![[File] Asterix co-creators writer Rene Goscinny (left) and artist Albert Uderzo (right) with their famous character](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/news/world/images/2020/3/24/asterix.jpg "[File] Asterix co-creators writer Rene Goscinny (left) and artist Albert Uderzo (right) with their famous character")
Albert Uderzo, who co-created the iconic ‘Asterix’ comic book series with René Goscinny has passed away in his sleep, according to family members. Uderzo, 92, died of a heart attack that was unrelated to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Europe.
“Albert Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly, after a heart attack that was not linked to the coronavirus. He had been extremely tired for the past several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told AFP.
The Asterix comics series started its run in 1959, then by Goscinny. Uderzo continued the series after Goscinny died in 1977 while the two were midway through the 26th issue, Asterix in Belgium. Uderzo continued to illustrate the comics until 2011, at which point he passed on the baton. Since 2013, the series has been written by Jean-Yves Ferri and the art done by Didier Conrad.
Throughout his life, Uderzo has struggled with copyright issues over the ownership of the series, finally choosing to sell his stake and publishing rights in 2008 to Hachette, which took over Les Editions Albert-René, the publishing company that had printed the comics ever since he took over.
The series was set in 50BC and featured the protagonists Asterix and Obelix, two Gauls who lived in a village frequently being besieged by the then growing Roman empire led by Julius Caesar. With the help of a magic potion brewed by the village druid Getafix, the Gauls manage to form one of the only holdouts against the Roman forces in France.
The series has been printed and translated into over 100 languages across the world and sold over 370 million album across the world.
Incidentally, THE WEEK used to serialize the Asterix comics.
