The Adventures of Alix (Alex) #1-15 (1956-2004)

Alix, or The Adventures of Alix, is a popular Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style by one its masters, Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo-Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is renowned for its historical accuracy and stunning set detail, the hero has been known to wander into anachronistic situations up to two centuries out of his era. The stories unfold throughout the reaches of the Roman world, including the city of Rome, Gaul, the German frontier, Mesopotamia, Africa and Asia Minor. One voyage goes as far as China.
Alix is stunning, fearless, generous and devoted to just causes. Born in Gaul, separated from his parents and sold into slavery, he is later adopted by a Roman noble contemporary to Julius Caesar. This mixed background provides Alix with an identity crisis and divided loyalties, especially in the context of the founding myths of French nationalism revolving around Vercingetorix.
In the second adventure Alix is joined by Enak, a slightly younger Egyptian orphan, who remains his constant companion and sounding board. Originally forbidden to have a female companion by the 1949 law governing children's literature, Alix later finds himself entangled with amorous women, but he always hesitates to commit. The pursuit of social justice provides a pretext for moving on.
The series first appeared as a serial in the comics magazine Tintin, on 16 September 1948. Three more adventures appeared before Les Editions du Lombard (the publishing house responsible for Tintin) began reissuing them in hardcover book form. Lapsing in 1959, Lombard turned over rights to Casterman (publisher of the Tintin books) in 1965. After going out of print for several years, the earlier Lombard volumes were also reintroduced to new readers in 1969 - 1973. As Tintin declined in sales and popularity, L'enfant grec (1979) was the last Alix story to appear in its pages. Thereafter Alix was only published in book form.