Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix (French: Astérix le Gaulois) is a series of French comics. The series first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959. It was written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo until the death of Goscinny in 1977. Uderzo then took over the writing until 2009 when he sold the rights to publishing company Hachette. 36 volumes have been released so far.