UDERZO

ALBERT UDERZO ASTÉRIX Asterix in Hispania (T.14), Albert René 1969 Original plate no. 7, prepublished in Pilote no. 501 June 12, 1969. Signed and dedicated. India ink on paper 43.8 × 53.5 cm (17.24 × 21.06 in.) Asterix in Hispania is the fourteenth album in the collection, and one of the best of the Goscinny-Uderzo period. It features Soupalognon, father and son Crouton. To put pressure on the father, Caesar has kidnapped his son, Pépé (Pépé for Pericles), and sent him to a remote garrison in Gaul. But this was Babaorum, the camp opposite the village of our Gallic diehards. Of course, Pépé escapes and meets Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix in this panel. Pépé shares with his father the traits of the Spaniard as portrayed in clichés: haughty (he's a chief's son!), shady, courageous, dark-haired and... hunched. But if his father is tall and gaunt like Don Quixote, Pépé, on the other hand, with his harmonious face and prince-like bearing, is a nod to the El Cordobés bullfighter of 1960s fame. Perfection in storytelling, perfection in drawing, perfection in inking. This plate, a perfect playlet, with its grotesque Romans victims of our Gauls' slaps, is characteristic of Albert Uderzo's talent, capable of adding gags to René Goscinny's gags, like the Roman who, stopping suddenly, hits the man behind him, or the decurion's scarf that ends up as a bandana. The genius is in the details.