series is comprised of 36 books in total, which were released between the years 1959 and 2015. Over the course of the series, the authors have described the exploits of the indomitable Gauls at the time when they resisted the forceful occupation by the Romans. They did so with the help of a magical potion that was prepared by brewing by their Druid called Getafix. The recipient of the potion received superhuman strength for some time. All the protagonists mentioned by author Goscinny go through numerous adventures. Among the prominent ones were Asterix and Obelix. In the names of all the characters, the ‘ix’ ending is similar to the ‘rix’ suffix that means king and is seen in the real Gaulish names like Orgetorix, Vercingetorix, Dumnorix, etc. Most of the stories described in the books show the protagonists travel to the foreign countries, however, many of them are still shown as staying around their villages. Much of the historical portions of this exciting series are set abroad and in Gaul alternately. In fact, the even numbered volumes take place abroad, while the odd numbered volumes happen in Gaul, mostly in the rural regions. The Asterix series is also known by the name ‘The Adventures of Asterix’ in some parts of the world and is known to be included among the most famous Franco Belgian comics. It is believed that the series has been translated into more than 100 foreign languages, going on to become most popular in the European countries. After its tremendous success, the series was chosen to be adapted into as many as 13 movies. Nine of the movies are animated, while the remaining 4 are live action films. Several games have also been developed with the series’ characters. A theme park named Parc Asterix is also created in Paris, which resembles the setup of this series. By 2009, an estimated 325 million printed copies of the Asterix books were successfully sold worldwide. This established the authors Uderzo and Goscinny as the bestselling French novelists.