In 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War, with Europe still in ruins, three young Belgian comic strip artists, Joseph Gillain (aka Jijé), Maurice de Bevere (aka Morris) and André Franquin, crossed the Atlantic with the intention of settling in the US. All three would eventually return to Belgium, their hopes of working for Disney ultimately dashed by the turmoil of the McCarthy years. However, in the meantime they made the acquaintance of their colleagues of the Charles William Harvey Studio in New York, including a cosmopolitan young wit named René Goscinny. [more inside]
posted by Skeptic on Oct 29, 2009 - 37 comments

Typography from the excellent Asterix Annotations. See also.
posted by sushiwiththejury on Dec 20, 2007 - 11 comments

Asterix gets political. After over four decades of defending his lone holdout village from Roman attack, French children's book icon Asterix is taking on America in the latest novel. The village is besieged by an alien army whose leader is named Hubs, (a thinly veiled anagram of the U.S. President). The aliens invade seeking non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
posted by jonson on Nov 25, 2005 - 35 comments

McDonald's will replace Ronald McDonald with Asterix in France. Hoping to appease anti-American anti-junk food sentiments in France, they're giving Ronald the boot.
posted by panopticon on Dec 20, 2001 - 32 comments