Albert Uderzo, illustrator and co-creator of famous comic series Asterix and Obelix, died on Tuesday, aged 92, his family said. Uderzo “died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly (western Paris), after a heart attack that was not linked to the coronavirus.

“He had been extremely tired for the past several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told Agence France Presse.

Uderzo and author Rene Goscinny are known as the “fathers” of the French comic series about a small village of Gauls who stand up to Roman occupiers.

Uderzo was initially the illustrator of the comic strip written by Goscinny, who died in 1977. After Goscinny’s death, Uderzo wrote and illustrated the series until he retired in 2009.

Asterix, the mustachioed hero, who has been entertaining readers with his magic-potion exploits alongside Obelix since 1959, has become a mainstay in the publishing industry, with more than 370 million albums sold worldwide.