Asterix the Gaul adventures - Vol. 34 - Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday – The Golden Book

In commemoration of Asterix's 50th birthday, born on 29 October 1959 in the pages of the very first issue of the weekly magazine Pilote, Albert Uderzo has come up with an exceptional gift to pay homage to his heroes and to the millions of their readers throughout the world!

True to the love of caricature and the mocking spirit of the Pilote years, Albert Uderzo has created an album of Asterix short stories focusing on the birthday theme and filled with 56 pages of hitherto unpublished drawings! While Asterix and Obelix are off hunting wild boar in the forest surrounding the Village, many of the 400 characters from the Asterix albums come together, in answer to Chief Vitalstatistix's invitation, to prepare a birthday party for the two friends.

While reading the album, we discover Asterix and his friends some 50 years later, a side-splitting fashion show featuring Obelix, birthday wishes from Edifis, Panacea and even the pirates, a travel guide based on a never-before published text by René Goscinny, parodies of famous record covers produced by Cacofonix, and, even more incredible, a fabulous Gaulish Museum devised by Prolix the soothsayer.

A handsome album which concludes (every rule has an exception!) not with a banquet but with a brilliant round of more than 60 characters - proof (should it still be needed) of the youthful virtuosity of Albert Uderzo's drawing talents.

In the small Village that we all know so well, a great event is being organised. Asterix’ and Obelix’s birthday is the perfect occasion to reunite with the many friends who have shared previous adventures. Let the festivities begin!

Each guest will be bringing gifts for Asterix and Obelix. Those who live too far away will be sending birthday wishes to be delivered by the postman Postaldistrix. Here, we hear from Edifis himself!

The album’s surprises include parodies of famous masterpieces that seem to indicate that our Indomitable Gauls have influenced the greatest masters of the art world….
These extraordinary visuals will be exhibited on the gates of the Cluny Museum in Paris, at the corner of the boulevards Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel, from 22 October 2009 through 3 January 2010.

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar themselves have also been invited to join in the birthday celebration for the two Indomitable Gauls. But this time, it’s the great Julius who shows some resistance….