The Gallic heroes, world publishing champions with 1.6 million copies sold in 2023 for their latest album, were born on October 29, 1959 in the pages of Pilot.
Before the Gallic invasion at the Grévin museum, Asterix and the diehard Gauls celebrate their 65the anniversary at the Atelier des Lumières, an immersive exhibition space in Paris. The cunning villager and his cronies were born on October 29, 1959, from the imagination of screenwriter René Goscinny and designer Albert Uderzo, in the first issue of the weekly Pilot. A hero who remained fairly confidential for several years, Asterix acquired growing fame with the publication of comic books.
JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Today, the Atelier des Lumières is banking on the character’s worldwide fame to attract crowds, young and old. Asterix, the immersive journey offers 40 minutes of sound and light around the journeys of Asterix, his faithful friend Obelix and their dog Dogmatix. « I’m quite amazed. Very moved evendeclares Anne Goscinny, the screenwriter’s daughter. To think that this universe which was created, on a balcony in Bobigny, near Paris, by two brilliant young authors, but who did not imagine for a second that 65 years later, there would be this show somewhere in Paris, it goes beyond the success story . »
One day when they were talking at Uderzo’s, in Bobigny, the two men, then aged 32 and 33, and responsible for launching a new series, had the idea of Antiquity and the Gauls. They would give them the faults and qualities that we attribute to the French: quarrelsome, good-natured, rebellious. THE « narrative pretext » at the Atelier des Lumières, as artistic director Patrick Vuittien explained to the press, is the kidnapping of the druid Panoramix by the Romans. As in the first album, Asterix the Gaul, in 1961. From there, Asterix and Obelix will travel not only Gaul, but the rest of the world, to free the old man. Which is in the capital of the Empire, Rome. We find, among others, the drawings of the tower of Londinium fromAsterix among the Bretons , of the Atlantic The Great Crossingfrom GreeceAsterix at the Olympic Games or from IndiaAsterix at Rahàzade. On a very varied soundtrack, which ranges from Beethoven to rock.
“Limited” prints and “deluxe” editions
Astérix is a very profitable business for its rights holders, the families of the two creators, and Éditions Albert-René, a subsidiary of the Hachette group since 2008. A new album is launched every two years, in odd years. The 40e, L’Iris blancwas sold 1.6 million copies in 2023 and rose to the top of the bookstore rankings, all genres combined, benefiting from the curiosity around the new screenwriter, Fabcaro. However, since 2013 the design has remained the prerogative of Didier Conrad, very faithful to Uderzo’s graphics.
This year, the most famous Gauls in the world are entering the Grévin museum. The wax statue of Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix and a Roman will be visible from October 23. The same day a collection of images from the first album appeared, Asterix the Gaul. And « limited edition » for fans, with the reproduction, in a box, of Goscinny’s typescript on one side, and Uderzo’s original plates on the other. Added to it Dogmatix and the Irreduciblesa series of comics created in 2021, or luxury reissues: five of them were published in 2024. The Albert-René editions, like all of Hachette, passed at the end of 2023 into the hands of Vivendi, owned by Vincent Bolloré.
