The Smurfs (comics)

The Smurfs is a Belgian comic series, created by cartoonist Peyo (pen name of Pierre Culliford). The fictional characters of the Smurfs first appeared in Johan and Peewit in 1958, and the first independent Smurf comics appeared in 1959. Thirty Smurf comic albums have been created, 16 of them by Peyo. Originally, the Smurf stories appeared in Spirou magazine with reprints in many different magazines, but after Peyo left the publisher Dupuis, many comics were first published in dedicated Smurf magazines, which existed in French, Dutch and German. A number of short stories and one page gags have been collected in comic books next to the regular series of 30. By 2008, Smurf comics have been translated into 25 languages, and some 25 million albums have been sold. A new Smurfs comic album sold in 2009 in French alone some 140,000 copies. And a new Smurfs comic album was released in 2012 now making the title of albums to thirty.

History
In 1952, Peyo created a Franco-Belgian comics series in Le Journal de Spirou titled Johan et Pirlouit (translated to English as Johan and Peewit), set in Europe during the Middle Ages. Johan serves as a brave young page to the king, and Pirlouit (pronounced Peer-loo-ee) functions as his faithful, if boastful and cheating, midget sidekick.

On October 23, 1958, Peyo introduced a new set of characters to the Johan et Pirlouit story La flûte à six trous (tr. "The Flute with Six Holes"). This alone caused no great excitement, as the brave duo constantly encountered strange new people and places. This time, they had the mission of recovering a magic flute, which required some sorcery by the wizard Homnibus. And in this manner, they met a tiny, blue-skinned humanoid creature in white clothing called a "Schtroumpf," followed by his numerous peers who looked just like him, with an elderly leader who wore red clothing and had a white beard called Papa Smurf. The characters proved to be a huge success, and the first independent Smurf stories appeared in Spirou in 1959, together with the first merchandising.

Albums
This is the list of the original French-language comic issues. Some of them are anthologies of several stories. A number of them were translated into English by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, and published by Hodder & Stoughton (Random House in the USA).

Although they are popular and common to find in bookstores in Europe as well as in the Canadian province of Québec, they are more difficult to find abroad (from where?).

Johan and Peewit appearances
 La flûte à six schtroumpfs (originally titled as La flûte à six trous) La guerre des sept fontaines Le pays maudit Le sortilège de Maltrochu La horde du corbeau La nuit des sorciers 

Original series

 * 1) Les Schtroumpfs noirs (The Black Smurfs), Dupuis, 11/30/1963, ISBN 2-8001-0108-3
 * 2) Le Schtroumpfissime (The Smurf King, English title), Dupuis, 09/23/1965, ISBN 2-8001-0109-1
 * 3) La Schtroumpfette (The Smurfette), Dupuis, 03/16/1967, ISBN 2-8001-0110-5
 * 4) L'Œuf et les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs and the Egg), Dupuis, 03/26/1968, 01/1967, ISBN 2-8001-3969-2
 * 5) Les Schtroumpfs et le Cracoucass (The Smurfs and the Howlibird, English title), Dupuis, 09/25/1969, ISBN 2-8001-0112-1
 * 6) Le Cosmoschtroumpf (The Astrosmurf), Dupuis, 11/05/1970, ISBN 2-8001-0113-X
 * 7) L'Apprenti Schtroumpf (The Smurf Apprentice), Dupuis, 11/18/1971, ISBN 2-8001-0114-8
 * 8) Histoires de Schtroumpfs (Stories of the Smurfs, an anthology of one-page humorous stories), Dupuis, 11/09/1972, ISBN 2-8001-0115-6
 * 9) Schtroumpf Vert et Vert Schtroumpf (Smurf Versus Smurf), Dupuis, 09/13/1973, ISBN 2-8001-0324-8
 * 10) La Soupe aux Schtroumpfs (The Smurf Soup), Dupuis, 12/06/1976, ISBN 2-8001-0510-0
 * 11) Les Schtroumpfs Olympiques (The Olympic Smurfs), Dupuis, 02/03/1983, ISBN 2-8001-0769-3
 * 12) Le Bébé Schtroumpf (The Baby Smurf), Dupuis, 11/27/1984, ISBN 2-8001-1148-8
 * 13) Les P'tits Schtroumpfs (The Smurflings), Dupuis, 04/01/1988, ISBN 2-8001-1569-6
 * 14) L'Aéroschtroumpf (The Aerosmurf), Cartoon Creation/Le Lombard, 10/17/1990, ISBN 2-87345-000-2
 * 15) L'Étrange Réveil du Schtroumpf Paresseux (The Strange Awakening of Lazy Smurf), Cartoon Creation/Le Lombard, 01/01/1991, ISBN 2-8036-1234-8
 * 16) Le Schtroumpf Financier (The Finance Smurf), Le Lombard, 01/01/1992, ISBN 2-8036-1454-5

