History ComicBook / TheSmurfs

By 1963, The Smurfs graduated from supplementary mini-comics to the prestigious pages of ''Spirou''. Starting with "Le Schtroumpf Volant", which is "The Smurfnapper" in English, the Smurfs' adventures expanded from postcard-sized mini-récits to the more traditional A4 single-fold-sized comics roughly 8.5X11 inches found in the page of ''Spirou'' magazines. Meaning since the size of the pages increased, more panels could fit on a page, reducing the page count for each individual story, so more stories were required to fill each individual book, eventually the pages expanded to forty. As with ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'', the adventures became serialized over a string of weekly issues. Having the longer format meant {{character development}} along with emergence of numerous Smurfs from what had been relative anonymity in the [[FacelessMasses blue masses]] of identical Smurfs.

* BaitAndSwitchSuicide: One strip has the Smurfette refuse a Smurf's advances. The Smurf then goes out of the village pulling a rope behind him, finds a tree, [[SpurnedIntoSuicide throws the rope over a branch...]] The horrified Smurfette appears desperately running towards the Smurf, who... turns out to have made a rope swing, and tells the Smurfette that she can go make her own since she didn't want to play with him.

* GiantFood: The comic book story "Salad Smurfs" had Farmer grow really big vegetables from his garden when Chef Smurf forced him to use more of Papa Smurf's fungicide and fertilizer than was necessary. Unfortunately, it had the side effect of turning the Smurfs who ate the vegetables into AnthropomorphicFood.

* KarmaHoudini: Strangely, when a Smurf violently hits Brainy Smurf over the head - often with a hammer, no less - and he says he is telling Papa Smurf, you never see the continued consequences of such a violent act.

* OffModel:
** In the original editions, there are several coloring errors, such as Papa Smurf's pants turning white in a panel, a Smurf's pants turning blue in another one...
** The "Baby Smurf" album is drawn quite sloppily, the characters look grotesque... a critic's theory was because Peyo was too involved in the production of the Smurfs animated series to make sure his pages looked neat.
*** This was also the case with some other Smurf comic book stories that Peyo had worked on around the 1980s.

* TheDarkChick: Gray Smurfette in "The Smurf Menace", though she only makes one appearance in the story and that's mostly to antagonize Smurfette into [[DesignatedGirlFight having a fight with her]].

* BladeOnAStick: Halberds seem to be the standard weapon for Smurfs, as they are seen many times whenever security is needed. They were never shown to hit anyone however.

First introduced in ''[[ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit Johan et Pirlouit]]'' story “La flûte à six trous,” literally meaning “The Flute with Six Holes,” published in 1958, ''[[Franchise/TheSmurfs les Schtroumpfs]]''... er, ''[[Franchise/TheSmurfs the Smurfs]]'' weren’t officially seen right away. The artisans of the six holed flute wouldn’t be announced until more than midway through the story.

Their creator Pierre "Creator/{{Peyo}}" Culliford wanted these humanoid little blue elves be mysterious by having them shadow Johan and Pirlouit, I mean, Peewit throughout the tale’s beginning by showing their [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes shrouded eyes]] in some panels or a five fingered blue hand reaching out from behind some leaves in another. It wasn’t until wizard Homnibus sends both knight and his squire to the [[{{Mordor}} Cursed Land]] where the Smurfs live via “hypnokinesis” are we introduced to said creatures.

Just like introducing troublesome Peewit which proved to be an excellent contrast to somber and serious Johan before them, the Smurfs were a huge success delivered in a small package where popular demands had them appearing in the next ''Johan and Peewit'' adventure called "La Guerre des sept fontaines," "War of the Seven Springs" in English, published in 1959.

