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Albert Uderzo
Born	April 25, 1927 (1927-04-25) (age 80) Fismes, France
Nationality	French
Area(s)	artist
Notable works	Astérix Tanguy et Laverdure Oumpah-pah
Awards	full list

Albert Uderzo (born April 25, 1927) is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. He is best known for his work on the Astérix series, but also drew other comics such as Oumpah-pah, also in collaboration with René Goscinny.

Uderzo was born Alberto Aleandro Uderzo in Fismes (Marne, France), but his parents, Silvio and Iria, had recently moved from Italy. His name comes from the Italian village called Oderzo (formerly called Uderzo), where his family tree can be traced. His childhood ambitions were to become an aircraft mechanic, despite his talents in art at an early age. Uderzo obtained French citizenship in 1934, and during World War II, the teen-aged Uderzo left Paris and spent a year in Brittany in the west of France, where he was working on a farm and helped with his father's furniture business. Many years later when a location for Asterix's village was to be decided, Goscinny left the decision entirely up to Uderzo, who had little hesitation in choosing Brittany.

Uderzo was starting a successful career as an artist in Paris after the war in 1945, with creations such as Flamberge and also Clopinard, a small one-legged old man who triumphs against the odds. In 1947-48 he created some other comics, such as Belloy and Arys Buck.

Throughout some more creations and travelling for the next few years, he eventually met René Goscinny in 1951. The pair became good friends very soon, and decided to work together in 1952 at the newly opened Paris office of the Belgian company, World Press. Their first creations were the characters Oumpah-pah, Jehan Pistolet and Luc Junior.^[1][2] In 1958 they adapted Oumpah-pah for serial publication in the comics magazine Tintin, though it ran only until 1962.^[3] In 1959 Goscinny and Uderzo became editor and artistic director (respectively) of Pilote, a new venture aimed at older children. The magazine's first issue introduced Astérix to the French world, and it was an instant hit.^[1][4] During this period Uderzo also collaborated with Jean-Michel Charlier on the realistic series Michel Tanguy, later named Les Aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure.^[1]

Astérix was serialised in Pilote, but in 1961 the first album Astérix le gaulois (Asterix the Gaul) was published as an individual album. By 1967, the comic had become so popular that both decided to wholly dedicate their time to the series. After Goscinny's early death in 1977, Uderzo continued to write and illustrate the books on his own, though at a significantly slower pace (averaging one album every 3-5 years compared to 2 albums per year when working with Goscinny). The cover credits still read "Goscinny and Uderzo".

Uderzo has one daughter, Sylvie Uderzo with his wife Ada. According to The Book of Asterix the Gaul, it was speculated that Uderzo had based the characters Panacea and Zaza on Ada and on Sylvie respectively, though this has been denied by Uderzo.

Some controversy has risen in Germany, where Albert Uderzo's own publishing company, Les Éditions Albert René, is claiming in court that certain IT companies whose name end in "ix" (not unnatural in companies who work with Unix) are damaging his brands "Asterix" and "Obelix". (One side of the story.)

• 1985: Awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honour.
• 2005: Inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame, U.S.
• 2007: Awarded the Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion

According to the UNESCO's Index Translationum, Uderzo is the 10th most often translated French language author, and the third most often translated French language comics author behind René Goscinny and Hergé.^[5]

Footnotes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Albert Uderzo

• Astérix official site
• Albert Uderzo biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Short biography on Uderzo, pre-1977