All of Gaul is in mourning
Albert Uderzo, one of the co-creators of Astérix the Gaul, has died.
And you wonder why European kids know more about history than America kids? While we were entertaining our ten and twelve year old selves with Archie, the planet Krypton and the Dread Dormammu, European kids were having just as much fun seeing Julius Caesar getting his legionnaires' asses whipped by a village of insurgent Gauls, who, for various reasons, had to make side trips to various parts of the Roman Empire, including Belgae, Britannia, Hispania, Helvetia (Switzerland), Greece, Corsica, the land of the Goths (Germania), and even North America.
Written in French, and having the Gauls showing all the assets and foibles of the modern French, the comic books subtly brought history into the bedrooms of kids who only knew they were getting entertained, and would have puked at the thought of getting educated at the same time. When the parents read the comic books, which they inevitably did, they were entertained as well, although on a whole other level. Sort of like Rocky and Bullwinkle in that respect.
Though as French as the characters and stories could be, the Astérix comic books have been translated into over 100 languages, and deservedly so.
Uderzo's partner in the creation of Astérix, Obélix and the other Gauls of their village, René Goscinny, died in 1977, and Uderzo continued on by himself for almost 20 years. Amusement consisted mostly of going out and beating up (but never killing) Roman occupying legionnaires.
From the Wikipedia site, if you have never heard of Astérix and Obélix.:
Each Asterix comic starts with the following introduction:
The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely... One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium... [1][2]
The series follows the adventures of a village of Gauls as they resist Roman occupation in 50 BCE. They do so by means of a magic potion, brewed by their druid Getafix (Panoramix in the French version), which temporarily gives the recipient superhuman strength. The protagonists, the title character Asterix and his friend Obelix, have various adventures. The "-ix" ending of both names (as well as all the other pseudo-Gaulish "-ix" names in the series) alludes to the "-rix" suffix (meaning "king" ) present in the names of many real Gaulish chieftains such as Vercingetorix, Orgetorix, and Dumnorix.
--------------
To European kids growing up, Astérix is their Clark Kent or Peter Parker--except that to many European kids, they like to think of him as their direct ancestor as well.
RIP Albert Uderzo-- vous avez bien fait!
= new reply since forum marked as read
So sad! The person who translated them into English was a comedic genius when it comes to the names of the Romans. He couldn't use family un-friendly joke names a la Monty Python "Biggus Dickus", etc.
But he had some hilarious names like Crismus Bonus. 
