"The Smurfs (comics) The Smurfs () is a Belgian comic series, created by cartoonist Peyo (pen name of Pierre Culliford). The titular creatures were introduced as supporting characters in an already established series, ""Johan and Peewit"" in 1958, and starred in their own series from 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"
"Peyo himself, other contributors to the series included leading figures in the Belgian comics industry, such as Will, Jean Roba (who drew some of the covers when the series was published in ""Spirou""), Gos, Yvan Delporte, François Walthéry and Albert Blesteau, many of whom were part of Peyo's studio. It initially lasted till 1978 when the success of the Smurfs prevented Peyo from working on his other series. Since his death in 1992, it has been restarted by his son Thierry Culliford and artist Pascal Garray. Peyo's signature still appears on the pages drawn by Garray. In 1967, the British"
"Poussy Poussy (literally: ""Pussy"") is a Belgian comic strip created in 1949 by Peyo. It is a gag-a-day comic about a black cat whose curiosity often gets him into trouble. Peyo created ""Poussy"" on January 22, 1949, for the Belgian newspaper ""Le Soir"". It was his second series after ""Johan and Peewit"", created three years earlier. It was also published in the comics magazine ""Spirou"" and released in album format by the Dupuis editions. The main character in the series is Poussy, a black-and-white cat who exhibits normal cat-like behavior, such as trying to catch mice, find food, and run"
"the newspaper ""La Dernière Heure"" (The Latest Hour), but also accepted many promotional drawing jobs for income. From 1949 to 1952, he drew ""Poussy"", a stop comic about a cat, for ""Le Soir"". For the same newspaper, he also created ""Johan"". In 1952, Franquin introduced Peyo to ""Spirou"", a children's Franco-Belgian comics magazine published by Dupuis. Peyo wrote and drew a number of characters and storylines, including ""Pierrot"", and ""Benoît Brisefer"" (translated into English as ""Steven Strong""). But his favourite was ""Johan et Pirlouit"" (translated into English as ""Johan and Peewit""), which was a continuation of the series ""Johan"" he"
"away from danger. His owner is a nameless little blond boy. All the gags are mostly without dialogue. Originally the gags were published in ""Le Soir"" in black-and-white. From 1965 on, ""Spirou"" published the series in color. In 1969, Peyo's his assistant, Lucien De Gieter, took over the series until 1973. In 1976 and 1977 the colorized gags were finally published in album format; three albums have been published. ""Poussy"" has been translated into the following languages: Poussy Poussy (literally: ""Pussy"") is a Belgian comic strip created in 1949 by Peyo. It is a gag-a-day comic about a black cat"
"and elsewhere in the French-speaking world, and less outside. Belgian ethnic minorities, such as the Jews who have formed a component of Flemish culture — in particular that of Antwerp — for over five hundred years, have different cultures. Belgium has numerous well-known cartoonists, such as Hergé (""The Adventures of Tintin""), Peyo (""The Smurfs""), Franquin (""Spirou et Fantasio"", ""Marsupilami"", ""Gaston""), Willy Vandersteen (""Spike and Suzy""), Morris (""Lucky Luke""), Edgar P. Jacobs (""Blake and Mortimer""), Jef Nys (Jommeke) and Marc Sleen (""Nero""). More recently, Jean Van Hamme (""XIII"", ""Largo Winch"", ""Thorgal"", etc.), Raoul Cauvin (""Les Tuniques Bleues"", ""Agent 212""), François Schuiten"
"Johan and Peewit Johan and Peewit () is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo. Since its initial appearance in 1947 it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic book creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories. The series is set in Medieval Europe and includes elements of sword-and-sorcery. ""Johan et Pirlouit"" provided the framework for the first appearances of ""The Smurfs"". Initially titled simply ""Johan"", the series first appeared in the newspaper ""La Dernière Heure"" in 1947, and then in ""Le Soir"" from 1950"
"Benoît Brisefer Benoît Brisefer (French for ""Benedict Ironbreaker"", Dutch: ""Steven Sterk"") is a Belgian comic strip created in 1960 by Peyo (best known for the Smurfs) about a little boy whose peaceful, innocent appearance, charm and good manners covers his possession of superhuman strength. Since Peyo's death it has been continued by other artists and writers. Parts of the series have been published in a number of languages around the world. ""Benoît Brisefer"" first appeared in issue 1183 of ""Spirou"" magazine in mid-December 1960. His adventures were regularly published in both the magazine and in book form. As well as"
"with considerable success. It was re-released in 1983 in the wake of the success of the ""Smurfs"" cartoons from Hanna-Barbera, and enjoyed some success in the USA as well. Johan and Peewit were also featured in some of the animated Smurf cartoons, being the main stars in many episodes. In France and other European countries, their TV cartoon adventures were treated as a separate series from that of the Smurfs, even though the latter feature heavily. In the early 1980s, some records about their adventures were made in France and Italy, contributors including Cristina D'Avena. Another Peyo series was ""Benoît"
"cat whose name closely translates as ""bitch"" and a white pony named Fury. Other recurring characters are Catootje's best friend Joe, Jacky's cousin Hanna (a single mother by choice), grandad Gerrit and Moeps Pepernoot. The main characters are modelled after Kruis' own family and pets, save for Jack who in turn inspired his creator. The early gags were originally written for its precursor Gregor and published from December 12, 1970 onwards. Nearly 60 volumes have been released since 1971. The comic moved with the times, proving that no subject was too weird to be discussed by the family, particularly emancipation."
