René Goscinny (1926–1977)

When I was a kid, devouring whatever Asterix content I could, I would buy – or, rather, have my parents buy – those omnibus editions which gave you more bang for your buck, and had names like Maximum Asterix or Asterix Triumphant! Now, as an adult with a bit of disposable income and a nostalgia itch to scratch, I can buy this "Gift Collection" of the first five Asterix stories.

The Asterix albums were sequenced differently in English translation (Asterix in Britain, naturally, was released earlier) but this Gift Collection – which, hopefully, will eventually be extended to the entire corpus of the Asterix stories – goes by the original order of French publication. (The book credits a revised translation from 2004, tweaking Anthea Bell's beloved efforts, but I didn't notice anything different from the stories I read in my youth.)

In a book presented in this way, you would always have one eye towards retrospection, and one can clearly see the development in both art style and storytelling as Goscinny and Uderzo find their feet. Asterix the Gaul has a noticeably different way of drawing the characters (when I was a young boy, I was sent some merchandise by Hodder & Stoughton after writing a fan letter asking about this art style) and the creators are still figuring out the best way of utilising their characters. Obelix, for example, does not go with Asterix on this first adventure – they are not yet the double-act they will become.

This first album is still a classic story, though we start to find more assurance in the second story, Asterix and the Golden Sickle. This is closer to what we would now recognise as an Asterix adventure, the beginning of the formula, with Asterix and Obelix going on the first of their now-famous far-reaching quests in pursuit of a MacGuffin. Asterix and the Goths is where the series really starts to shine, with both storytelling formula and art style now defined and the confidence starting to show with some clever, throwaway jokes ("Visi Goths?" asks one legionary. "Why the past tense?")

Asterix the Gladiator, the fourth album included here, is where the Asterix series starts to become iconic. A supreme adventure based around a great concept, with genuinely funny jokes, capers, wit and satire, Asterix the Gladiator is where that formula starts to become a formula for gold, and is rightly regarded as one of the finest Asterix stories.

After this, Asterix and the Banquet, the fifth and final album included here, is a bit of a disappointment, based on a flimsy premise and hectic in its plotting, with some jokes that would only really be relevant to a French audience. It's not a coincidence that I rarely encountered Banquet in the popular omnibus editions of my youth.

Nevertheless, Banquet, like all the Asterix albums going right back to Asterix the Gaul, has that sense of fun, adventure and cleverness – I still find it incredible that Latin puns formed the basis of my entertainment as a child, and this was seen as a normal thing – that drew us all to those stories originally, and now has us forking out many hard-earned sestertii to have an excuse to visit them again.

Quality hardback volumes of the original Asterix albums are long overdue; it's a shame (and a bit incomprehensible) that they haven't all been released as a box set, as was done with the Tintin stories. As things stand, we will have to wait until late next year for the second volume of these Gift Collections. This collection of the first five Asterix stories is excellent, but the second volume will be worth the wait. Albums 6 to 10 are perhaps the finest run of Asterix stories, when the series really started hitting its stride.… (more)