In the annals of anti-imperialist heroes, none stands taller than Asterix the Gaul. His exploits in resisting Roman occupation, with the assistance of his inseparable friend Obelix and a magic potion granting superhuman strength, were first depicted in a French comic magazine titled Pilote in 1959. Almost 60 years later, René Goscinny, the inventor of the tales of the indomitable Gauls, is celebrated in an exhibition opening on May 10 at the Jewish Museum in London.
Goscinny died in 1977, aged 51, yet his works live on. His books have sold 500 million copies and been translated into 150 languages. Of all his creations, the adventures of Asterix (co-authored with the cartoonist Albert Uderzo, who continued with the series on his own after Goscinny’s death)