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  Albert Uderzo
, the
drawer
of all thirty-one Asterix adventures and the
story writer
of the last seven books, was born on April 25th, 1927, as the son of Italian immigrants in France. He made his first acquaintance with comics through
Mickey Mouse
, which was published in the journal Le Pétit Parisien. In 1940, when he was only thirteen years old, Uderzo was employed by Paris Publishing Society (S.P.E.), where he learned the basics of his profession: designing text and letters, and editing photographs. His first illustration, a parody on Aesop's fables, was published in the magazine Junior. At S.P.E. he met the great comic artist
Calvo
, who encouraged Uderzo to become a drawer. During the world war he worked on a farm in the Bretagne area and later as a furniture maker with his father. His drawing skills were forgotten until 1945 when he took part in a competition for comic strip artists organized by Éditions du Chêne, who published one of Albert's first strips
Les aventures de Clopinard
one year later.
Flamberge
had already been published one year before. Around that time Uderzo also worked on an animated cartoon film titled 'Clic-Clac'.
 In the meantime he had moved to Paris. He became one of the first drawers for the magazine O.K. where he created several comics such as
Arys Buck
(1946-47, a story about an indomitable Gaul(!), so maybe the predecessor of Asterix),
Le Prince Rollin
(1947, the son of Arys Buck) and
Belloy l'Invulnérable
(1947-48). At this time he was signing his works with Al Uderzo, which sounded more American. In 1949 Uderzo became reporter and illustrator for France Dimanche, and he created
Le crime ne paie pas
for France-Soir. In 1950 Uderzo drew several episodes of
Captain Marvel Jr.
in the tradition of the American super-hero comics for the magazine Bravo!. He met a Belgian press agent who introduced him to Brussels and various famous comic artists, such as
Victor Hubinon
,
Eddy Paape
and
Mitacq
, as well as the writer
Jean-Michel Charlier
with whom he relaunched
Belloy
in the magazine La Wallonie. In 1951 he finally met
René Goscinny
at International Press, who just came back from the United States. With him he should start a world-famous collaboration.
 Their first joint works were
Jehan Pistolet
and
Luc Junior
for La Libre Junior (until 1957). They decided to create a character especially for the American market which became the Indian 'Oumpah-Pah'. The idea did not work out and ended up in the drawer. In 1955 Uderzo, Charlier, Goscinny and Jean Hébrard founded their own syndicate, resulting in two agencies: Edifrance and Edipresse. At the same time Uderzo and Goscinny created
Bill Blanchart
, a realistic series for La Libre Junior, and they took over
Benjamin et Benjamine
from
Christian Godard
. In 1957 Uderzo drew
Clairette
, written by
Charlier
. A year later, he made his debut in magazine
Tintin
, where an adapted version of
Oumpah-Pah
was finally published in five episodes until 1962, as well as
Poussin et Poussif
,
La Famille Moutonet
and
La Famille Cokalane
.
 In 1959 the journal
Pilote
was founded. From the start Uderzo contributed with the series
Tanguy et Laverdure
, written by Charlier. The realistic style of this comic didn't satisfy his special liking for caricatures, so in 1966 he finished with this series. After many incidental publications eventually the first episode of
Asterix
was published in Pilote on October 29th, 1959.
Asterix
soon developed into the most popular comic in France.
 Over the years Uderzo devoted himself more and more to
Asterix
, of which the first album of a long series appeared in 1967. In 1974, Goscinny and Uderzo founded Studio Idéfix. In 1977 René Goscinny died and the future of Asterix was on the tilt. But after a long time of doubts Uderzo decided to continue
Asterix
alone, which he does to the present day. Unfortunately he never managed to keep up with the brilliant story telling of Goscinny.
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Caricatures
Albert Uderzo included himself several times into the Asterix adventures:
 In
Asterix at the Olympic Games
Uderzo perpetuates both himself and his friend René in classical greek style (page 29, picture 10): On a marble frieze Goscinny and Uderzo call each other 'despot' and 'tyrant'.
 In album XIII,
Asterix and the Cauldron
, Goscinny and Uderzo can be found among the spectators on page 30, picture 9.
 In the last picture of page 6 in
Obelix and Co.
Goscinny and Uderzo are shown carrying a drunken legionary on a shield who can be identified as a caricature of Pierre Tchernia, friend of the authors of Asterix und co-producers of their animated cartoon films.
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