Reporters Without Borders: Asterix supports press freedom in 100 cartoons

The famous comic book hero Asterix is ​​the new star of the 68th album of the press freedom association Reporters Without Borders, to be released this Thursday, October 21.

In addition to vignettes on the emblematic Gauls, it includes unpublished texts signed by the historian Bruno Fuligni, the director of editions Albert René, Céleste Surugue, or even the academic specialist of Asterix and Obelix, Nicolas Rouvière.

Articles on the state of press freedom in the world also make up this album, including a major interview with Syrian journalist and activist Zaina Erhaim.

RSF's portfolio, sold 9.90 euros in newsstands and bookstores, will be released on Thursday, as will the new album

.

The revenues generated by sales of the portfolio, which represent 30% of RSF's budget, will be entirely donated to the NGO.

Director:

• The famous comic book hero Asterix, created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, is the new star of the 68th album of the press freedom association Reporters Without Borders, to be released this Thursday, October 21.

  Here is a preview in pictures ... and in drawings.

• René Goscinny, the author of the texts, was born on August 14, 1926 in Paris, of Jewish parents who immigrated from Eastern Europe.

  After living in Argentina and the United States, he returned to Europe in 1951. He was hired by World Press where he met Albert Uderzo.

  He then joined the

  Journal de Tintin

  .

  In 1959, he founded with Albert Uderzo and others the comic book magazine

  Pilote,

  then came the creation of

  Asterix

  .

  He died on November 5, 1977 of a heart attack at the age of 51.

• Albert Uderzo, the designer, was born on April 25, 1927 in Fismes (Marne), of Italian immigrant parents. In 1941, he published his first drawing in

  Boom

  . In 1946, he drew for the

  OK

  newspaper

  before being called up for military service in 1949. In 1951, he met René Goscinny with whom he shared many passions. In 1959 it is the birth of Asterix in

  Pilote

  . From 1967, he devoted himself exclusively to the Gallic character. He created his own publishing house in 1980: Albert-René. Until 2005, he worked alone to bring

  Asterix

  to life

  ,

  and in 2013 Jean-Yves Ferri (screenwriter) and Didier Conrad (designer) took over the series. Albert Uderzo died of a heart attack on March 24, 2020.

• Asterix's first album was released in 1961 and sold 6,000 copies in the first year.

  This is

  Asterix the Gaul

  .

• As Thibaud Bruttin, Deputy Director General of Reporters Without Borders, tells it in the album: “the history of comics is inseparable from the rise of the mass-circulation press [...] the

  Asterix

  series

  is no exception, being part of the

  Pilote

  adventure

  .

  "

• For more than sixty years, Asterix and Obelix have shown us how to resist “again and again the invader” and defend freedom of expression. 

• Of the 390 million copies of the

  Asterix

  Adventures

  sold since 1961, 200 million have passed beyond our borders, explains Céleste Surugue, general manager of Editions Albert René, in the portfolio. 

• By applying self-mockery and caricature to the Gauls, the

  Asterix

  series

  makes it possible to do the same for other peoples during the journeys of the two main characters.

• Add to that the myth of David versus Goliath, which is narrative in every album, and you have all the ingredients for the reader to identify with the series.

• And the main thing ... is that all the stories end around a good banquet with wild boar meat!

  And as Anne Goscinny, René's daughter, reminds us: “it took two immigrants, one from Ukraine and Poland, the other from Italy, to create one of the symbols of France in the world.

  "

• Asterix

• Culture

• Slideshow

• Media

• RSF