Asterix the Gaul

Asterix the Gaul is the first volume of the Asterix comic strip series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations).All of Gaul is under Roman control, except for one small village of indomitable Gauls that still holds out against the Romans.Centurion Crismus Bonus, head of the Roman garrison at the fortified camp of Compendium is very keen on discovering the secret of the Gauls' superhuman strength after four soldiers are knocked out by one man, and sends a spy disguised as a Gaul into the village. The Roman's identity is revealed when he loses his false moustache, but not before he discovers the existence of the magic potion brewed by the Druid Getafix. 

About the Author

René Goscinny (14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comics editor and writer, who is best known for the comic book Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris (considered the series' golden age) and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary.Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland; his parents were Stanisaw Simkha Go, cinny (the surname means hospitable in Polish, Simkha is his Jewish name meaning happiness), a chemical engineer from Warsaw, Poland, and Anna (Hanna) Bere niak-Go cinna from Chodorków, a small village near Zhitomir, in the Second Polish Republic, now Ukraine.Claude, Stanisaw and Anna had met in Paris and married in 1919. The Go cinnys moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, two years after René's birth, because of a chemical engineer post Stanisaw had obtained there. He spent a happy childhood in Buenos Aires, and studied in the French schools there. He had a habit of being the "Class Clown", probably to compensate for a natural shyness. He started drawing very early on, inspired by the illustrated stories which he enjoyed reading.

Book Plot

Asterix learns of Getafix's capture from a local man, and manages to sneak into the Roman camp where Getafix is being held captive in the man's cart after telling him Compendium has a second-hand cart stall on. He hears Crismus and Ginandtonicus planning to overthrow Caesar using the magic potion. Asterix finds Getafix and they concoct a scheme to trouble the Romans. Getafix pretends to agree to the Centurion's ultimatum of making the potion when Asterix pretends to give in to torture, despite the torture not actually having started yet, and demands an unseasonal ingredient like strawberry. While Crismus Bonus' soldiers try to find strawberries, Asterix and Getafix lounge around in comparative luxury, enjoying themselves at the Romans' expense. When the strawberries are bought at a vast sum from a Greek Merchant, the two Gauls eat them, causing anger to Crismus, before Getafix says the potion can be made without strawberries, they just leave a taste in the mouth. After all the ingredients are found, a potion is prepared that causes the hair and beard of the drinker to grow at a very accelerated pace. The Romans test it on the local man from earlier as Crismus worries about it being poisoned, and when he tests his strength on Asterix, Asterix pretends to be knocked out.