There just can’t be a better example of globalised fascination than cartoon strips. You know them all — the great, all-time favourites. However, none comes close to one classical genre that is in a league of its own — the much-loved Asterix. It is a delight that’s going as strong as ever — even after René Goscinny bid adieu to its creative essentiality, 47 years ago.
Here’s a reminisce — down memory lane.
A cartoon is more than a curious phenomenon — a view of the world. It’s something that makes us stop short and think. About art per se. Of a text in context. Of a sketch that speaks much better than a thousand words — of the brilliant capabilities of the cartoonist, the persona behind the genius.
Cartooning is virtuosity. It’s fun. It’s sublime. It’s simple. It’s intense. It’s also timeless. A perfect example of global appeal — of sheer uniqueness that is one’s own, whatever its origin, or wherever it is read.
When Goscinny [1926-1977], one of the creators of the magical cartoon character, Asterix, died of a heart attack, in 1977, it signalled the end of his monumental relationship with his writing partner, Albert Uderzo [1927-2020] — a relationship like no other, in cartooning history. Goscinny was no more, in flesh and blood, yes; but, his spirit lived on — a tribute to his imaginative power, the well-spring of a sublime thought-process for an all-time favourite character with a huge worldwide appeal. A character that cannot be lost; a character that is imperishable.
When Asterix first evolved, 65 years ago, Goscinny and Uderzo were ‘renegade’ illustrators without a bank account. As a matter of fact, they were without a regular job, and virtually penniless. The duo stayed at a council flat in Paris, a ‘proviso,’ thanks to their [un]common background. To go back a tad. Goscinny, a Parisian, by birth, was born a year before his family emigrated to Latin America, while Uderzo was the son of an Italian immigrant. This was, perforce, the propelling force that brought them together — for their own good and our good.
Destiny was manifest when Goscinny and Uderzo were hired by ‘Pilote’ magazine, with a specific purpose. The magazine’s brief, in tune with the special assignment? To invent, or formulate, a typically French character, one that was not in consonance with the usual fare — the Superman ‘form’ of comic strip.
As the two collaborating illustrators sat at the drawing board, goading their fertile brains, sweating profusely at the thought of goofing up the big break that had come their way, and trying to visualise a truly special symbol of quintessential ‘Frenchness,’ something happened. Sort of.
The two were probably wading through French history, when Goscinny exclaimed, “Stop. That’s it. We’ll do the Gauls. What could be more French?” Result? Asterix. Asterix was, thus, ‘born’ — a celebration of imagination, a concept of elevated dimension, precise and intense — an idea that was to Goscinny and Uderzo what Penicillin was to Sir Alexander Fleming.
It was not long before Goscinny and Uderzo published their first volume. The print-run wasn’t anything spectacular: 6,000 copies. Yet, the impact was palpable.
Asterix slowly carved a niche for itself in the French, and global, psyche. Predictably, the eighth album was in for a commercial fiesta. It sold 600,000 copies within a month’s time. There’s no stopping the Asterix juggernaut, thereafter, what with sixteen volumes making rip-roaring business, in a row, till tragedy struck when Goscinny’s heart stopped its beat — before the 24th album could appear in print.
Uderzo now had to wage a lone battle — first with his former publisher, Dargaud, over the copyright of the first 24 albums. Next, to keep the radiance flowing. He lost the fight over the control of the first albums, yes. Yet, all was not lost. Uderzo soon scored a moral victory. He succeeded in obtaining the rights to Asterix ‘by-products.’ Soon after, he founded his own company, Editions Albert René. He was now the illustrator, the lone ranger par excellence, and a businessman, conducting merchandising activities, with his bulbous-nosed warrior, the Gallic hero — the greatest of them all. He’d no qualms about it — and, rightly so.
Goscinny’s death was a big blow for Uderzo, yes. A desolate equation. In the quagmire of a personal loss, Uderzo was more than thankful to god for having brought them together, in the first place. In his words, “I left René in good health and got home to the news that my friend of twenty-six years was dead.”
Uderzo attributed Asterix’s phenomenal success to teamwork, a great functional chemistry of two minds that ticked as one. He added: “I’d also like to think it’s all due to the quality of the illustrations, and the scenarios. I invented dozens of cartoon characters with my writing partner Goscinny, and none of them ever took off like Asterix.”
Uderzo often asserted that one of the reasons for the albums/volumes’ enduring appeal was that people can find whatever they want to find in them. His observation, “Some fans like to see Asterix as a Resistance fighter, a miniature [Charles] de Gaulle. But, I am constantly amazed that people have found so much meaning in a little guy with a big nose who goes round bashing Romans.” That’s the miracle of the cartoon for you. In this case, Asterix Inc., Unlimited. Unmatched.
Asterix has sold a whopping 400 million copies worldwide. It has been translated into 110 languages and dialects. What’s more, a handful of films have also been made, so far, on the subject. If Asterix made Uderzo a multi-millionaire, the Asterix theme park, near Paris, continues to attract a growing number of fans, day-in and day-out. That’s the gloss, or sheen, of Asterix’s winsome countenance — refreshing and ageless. Peerless. Unique. Transcendent.
Picture this — Uderzo dropped a bombshell, some years ago. He told fans that he had laid down his colouring pens. Ardent fans of Asterix immediately went into a pall of gloom. Uderzo said, “I’ve spent my whole life in front of the drawing board. Enough’s enough. There would be no 30th Asterix album.” But, how can you place a genius’ feel for his ‘alter ego’ in the attic, or self-imposed exile? Not for long, really. Uderzo was back. He attributed his change of plan, and mind, to a ‘fresh inspiration.’ He said, that, he was resurrecting “Asterix for further fisticuffs with the crazy Romans.” The magical selling power of Asterix was back to where it had always belonged. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history: for today, and tomorrow.
When Uderzo, departed to his heavenly abode, four years ago, it presaged the end of a glorious era, also continuity. The fact is: 40 Asterix volumes have been released, so far, what with the most recent being ‘sculpted’ by writer Fabrice Caro — pen name, Fabcaro — in October 2023.
Call it the global[ised] Asterix magical effect, or allure, or what you may — again.
— First published in India First
