Asterix the Gladiator is the fourth volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). It was first serialized in the magazine Pilote, issues 126-168, in 1962.
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 Asterix, 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 Stanislaw Simkha Goscinny (the surname means hospitable in Polish, Simkha is his Jewish name meaning happiness), a chemical engineer from Warsaw, Poland, and Anna (Hanna) Beresniak - Goscinna from Chodorkow, a small village near Zhitomir, in the Second Polish Republic, now Ukraine.Claude, Stanislaw and Anna had met in Paris and married in 1919. The Goscinny’s moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, two years after Rene's birth, because of a chemical engineer post Stanislaw 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.
Goscinny died at 51, in Paris of cardiac arrest on 5 November 1977, during a stress test at his doctor's office. He was buried in the Jewish Cemetery of Nice. In accordance with his will, most of his money was transferred to the chief rabbinate of France.
Book Plot
Prefect Odius Asparagus wants one of the indomitable Gauls as a present for Julius Caesar, so his men capture Cacofonix the bard. By the time the other Gauls know he is gone, he is on his way to Rome. But Asterix and Obelix are hot on his heels, taking ship with Ekonomikrisis the Phoenician merchant.
Highly unimpressed by his present, Caesar decides to throw the bard to the lions. Asterix and Obelix enlist as gladiators in order to rescue him, and, in the course of their training, teach their colleagues some interesting tricks. The next Games in Circus Maximus turn out to be the most unusual yet.
