René Goscinny

René Goscinny (August 14, 1926 - November 5, 1977) was a French author and editor. He wrote the "Little Nicolas" ("Le Petit Nicolas") books, and several comic book series, the best known of which is Asterix.

Born in Paris, he was editor of Pilote magazine in the 1950s. He also wrote many other comics, including Lucky Luke (illus: Morris), and Iznogoud (illus: Jean Tabary).

Books include La Potachologie and Le Potache est Servi (with drawings by Cabu), now out of print.

In books, his sense of humour is underhanded. La Potachologie is a natural history textbook detailing the habitat and behaviour of schoolboys; a silly subject put over in a formal style. The eponymous young narrator of Little Nicolas provides enough subtext for the reader to laugh not only at the situation, but also at Nicolas' naive impression of it.