1 - Uderzo

Uderzo ALBERT UDERZO ASTÉRIX Caesar’s Gift (Vol. 21), Dargaud 1974 Original page no. 30 based on the script by René Goscinny, serialized in the newspaper Le Monde beginning in July 1974. Signed. India ink on paper 38.2 × 47.5 cm (15.04 × 18.7 in.) On July 11, 1974, a surprise awaited readers of the very serious daily newspaper Le Monde: they would be able to read, as a sneak preview and throughout the summer, the new Asterix adventure, Caesar’s Gift. This was no small matter: the national daily, led by Jacques Fauvet, was typically averse to visual content (it usually did not publish photos, and illustrations were rare). Yet Le Monde, that intellectual mainstay, was publishing a comic strip for the first time—even though, just a few years earlier, the Gaul had been mocked in its very columns. “O Tempora, o Mores” (Different times, different customs), as Three-Legged would say! The other reason is that, that year, *Asterix* ceased to appear in *Pilote*, which switched to monthly publication. 1974 was also a difficult political year, marked by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s victory with 50.8% of the vote over François Mitterrand, following a very close runoff election. The authors were thus tapping into current events with this album. But what remains timeless is the unshakable friendship between Obelix and Asterix, who are at odds in this episode for reasons that are as much romantic as they are… political. As we celebrate the centennial of René Goscinny (he was born in 1926), it’s worth highlighting the excellence of a script brought to life by Albert Uderzo, a genius of illustration whose friendship with his writer was as unwavering as that of their heroes. While adults may grasp the subtle subtext, the accuracy of Uderzo’s drawings and characterizations also appeals to younger readers, making this page as transgenerational as it is universal. Didier Pasamonik