A Tribute to Albert Underzo


(Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Asterix%26Obelix_Brussels.jpg)

Two days ago, Albert Underzo, the last remaining member of the pair that created the Asterix comics, passed away at the age of 92 due to a heart attack that reportedly did not have anything to do with COVID-19.9

I first encountered Asterix at the age of 10. Back then, I was struggling to fit in, and I was struggling with my grades in Home Economics which were what kept me from having honor awards in school. I resorted to daydreaming as a temporary escape from my problems.

I had problems fitting in even during family reunions, because I was too old to play with my younger cousins yet too young to converse with my uncles and aunts. So I spent family reunions searching the host's house for books I could read (with permission, of course) until it was time to go home.

On one such reunion, I strayed into my cousin's room. My attention was caught by his copy of Asterix and the Laurel Wreath. I started reading it and I liked it. Unfortunately, the time came to go home. But my cousin said I could borrow the book and bring it home. So I did.

Back then I did not know anything about Gauls or the Roman Empire. I only knew that the ancient Romans were the bad guys in the New Testament of the Bible. But I got hooked by Asterix. I loved his cunning, his cocky attitude. He was sure he could solve any problem - and he always did. I enjoyed his adventures with his friend Obelix and Obelix's dog, Dogmatix. The characters in the series became my friends: not only Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix; also Cacofonix, Getafix, Unhygenix, Fulliautomatix, Vitalstatistx...I loved how the little Gaulish village, the last standing part of Gaul to resist Roman occupation, outwitted the Romans time and again.

I let my dad read the comics and asked him whether there really is such a place as Gaul. He said that Gaul is what is now known as France. It turned out that my dad was the perfect person to ask such questions since he had read The Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar's account of his conquest of the Gauls on which the comics was loosely based. My dad then told me more: he told me that Caesar described the Gauls the way they were depicted in the comics. He showed me the map of the expanding Roman Empire in the historical atlas. He explained a lot of the jokes which one could only get if one has a broad culture.

Being the intellectually curious person that I was, one learning led to another, one obsession to another. These included history and classical literature. I became fascinated with Europe.

To this day, I reread my Asterix comic books. Even if I already know the plots and the jokes by heart, they always seem fresh everytime I reread them. I will never forget how they broadened my world.

Thank you, Albert Underzo (and Rene Gosciny, too).


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