Four original drawings by the creator of Asterix the Gaul sold Tuesday for nearly 400,000 Euros to benefit Paris hospitals. Albert Uderzo, who invented the plucky hero who gleefully took on Roman legions, died from heart failure linked to the coronavirus in March at the age of 92.
His widow Ada said the charity auction was a way of thanking "our new heroes who have resisted the invader," a reference to the virus that has killed more than 28,000 people in France.
The four original cartoons sold for 390,000 euros ($426,000), the auction house Artcurial told AFP.
Uderzo co-created Asterix with scriptwriter Rene Goscinny and kept the epic going after his friend's untimely death in 1977.
He went on to create an entire gallery of characters beloved of children and adults across the world.