UDERZO, Albert (1927-2020) Asterix, T. 18, Les Lauriers de César, plate 31. India ink on paper, signed and dedicated. Pre-published in Le Journal de Pilote in 1971, then published as an album by Dargaud in 1972. Following a drunken family discussion and a bet between Abraracourcix and his brother-in-law, Asterix and Obelix are charged with bringing him Caesar's crown of laurels, to be served as a stew. Once in Rome, suspected of plotting an attack on the emperor, they are imprisoned and put on trial. They are defended by Titus Residus, a young lawyer anxious to prove himself, who finds himself pitted against his own clients when Asterix interrupts him to deliver an indictment, precipitating the trial so that he can be thrown to the circus lions and finally approach Caesar. As a wink and a thank-you for his good services, Uderzo naturally chose this plate to give to his lawyer, Jean-Alain Michel. There's a wealth of detail in the panels depicting the Roman courtroom, with its multiplicity of characters and attitudes, the emphasis of the various players in the trial, whether it's the prosecutor quoting Cato, or the lawyer furious at being robbed of this quotation, And finally, the fury of Asterix, taking the place of the prosecution and damning himself, praising a slave trader and pitying "those poor beasts who understand nothing of the justice of men", make it a perfect testimony to the graphic and comic genius of the Uderzo-Goscinny duo. Plate in two parts, laminated on the spine. Total dimensions: 53x43 cm.