Recently made Editor-in-Chief Yvan Delporte recognized the diminutive stature of the Smurfs made them perfect stars to fit in the mini-récits (short stories) that gave readers fully contained forty-eight page story in a postcard sized comic in the pages of ''Magazine/{{Spirou}}''. After ''Spirou'' publisher Charles Dupuis approached Peyo with the idea, Peyo agreed and, on the condition Delporte helped him write the comic, the Smurfs' first comic “Les Schtroumpfs noirs” was introduced the same year, the story helping establish the basic setting and some of the original characters that would become the staples of the series.[[note]]Not only did it introduce Delporte’s role as a collaborator in the creative process, but Peyo had ultimate control of the storylines and characters whilst Delporte helped develop the particulars of the plots and write the dialogue before Peyo committed the final script to paper.[[/note]]

By 1963, The Smurfs graduated from supplementary mini-comics to the prestigious pages of ''Spirou''. Starting with “Le Schtroumpf Volant,” which is “The Smurfnapper” in English, the Smurfs’ adventures expanded from postcard sized mini-récits to the more traditional A4 single-fold-sized comics roughly 8.5X11 inches found in the page of ''Spirou'' magazines. Meaning since the size of the pages increased, more panels could fit on a page, reducing the page count for each individual story, so more stories were required to fill each individual book, eventually the pages expanded to forty. As with ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'', the adventures became serialized over a string of weekly issues. Having the longer format meant {{character development}} along with emergence of numerous Smurfs from what had been relative anonymity in the [[FacelessMasses blue masses]] of identical Smurfs.

Not only did the first book “Les Schtroumpfs noirs” feature three tales but story “Le Voleur des Schtroumpfs” introduces villainous Gargamel and his cat Azrael, making them the Smurfs’ main and only adversary. It wasn’t until 1966 another character was introduced: [[TheSmurfettePrinciple la Schtroumpfette]], though she won’t officially become a main character until later on. Despite Bigmouth’s only sole appearance in “La Soupe aux Schtroumpfs” (“Smurf Soup” in English), other new characters won’t be introduced until “Le Bébé Schtroumpf,“ where Baby Smurf becomes an official main comic book character in 1984. Four years later saw the introduction of the Smurflings (Nat, Snappy, Slouchy and Sassette) in “Les P'tits Schtroumpfs.”

“Le Schtroumpf Financier”, “The Finance Smurf” in English, was the last album published on the first of January by the Smurfs’ creator as Pierre “Peyo” Culliford died of cardiac arrest on Christmas Eve 1992. Despite the loss of the Smurfs’ true Papa Smurf, the Smurfs continued to live on thanks in large part to the Culliford family’s efforts. While International Merchandizing, Promotion & Services -- a company founded in 1984 by Peyo’s daughter Véronique Culliford -- continues to license the property throughout the world, Peyo’s son Thierry Culliford continues his father’s work by continuing having the Smurfs appear in new comics produced by Cartoon Creations, formally called Peyo Studios and distributed by Le Lombard with other artists drawing the characters.

** And there's other time that, as a joke, two Smurfs take petals from the flowers to ensure the one doing the routine always gets "Loves Me not".

* KarmaHoudini: Strangely, when a Smurf violently hits Brainy Smurf over the head - often with a hammer, no less - and he says he is telling on Papa Smurf, you never see the continued consequences of such a violent act.

* FictionalHoliday: The Imitate Festival in a one-page gag, where each Smurf must for a day imitate another Smurf for a full day. However, Papa Smurf isn't pleased that Jokey would choose to imitate him.

* FeminineWomenCanCook: "The Smurfette" shows that she's a good cook even before her makeover. Unfortunately, she gets distracted while talking at Vanity and lets the soup burn before most of the Smurfs get to taste it.

By 1963, The Smurfs graduated from supplementary mini-comics to the prestigious pages of ''Spirou''. Starting with “Le Schtroumpf Volant,” which is “The Smurfnapper” in English, the Smurfs’ adventures expanded from postcard sized mini-récits to the more traditional A4 single-fold-sized comics roughly 8.5X11 inches found in the page of ''Spirou'' magazines. Meaning since the size of the pages increased, more panels could fit on a page, reducing the page count for each individual story, so more stories were required to fill each individual book, eventually the pages expanded to forty. As with ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'', the adventures became serialized over a string of weekly issues. Having the longer format meant {{character development}} along with emergence of numerous Smurfs from what been relative anonymity in the [[FacelessMasses blue masses]] of identical Smurfs.

