Return to Recap: The Smurfs.
The Smurfs are affected by a disease that turns them black and feral. Papa Smurf searches for the cure by first attempting to capture a Black Smurf, but as more Smurfs are infected with the disease, he turns to capturing the Bzz fly responsible for the disease and feeds it a tuberose blossom. Seeing that the Bzz fly turned blue from inhaling the tuberose's pollen, Papa Smurf discovers the cure and thus arms his remaining little Smurfs with bellows full of pollen to turn the Black Smurfs back into blue.
Tropes associated with this story include
- Adaptation Dye-Job: The Black Smurfs were recolored purple in the English translation.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Or in this case, Papa Smurf became a Black Smurf.
- Brainwash Residue: Grouchy Smurf owes his grumpiness to the Black Smurf disease, as he was the first to be infected.
- Breaking the Bonds: After being applied a failed antidote, a Black Smurf breaks the rope holding him, and bites every Smurf in the laboratory except for Papa Smurf.
- Butt Biter: The Bzz fly and the Black Smurfs.
- Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: The English adaptation of the comic book story (as well as its Animated Adaptation) change the Black Smurfs to Purple Smurfs due to the Black Smurfs possibly enforcing racial stereotypes about Afro-Americans.
- Deus ex Machina: The jar that contained something explosive which the fire heated up, making Papa Smurf's lab explode and unleash a giant cloud of tuberose pollen.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the first and only story where we see a Smurf without his hat. In latter stories, it's a joke that Smurfs refuse to show what's under their hats no matter what, and the writers always find a way for the readers not to see a bareheaded Smurf.
- Getting the Boot: Dopey Smurf who keeps bringing Papa Smurf a butterfly instead of the Bzz Fly ends up being booted out of Papa Smurf's laboratory when the Bzz Fly is captured and that Smurf persists in bringing a butterfly to Papa Smurf.
- Got Volunteered: Papa Smurf sees that his little Smurfs are reluctant to go out into the woods to capture a Black Smurf after what had happened the first time, so he chooses three volunteers to get him one.
- The Mole: One of the Black Smurfs uses blue paint to disguise himself as a normal Smurf so he could infect other normal Smurfs without being noticed. A Black Smurf ends up mistaking him for a true normal Smurf and bites his tail.
- Never Bareheaded: Averted in one panel, as Papa Smurf as a Black Smurf has his hat blown off his head from the explosion in his laboratory, revealing a bald head.
- No Name Given: Pretty much every Smurf in this story except for Papa Smurf and Jokey. The Smurf with the glasses would eventually be identified as Brainy, while the Smurf bringing Papa Smurf a butterfly instead of the Bzz Fly would eventually be identified as Dopey/Dimwitty.
- Patient Zero: The Smurf that would become known as Grouchy Smurf was the first to be infected with the Black Smurf disease, which would account for his grouchy behavior in later stories.
- Trash the Set: Papa Smurf's laboratory is destroyed by the explosion near the end of the story that releases the great cloud of tuberose pollen.
- Zombie Apocalypse: The Black Smurfs are equated to being like zombies with an infectious, yet thankfully reversible, condition.
