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The comic book artist died in his sleep from a heart attack, and there was no link with Covid-19, his family said. The co-creator of the most popular European comic book series, set in
ancient Gaul at the time of Julius Caesar, Uderzo was born in the Marne in 1927 to an Italian immigrant family and grew up in a Paris suburb Clichy-sous-Bois. He became French in 1934.
Uderzo was interested in drawing from an early age, having his first drawing published in his teens, in 1941. He went on to work in animation briefly, and in comic books. Sometimes claimed
to be part of the 'Franco-Belgian' comics tradition, Uderzo's biggest early inspirations were in fact transatlantic - Disney and Popeye, the latter especially influencing the
way he would go on to draw fight scenes in Asterix. His meeting with Asterix co-creator René Goscinny (who wrote the text for the books) was in 1951 when they were both working at a
specialised press agency. Goscinny later said they hit it off straight away. After leaving following a dispute with their employers in which Goscinny was sacked, they continued to work
together and came up with the idea for the Asterix series in 1959 one evening at Goscinny's high-rise flat. In an interview with _Connexion_ in 2008, Uderzo said: "Asterix was born
at the best time of the day - aperitif time!" Appearing at first in a comic book called _Pilote_, which they created together, Asterix rapidly became his most popular creation and he
focused on the character after that. In a televised interview in 1967, the pair explained they had been looking for a ‘typically French’ story to tell. [embedded content] At first they
considered an adaptation of the _Roman de Renart_, medieval tales about talking animal characters. “Then we found out it had already been done,” Uderzo said. “So we thought of ‘our ancestors
the Gauls’.” [A stock phrase from old children’s history books.] Goscinny added: “It hadn’t really been done – in France we had rather forgotten the Gauls, but we had the good fortune to
find a simple idea. We were like Americans discovering the Far West – our own Far West.” He explained to_ Connexion_: "Straight away I made sketches of big warriors, as you might
imagine the people of the time, but René wasn't keen - he was imagining a little man, not necessarily good-looking, but cunning. What you could call an anti-hero. "So, I came up
with a little man with a moustache and a big nose! I've always liked drawing big noses because they make me laugh. That's how Asterix was born." The stories revolve around the
quick-witted little warrior's adventures alongside his well-built friend the menhir deliveryman Obelix, as their village holds out against the Romans with help from the magic potion
brewed by their druid, which gives superhuman strength. They often travel abroad, including to Great Britain, in _Asterix in Britain, _and the books have introduced many young people to
ancient Greece_ (Asterix at the Olympic Games) _and Rome. The duo published 24 full albums of the characters' adventures between 1961 and 1977, when Goscinny died, after which Uderzo
continued alone until 2009. Since 2013 Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad have been authorised to continue the series for Editions Albert René. The books are known for their humour, including
characters’ amusing names and many puns and allusions, so they can appeal on different levels to readers of all ages (in this 2010 article Anthea Bell, who translated the books into English
for many years, told _Connexion_ about the challenges it involved). The Gaulish village was located on the Breton coast, an area Uderzo knew from having spent time in the Côtes-du-Nord as a
teenager. In France the stories have also been made into numerous films, some starring Gérard Depardieu as Obelix, and inspired a popular theme park, Parc Astérix.