Albums made after the death of Peyo, with help from his son Thierry Culliford (born 1956):  Le Schtroumpfeur de Bijoux (The Jewel Smurfer), Le Lombard, 01/01/1994, ISBN 2-8036-1098-1  Docteur Schtroumpf (Doctor Smurf), Le Lombard, 01/01/1996, ISBN 2-8036-1216-X  Le Schtroumpf Sauvage (The Wild Smurf), Le Lombard, 11/01/1998, ISBN 2-8036-1351-4  La Menace Schtroumpf (Attack of the Grey Smurfs), Le Lombard, 11/01/2000, ISBN 2-8036-1516-9  On ne Schtroumpfe pas le Progrès (You Don't Smurf Progress), Le Lombard, 11/01/2002, ISBN 2-8036-1773-0  Le Schtroumpf Reporter (The Reporter Smurf), Le Lombard, 11/01/2003, ISBN 2-8036-1900-8  Les Schtroumpfs Joueurs (The Gambler Smurfs), Le Lombard, 01/01/2005, ISBN 2-8036-2005-7  Salade de Schtroumpfs (Salad Smurfs), Le Lombard, 01/13/2006, ISBN 2-8036-2154-1  Un Enfant chez les Schtroumpfs (A Child among the Smurfs), Le Lombard, 01/12/2007, ISBN 978-2-8036-2242-9  Les Schtroumpfs et le livre qui dit tout (The Smurfs and the Book that Tells Everything), Le Lombard, 01/18/2008, ISBN 978-2-8036-2382-2  Schtroumpfs les bains (Smurfs in Paradise), Le Lombard, 04/3/2009, ISBN 978-2-8036-2521-5  La Grande Schtroumpfette (The Grand Smurfette), Le Lombard, 04/16/2010, ISBN 978-2-8036-2648-9  Les Schtroumpfs et l'Arbre d'Or (The Smurfs and the Golden Tree), Le Lombard, 04/08/2011, ISBN 978-2-8036-2807-0  Les Schtroumpfs de L'Ordre (The Law and Order of The Smurfs), Le Lombard, 03/23/2012, ISBN 978-2-8036-3052-3 </ol>

Look-In Magazine Strips
In the 1970s and '80s, a British children's magazine called Look-In ran an original series of one-page comic-strip tales called "Meet the Smurfs."

Marvel Comics
In 1982 Marvel Comics released a Three issue mini series featuring full length stories and one page American style comic strip tales featuring The Smurfs. Marvel Comics also published a large format comic book as well as six mini comic books with a full length story in each comic book.

Papercutz Graphic Novels
Since August 2010, Papercutz has been issuing Smurfs comics, translated by Joe Johnson. Following a special preview comic in July 2010 that contained the story "The Smurfnapper," the following graphic novels have been issued to date:


 * 1) The Purple Smurfs (August 31, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59707-207-6)
 * 2) The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (August 31, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59707-209-0)
 * 3) The Smurf King (November 23, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59707-225-0)
 * 4) The Smurfette (January 18, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59707-237-3)
 * 5) The Smurfs and the Egg (March 15, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59707-247-2)
 * 6) The Smurfs and the Howlibird (May 10, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59707-261-8)
 * 7) The Astrosmurf (August 2, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59707-251-9)
 * 8) The Smurf Apprentice (September 27, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59707-280-9)
 * 9) Gargamel and the Smurfs (November 22, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59707-290-8)
 * 10) The Return of the Smurfette (January 17, 2012, ISBN 978-1-59707-293-9)
 * 11) The Smurf Olympics (March 27, 2012, ISBN 978-1-59707-302-8)
 * 12) Smurf Versus Smurf (August 7, 2012, ISBN 978-1-59707-321-9)
 * 13) Smurf Soup (November 13, 2012, ISBN 978-15970-7359-2)
 * 14) The Baby Smurf (March 5, 2013, ISBN 978-1-59707-382-0)
 * 15) The Smurflings (May 14, 2013, ISBN 978-1-59707-407-0)
 * 16) The Aerosmurf (August 6, 2013, ISBN 978-1-59707-426-1)

Papercutz published "The Smurf Submarine" in Geronimo Stilton & Smurfs for Free Comic Book Day on May 7, 2011.