Asterix the Gaul (Goscinny & Uderzo)

I wrote here about my love for Asterix comics, and have decided since then to read my way back through all the books in order.

Asterix the Gaul is a masterpiece brimming with underlying layers that delve to the core of humanity itself...

OK, it's a comic about Gauls who drink a potion that gives them superhuman strength which they use to bash up Romans, and then they have a big feast at the end. But it's enormously funny and clever and brimming with puns and silly jokes. I remember Asterix the Gaul as being one of the weaker Asterix stories, given that it's the first one, but it does everything you want it to do - it sets up the idea of the one Gaulish village holding out against the Romans, introduces all the characters, and you get to see Asterix and Getafix laughing themselves silly after dosing some Romans with a hair-growing potion. Good stuff.