When I was a little fella, I LOVED this comic. It was eventually responsible for turning me off comics for good back then, because even though the stories were so fantastic and addictive, it took such a short time to blast through them that you'd run out... So I was forced into reading novels instead and didn't go back. :(

I picked up a few again though a while ago and re-read them There's so much lovely history there (mixed up), GREAT humour, interesting little cameos from stars of the time... And you pic up on so much clever commentary about Europe and people's relations with each other there.

All the classic characters are great- the Bard, the fishmonger, his wife, Asterix and Obelix, the chiefton, his shield bearers, the druid... just great little comics all round with lovely art.
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Eh, just thought some classic print comics deserved a mention...

I'm kinda sad that Asterix never really caught on in America. All the copies of it I've actually read are Brittish imports...

I consider Asterix one of the most influential comics for myself.
I owned every story ever printed at one stage.
They stand up well to the test of time too, but since Goscinny stopped being a part of them they got a bit, well, pathetic.
Although an exceptional artist, Uderzo can't write worth a damn.
I learnt a lot of my 'tricks' by copying his style, particularly trees, forests, etc.
Growing up here in the land of Oz, Asterix and Tintin was practically all you could get, aside from Disney stuff and superhero crap (sorry, just don't like superhero stuff, except for the modern Spiderman from time to time because of the tongue in cheek humour).

Oh Asterix, the comic book love of my youth. It was the first real comic I read, and as I recall, it was an Asterix book in which I read my first words, even. My mother used to read them to us all the time, and dramatize them - she did the voices perfectly.

I only ever read the Swedish translations, and so I recognise only a few of the English names (and none of the French), but the version I read kept the puns and the language-tricks and everything - even the fonts representing different languages. 'Twas beautiful.

I really should go back and read them again some day - I remember being truly in love with the way Uderzo did trees and flagstones. The sheer mass of detail put into every panel leaves me kind of speechless - I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of panels in each book that were backgroundless.

I grew up reading Asterix. I have so many books of the series and I love them.

It's so cool how the makes made their own version of the Ancient World that Asterix and Obelix get their supehuman strength from the Magic Potion... however, Obelix fell in the couldren when he was a baby which had a permenant effect on him.

Bashing Romans, going here and there trying to save the day... and more bashing.

The humor is brilliant... top notch stuff for its time. However, the new Asterix books look very weak since the writer Goscinny died but still worth the read.

AVE JUPITER.... BASH!!!

Sadly, it didn't gain popularity in the US or Canada but it did make an impact in Lebanon since we were occupied by the French. That was the first source of comicing that I had back in then.

My favorite books are "Asterix The Legionnary and Asterix And The Mansion of the Gods"

I am not that familiar with Asterix, but I do own an Asterix Pez. :-)

At some point Asterix was possibly the only comic book coming out here that you could buy in bookstores (after the american comics that were available in press stores, kiosks etc. pushed out the european ones from the market nearly entirely). Luckily, the situation has quite changed since then and the variety is much much greater now. They do reissue Asterix from time to time though :)

My dad brought back a pair of Asterix comics from Europe when I was young. I don't remember which ones they were, though, since that was around fifteen years ago. I think he got them from Belgium but I can't remember.

I love Asterix! But dang they're hard to find in the U.S. Asterix and Tintin comprised a lot of my reading when I was younger, and you know what? They hold up beautifully even today. I'd love to get more, but like I said, hard to find in stores around here.

Good stuff, but Goscinny really should've ended it when Uderzo died. The title hinges too much on his writing, and it just isn't the same without him. And I think a lot of the humor is wasted on me because it either relies too much on knowing the French celebrities that are being spoofed or it's just lost in translation, though the German translations are apparently very carefully done.

Asterix is one of those comics that everybody here read as a kid, along with Lucky Luke, also by Goscinny, and some other (mostly French) stuff - if you're a comic geek like me who reads a lot of stuff that no normal person has ever heard of, that actually makes Asterix kind of annoying because it's that comic everyone knows, so they assume all comics either are or should be just like it. Maybe that's why I read almost no European stuff, I dunno.

I heard somewhere that Goscinny hadn't wanted to continue after Uderzo's death but the terms of his contract with the publishers forced him to. There's only been one since Uderzo died, right?

The genius of Asterix is that its funny when you're small because of all the slapstick and silly Romans, but when you read it now you see loads of great things that just passed you by. Like the druid who makes the magic potion is called Getafix, asin get a fix. Genius! and both Asterix and Tintin are translated really well so all the puns still work.

Yeah, Asterix and Tintin are the lynchpins of my comics youth. Before I could even read properly I'd just go through all the pages one by one and look at all the art.

Asterix and TinTin are enduring classics for me. There's just so much greatness inside those small panels.

willisokong
I heard somewhere that Goscinny hadn't wanted to continue after Uderzo's death but the terms of his contract with the publishers forced him to. There's only been one since Uderzo died, right?

Try four... or is it five, and unfortunately they all pretty much suck, aside from the art.

Oh, and Goscinny was the writer, Uderzo's the artist.

well I never

I believe he died while working on The Black Gold. Uderzo barely managed to bring himself to finish that one and it ended up being a tribute with one of the characters being a caricature of Goscinny.
The Magic Carpet used to be one of my favourites as a kid. I've read two of the most recent and didn't think much of them at all.

I loved Asterix :)

There were tons of Asterix comics on this shelf of my primary school, so thinking about it, they were my first comic influences! They're just awesome. I was allowed to take home some damaged ones and I've still got them.

Jimeth
There were tons of Asterix comics on this shelf of my primary school, so thinking about it, they were my first comic influences! They're just awesome. I was allowed to take home some damaged ones and I've still got them.

My grandmother was the school librarian, so when some of the old and worn books were to be sold off, she kept them for us. :) It was awesome.

Asterix and Tintin- absolute comic gems! I got the entire series of both titles. (even the latest Asterix ones that didn't have the flair of Gossigny's (sp?) script)

I would say that asterix is probably my favorite comic of all time. Others come and go, but that one stays.

I must say that the only one I didn't like is the very last one (the one with the aliens that look like manga / anime), as the writting is not at all in the asterix style.

In the end I felt that it was more a critic of manga by Gosciny than an actual Asterix story. I can understand his personal feeling as here in Europe manga has created a lot of competion for the local comic publishers, especially with the younger reader who prefer paying 6 euros for 180 small black and white page of average quality than 12 euros for 50 high quality full color A4 pages.

That being said, Asterix is probably NOT the right place for European artists to make a case against manga.