BBC News spotlights Asterix co-creator Albert Uderzo, who’s been drawing the adventures of the pint-sized Gaul for nearly 50 years, and writing the series since the death of René Goscinny in 1977:
Some 325 million copies of the 33 Asterix albums have been sold, with translations into languages as diverse as Urdu, Arabic and even Latin.
“Asterix is bearing up well after nearly 50 years, he is still awaited by the readers,” he says. “We are getting closer to bringing him back to life in a new album”, although he later admits that he’s still looking for an idea for the next story.
“That’s become a lot more difficult for me now – after 33 albums to find an idea is not that easy. If I don’t have any more then I am not just going to do an album just for the money. I will stop.”
A live-action adaptation of Asterix at the Olympic Games will be released in January.
