Albert Uderzo RIP
In a corner of the hearts of anyone who ever read one of the Asterix books, it will always be true that:
“The year is 50BC. 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.”
That is how each of the Asterix comic books begins.
These delightful cartoon stories first began to be created in 1959 by the comic genius of writer René Goscinny, who died in 1977 and illustrator Albert Uderzo, who died today at the age of 92.
He “died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly from a heart attack unrelated to the coronavirus. He had been very tired for several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told AFP.
One of my favourite books as a child was "Asterix in Britain" and as a parent myself I bought quite a few of the Asterix books for my children to read. They showed how perfectly how you can make fun of things in an exceptionally amusing way without being cruel.
One of the many to mourn the passing of Albert Uderzo was Waterstones children’s laureate Cressida Cowell, author and illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon books, who was quoted in the Guardian as saying:
“I loved Asterix as a child, and his style was absolutely iconic. Creating a huge cast of individually recognisable characters, and the minute detail of all those group battles and the action scenes is an achievement in itself, but his real skill was combining fast-paced adventure with such humour and warmth.
Children come to reading in a lot of different ways, with comics and graphic novels being hugely important for a lot of kids. Asterix has taught generations of children around the world to love reading.”
He will be missed. Rest in Peace.
“The year is 50BC. 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.”
That is how each of the Asterix comic books begins.
These delightful cartoon stories first began to be created in 1959 by the comic genius of writer René Goscinny, who died in 1977 and illustrator Albert Uderzo, who died today at the age of 92.
He “died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly from a heart attack unrelated to the coronavirus. He had been very tired for several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told AFP.
One of my favourite books as a child was "Asterix in Britain" and as a parent myself I bought quite a few of the Asterix books for my children to read. They showed how perfectly how you can make fun of things in an exceptionally amusing way without being cruel.
One of the many to mourn the passing of Albert Uderzo was Waterstones children’s laureate Cressida Cowell, author and illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon books, who was quoted in the Guardian as saying:
“I loved Asterix as a child, and his style was absolutely iconic. Creating a huge cast of individually recognisable characters, and the minute detail of all those group battles and the action scenes is an achievement in itself, but his real skill was combining fast-paced adventure with such humour and warmth.
Children come to reading in a lot of different ways, with comics and graphic novels being hugely important for a lot of kids. Asterix has taught generations of children around the world to love reading.”
He will be missed. Rest in Peace.
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