lesschtroumpfs

CREATOR

Name: Pierre Culliford (Peyo).
Personal dates: Born 1928 in Belgium. Died 1992 in Belgium.
Other creations: Benoit Brisefer, Johan et Pirlouit.
Successors: Thierry Culliford (son) and the Peyo studio.
Comments: Peyo's massive success with Les Schtroumphs caused him to set up a studio to help him with the stories. Several of his employees would later become famous in their own rights. Examples are Gos, Derib, and Walthéry.

MAIN STORY

The series premiered in 1959 in albums, but the Smurfs (English for Schtroumpfs) was actually first seen in another album from Peyo in his Johan et Pirlouit series.

The smurfs are tiny, blue pixie-like beings who live in the woods in mushroom-shaped houses. There are exactly 100 of them, and they are all lookalikes - apart from the bearded leader Grand Schtroumpf (Papa Smurf) and the female Schtroumpfette (Smurfette) - but they all have their own unique characteristics from which the intrigues occur (see a full listing HERE).
The smurfs is a happy people except for the evil wizard Gargamel, who endlessly tries to wreck their lives.

The huge, worldwide popularity of the small, blue beings has over the years brought about massive collections of merchandise, films, and a theme park.