Astérix et Obélix

Astérix et Obélix is a comic strip (Bande Dessinée or BD in French)

The first strips were published in 1959, written by René Goscinny and

drawn by Albert Uderzo (who areboth Belgian).

Goscinny and Uderzo quickly expanded into writing whole books. 33 books have been published so far, which have been translated from the original French into over

100 languages (including English!)

Astérix and Obélix live in a small village in the North-West ofGaul (France).

The year is 50BC, and the Romans have conquered all ofGaul.

All of it? Not quite…

Astérix’ village has held out againstthe Romans, because of a potionwhich is made by the village druid,Getafix. It gives the villagerssuperhuman strength.

Astérix’ best friend Obélixis never allowed any of the potion, because he fell in to a pot of it when he was a baby and now always has superhuman strength.

Astérix and Obélix (and sometimes other members of their village) go on all sorts of adventures, sometimesnear to home, and sometimes very far away.

There is a theme park near Paris called Parc Astérixdevoted to Astérix, Obélix and the rest of the villagers.

There have also been 9 board games, 24 computer games, 8 animated films and 3 live action films made about Astérix’ stories.

Main characters

Astérix

Obélix

Dogmatix(Idéfix in French)

Getafix(Panoramix in French)

Vitalstatistix(Abraracourix in French)

Cacafonix(Assurancetourix in French)