* DistaffCounterpart: [[spoiler:The Smurfettes, whom the Smurfs meet in the comic book story based on the film ''WesternAnimation/SmurfsTheLostVillage''.]]

* GarbageHideout: In "The Reporter Smurf", the titular character hides himself in a garbage barrel while spying on Smurfette in order to get the story on who her "secret lover" is.

* PrecisionFStrike: Parodied in the original English version of "King Smurf", where one Smurf tells Brainy to "go to smurf" with his orders.

* InopportuneImpersonationFailure: In the comic "The Fake Smurf", Gargamel makes a potion to transform him into a smurf, so he'll be able to infiltrate in the smurfs' village to kill them. His impersonation is perfect except for the absence of a tail, so he sculpts a round piece of wood, paints it blue and sticks it to his rear with glue. He deceives everyone until he falls into the river and is saved by the real smurfs. [[UngratefulBastard That doesn't change his plans]], but his soaked tail drops off, being found by a smurf who shows it to Papa Smurf. With his cover blown, Gargamel locks himself into Papa Smurf's lab and concocts a potion that makes him turn back to normal... except that he is still smurf-sized, allowing him to be easily captured.

* CourtroomAntic: Unfolds when Papa tries putting "The Smurfette" on trial after discovering her connection to Gargamel. Culminates with Jokey [[AccuseTheWitness Accusing The Witness]] -- or rather, [[spoiler:Judge Papa]] of being the one ''truly'' responsible for what happened.

* PyrrhicVillainy: While not technically a villain, the Finance Smurf from the comic book story of the same name gains the entire village after all his fellow Smurfs, including Papa Smurf, have left it behind along with all their money...only for himself to be left without anybody to share his new-found good fortune with, making him very sad and lonely. This makes Finance Smurf come to his senses and go out to find the Smurfs to tell them he's giving them back everything and abolishing the money system.
** Gargamel's victory against his cousin in "Sagratamabarb" ends up having him live up to his end of his DealWithTheDevil (quite literally).

* KnifeNut: Papa Smurf led the Smurfs on a rescue mission and was carrying a '''dagger'''. He never used it however and this only happened once.

* {{Fainting}}:
** Smurfette faints from overworking in "Doctor Smurf".
** Papa Smurf collapses in a faint in the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" when he gets so frustrated with his little Smurfs being so dependent on the titular book that he stamps his feet in anger.

* StatusQuoIsGod: The Smurfs always learn that they shouldn't force in human concepts such as money, alternative medecine or even police. Many of these issues end up as being answered as "just ask Papa Smurf to sort it out".

* MagicPlasticSurgery: Or make that "plastic smurfery", which is the explanation in the original English translation of the story "The Smurfette" for how the title character was changed from her original appearance into a real Smurf.

* NeverBareheaded: Although the Smurfs were sometimes shown hatless in the animated adaptation and revealed as bald, this is much more ambiguous in the comic. The bare head of a Smurf is never shown, except for Papa Smurf in "The Black Smurfs", shown as bald, although that could just be because he's old.

** Another story has Gargamel begging Santa to give him presents, as he has always been denied some because he was always mean. Santa finally agrees, if Gargamel himself distributes the Smurfs's presents in their village, without stealing or harming any of them. Oh, and also under threat of being turned into a worm. The temptation is great for Gargamel to smurfnap, but he resists and gets his own presents by the end.

* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Gargamel's cousin Barbapapa. {{Lampshaded}} when Brainy sees him for the first time and panics, thinking it's the evil sorcerer. Also done with Gargamel's other cousin Sagratamabarb.