Asterix is short, has fair hair and mustache. His helmet has white bird wings on it. He wears a black shirt and red trousers. He always carries by his belt a little flask holding magic potion - which comes in handy when the romans want a fight. He is also quite smart ; in his little village of Armorica it seems only he and the druid, Panoramix, have got any brains.
He is the hero of the witty comics named after him, Asterix the Gaul. Scripted by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the series spawns over 31 books, which I will list here (The original French titles are between brackets):
Avoid the books made after the death of René Goscinny, that is, after Astérix in Belgium ; Uderzo wrote the stories himself, and he is a bad writer. Since Asterix depends a lot on the script (usually in France, the writer only got half of what the cartoonist earned; on Asterix both Goscinny and Uderzo got as much), this makes the later volumes quite dull. The two last books, especially, are only a pale shadow of the original series. It seems Albert Uderzo is now more interested in adding a few more Ferraris to his collection than making good comics.
On the other hand, the best books of series are some of the finest comics you can find, American, French or Japanese. My favorites are Asterix and Cleopatra, Asterix in Corsica, and Asterix in Belgium, but tastes may vary.
The series was very important for the French comics. Tintin and Asterix are the comics that were considered as being for adults as well as for children, forever changing the way comics would be considered in France and Belgium. Asterix was seen as suitable reading for adults because of its many references to the politics, culture and foreign relations of the time, and is extensive use of usually good puns.
Seven cartoons have been made of the series, and two live movies, but none of those have been able to show the wit and intelligence of the series.