PARIS: The French illustrator of world-famous cartoon hero Asterix, Albert Uderzo, who had been locked in a bitter, years-long legal feud with his daughter said Friday the pair had finally buried the hatchet.
We are "reunited again and determined to make a clean sweep of the grievances raised by both sides," the 87-year-old and his daughter Sylvie wrote in a joint statement, adding they were dropping all existing complaints and legal actions.
Uderzo, who created the iconic comic series with writer Rene Goscinny in 1959, had accused his daughter and her husband of trying to "get their hands" on his legacy.
The rift goes back to 2007 when the couple were dismissed as managers of the company handling all Asterix comic books made after the death of Goscinny in 1977.
A year later the company was sold to French publishing firm Hachette -- a deal that Uderzo's daughter opposed.
She later filed a legal complaint claiming that her elderly father was being exploited by people close to him who wanted to get a share of his fortune, including a solicitor and a chartered accountant -- one of several legal actions against Uderzo's entourage.
Uderzo eventually filed a complaint against them in December last year for "psychological violence", saying "enough is enough."
Father and daughter finally put the fighting behind them Friday, just as an appeals court near Paris ruled once and for all that Uderzo was not being exploited.
"This outcome is so good, what more can I say?", Sylvie Uderzo told AFP.
The 35 albums in the Asterix series have sold more than 352 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 110 languages and dialects.
The latest edition, "Asterix and the Picts", was released last October. Written by Jean-Yves Ferri and illustrated by Didier Conrad, it was the first in the series not written and illustrated by one of its original creators.
Comments
Comments are closed.