It all began on a Thursday morning, 19 April, with a press conference at the Ficomic Cartoon convention in Spain. The crowd of journalists in the press room was greeted by Carles Santamaria, director of the convention and translator of Asterix albums (into both Spanish and Catalan! No, it's no thanks to me - you know we only have the best people working for us), Trinidad Marull, editor at Salvat, Juan Guarnido, THE creator of the Blacksad series (as I was saying, only the very best people…) and, to answer all of these questions, Sylvie Uderzo, assisted by an interpreter (who was excellent - what did you expect?).

Questions turned first of all to the exclusive preview of the album, published in Spanish and Catalan and arriving that very day on bookstall shelves throughout Spain, with Sylvie revealing that production of the album had been kept entirely secret from her father, our great druid Albert Uderzo. Then questions focused on whether there would be any new Asterix albums from Uderzo…

Emboldened, Sylvie gave the attending journalists their scoop, announcing that her father was nearly finished writing his memoirs, due to be published in the Autumn, in which he recounts his childhood as the son of an Italian immigrant in the post-war years as well as the Asterix saga with his friend René. And then, the Director of Editions Albert René continued, he will start on a new album… the 34th!

She also disclosed that when her father used to go out in the evenings and leave her alone in his office (albeit with a babysitter in the lounge next door, naturally), she used to take advantage of his absence "to retrace her father's sketches without his even noticing the next morning!"! The Spanish journalists were taken aback: children obviously have no respect! But our beautiful director obviously loves her father so much that they couldn't hold it against her. "In fact", one journalist who wished to remain anonymous confided, "we envy her having been able to do that - when I was little I only had video games to keep myself amused when my parents went out!" The press conference also gave Juanjo Guarnido an opportunity to confess his admiration for his mentor, having himself been a recipient of one of the first Albert Uderzo prizes in 2002 for his debut Blacksad album!

By the time Sylvie had given a few more interviews for the television, radio and newspapers, the Ficomic convention had sold out of Astérix y sus amigos albums by Saturday morning. It seems completely crazy, but it was only a foretaste of the madness to come, as duly confirmed on Monday morning when the album was quickly outselling all other books in Spain! Happy birthday, Albert, from all 34 authors who, in your honour, dared to draw Asterix without you!
On the eve of the album's publication in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Greece, it seems that the Fates are predicting a very happy birthday for Albert!

The partnership with Dominique Versini from le Défenseur des Enfants (Children's Ombudsman in France), will be officially launched tomorrow at the opening of the exhibition displaying the original plates for the tribute album. A special website to mark this partnership will also be launched then as a clear sign of the determination of both the Défenseur and the Editions Albert René.
By clicking here, you will discover (in French) the first projects that we will be working on together in the coming months. To start with, Asterix would like to demonstrate, through illustration, the fundamental rights that all children must have. Asterix brings all his universe and humanist values to help explain these difficult yet important notions to the little ones that we all have been in the beginning… Which is not to say that we shall become particularly grown-up after learning about them, but anyway, you know what I mean…