Asterix Omnibus #5: Collecting Asterix and the Cauldron, Asterix in Spain, and Asterix and the Roman Agent

In ＂Asterix and the Cauldron,＂ when a local Gaulish chief wants a cauldron full of money kept out of Roman hands, he entrusts Asterix to guard the loot. When the cash disappears, Asterix and Obelix must find a way to make money... fast! ＂Asterix in Spain＂ features our Gaulish hero heading to the Iberian peninsula to rescue the Gran Chen Huevos y Bacon’s son. But with the return of the Chief’s son to Hispania, comes a culture shock for Asterix and friends. Could Cacofonix the Bard finally find a culture that enjoys his awful singing? ＂Asterix and the Roman Agent,＂ starts when rumors are spread that Asterix leaked the recipe for the power potion to Rome Asterix must find who started these terrible rumors. These three classic graphic novels are newly translated for an American audience. Includes a new afterword by Alexander Simmons providing historical and cultural context for Asterix, both in 50 B.C. and in the time the classic comics were made addressing various racial depictions

Rene Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926. After growing up in Argentina, he came to America where he shared a studio with future Mad magazine co-founder Harvey Kurtzman and collaborators Will Elder and Jack Davis, an association that would mark him for life. In 1959, he founded the magazine Pilote which premiered what was to become the most successful comic series anywhere: Asterix. By the late sixties, Pilote turned to an older audience pioneering an absolute revolution in comics styles, narration and sophistication. Asterix was not the only greatly successful series Goscinny penned, others include western parody Lucky Luke and the Little Nicholas series illustrated by Sempé. Goscinny’s genius was not only in writing but also in editing, launching many famous and enormously innovative comics authors within the creative cauldron that Pilote magazine had become under his leadership, helping to raise comic art into a full-fledged art form. He died suddenly and way too early of cardiac arrest in 1977 at the age of 51.

Albert Uderzo was born in France 1927 to Italian Immigrants. In 1959 Goscinny and Uderzo became editor and artistic director (respectively) of Pilote magazine. Their creation, Asterix became a runaway success. After Goscinny’s death in 1977, 26 volumes of Asterix were complete, Uderzo continued to write and illustrate the Asterix books on his own, publishing 8 volumes. The cover credits still read Goscinny and Uderzo.＂ He retired from drawing in 2011 but still oversees Asterix and the current publications by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad.