By Sabine Glaubnitz Apr 21, 2007, 4:30 GMT
Paris - For almost 50 years Albert Uderzo has been sending brave Gauls Asterix and Obelix around the world, letting them fight even against aliens lately.
Asetrix and Obelix is one of the most important and well known Comic book series in Europe and all over the world.
The headstrong duo has already experienced countless adventures and, if their inventor has his way, they are not finished, for a long time yet.
'As long as I don't have a foot in the grave I keep going. Asterix and Obelix are a part of my life. They are my children and feed me well,' the famous and most successful living comic illustrator in the world told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Uderzo, who turns 80 on April 25, already has an idea for his next volume.
'I'm enjoying my work and as long as my stories entertain their readers I will continue drawing and writing,' the son of an Italian violin maker who was born in the French town of Fismes, said.
The idea of the funny gallic duo first turned up in August 1959 in a Parisian Bistro where it took Uderzo and his friend and fellow comic author Rene Goscinny only 15 minutes to put down to paper the comic heroes, who later turned into national heroes.
'If we had known then that we were going to be successful in such a way, we might have taken our time', Uderzo said.
The funny adventures of Asterix and his clan have turned both comic-authors into millionaires. More than 320 million issues have been sold up until today, the gallic humour has been translated into about 100 languages and dialects.
Until Goscinny's death in 1977 the busy duo published 22 albums. After that Uderzo went on on his own, taking things slower.
'Of course drawing is easier for me than writing. I have been holding the pencil for 62 years now,' said Uderzo who takes his time for his albums and finishes them with care.
'Well, I do have a life, but today my age also plays a role. I look after myself, because I do not have the same strength as I used to.'
Becoming a comic illustrator has been Uderzo's dream ever since he was child. 'I was fascinated by Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. In my daydreams I saw myself sitting next to Mickey in the Disney studio.'
Today he is happy about not having ended up in American studios. 'I love my independence - just like Asterix.'
His colour blindness has never been a handicap. As a boy he learned how to cope with it - in quite a simple manner: 'I just marked my pens. But I stopped colouring a long time ago.'
Does he identify with one of his characters? Not really. 'Press always related me to fat Obelix, even when I was still lithe and lissom, but I really don't know why.'
Uderzo is mystified by the fact that new ideas of adventures of little Asterix and his menhir-hauling friend constantly appear in his head and he does not have a clue where they come from. 'It must be my brain's alchemy - I don't have a magic potion.'
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