"some of the shorter stories, like ""Sortilèges au château"", were published in ""Risque-Tout"" (French for ""Daredevil"") which came from the same publishers. Johan's adventures published in newspapers prior to his appearing in ""Spirou"" are not included. Johan and Peewit Johan and Peewit () is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo. Since its initial appearance in 1947 it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic book creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories. The series is set in Medieval Europe and includes elements of sword-and-sorcery."
"a short-lived animation studio in Brussels. It is there he met some of his future colleagues: Maurice de Bevere (Morris, creator of ""Lucky Luke""), Pierre Culliford (Peyo, creator of the ""Smurfs""), and Eddy Paape. Three of them (minus Peyo) were hired by Dupuis in 1945, following CBA's demise. Peyo, still too young, would only follow them seven years later. Franquin started drawing covers and cartoons for ""Le Moustique"", a weekly magazine about radio and culture. He also worked for ""Plein Jeu"", a monthly scouting magazine. During this time, Morris and Franquin were coached by Joseph Gillain (Jijé), who had transformed"
"Scentimental Romeo Scentimental Romeo is a 1950 Merrie Melodies (Blue Ribbon reissued) animated short featuring Pepé Le Pew and Penelope Pussycat. In the Paris Zoo, Penelope Pussycat is starving and tries to beg the local zookeeper to give her some of the lions' food but he gently, though firmly, refuses. She then deliberately paints a white stripe on her back, disguising herself as a skunk, so as to be fed. The ploy works, but unfortunately for Penelope, she is discovered by Pepé, who immediately mistakes her for ""le petite femme skunk"" and pursues her affections. Suddenly however, Pepé remembers his"
"including Peyo (""The Smurfs""), André Franquin (""Gaston Lagaffe""), Dupa (""Cubitus""), Morris (""Lucky Luke""), Greg (""Achille Talon""), Lambil (""Les Tuniques Bleues""), Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen brought the Belgian cartoon strip industry a worldwide fame. Belgian cinema has brought a number of mainly Flemish novels to life on-screen. Other Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; well-known actors include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jan Decleir and Marie Gillain; and successful films include ""Bullhead, Man Bites Dog"" and ""The Alzheimer Affair"". In the 1980s, Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts produced important fashion trendsetters, known as the Antwerp"
"took on the name ""Peyo"" early in his professional career, based on an English cousin's mispronunciation of Pierrot (a diminutive form of Pierre). Peyo began work, fresh from his coursework at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, at the Compagnie Belge d'Animation (CBA), a small Belgian animation studio, where he met a few of his future colleagues and co-celebrities, like André Franquin, Morris, and Eddy Paape. When the studio folded after the war, the other artists went to work for Dupuis, but Peyo, a few years younger than the others, was not accepted. He made his first comics for"
"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. In 1952, Peyo created a series in ""Spirou"" magazine titled ""Johan et Pirlouit"" (""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"
"Swedish cartoon figure. Rasmus Klump Rasmus Klump (translates to ""Rasmus Lump"" or ""Erasmus Lump"") is a Danish comic strip series for children created in 1951 by the Danish wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen. The series was translated into a number of foreign languages, in some of which the title character Rasmus was renamed Petzi, Pol, Rasmus Nalle or other variations. The series tells the adventures of the bear cub Rasmus Klump and his friends: Pingo (a penguin), Pelle (a pelican), Pilskaden (a turtle), Skæg (a seal) and others. Always dressed in red dungarees with white polka dots,"
"of UNICEF. The 50th anniversary of the Smurfs and the 80th anniversary of the birth of its creator Peyo, were celebrated by issuing a high-value collectors' coin: the Belgian 5 euro 50th anniversary of The Smurfs commemorative coin, minted in 2008. In 1998, writer Marc Schmidt wrote a parody article citing the Smurfs as an example of the impact of socialism in continental European culture. In 2011, Schmidt's essay was scrutinised in a response essay by Kate Krake, who examined the nature of cultural theory built on textual observation and warned against creating false allegories out of texts like The"
"pastiches of 50s comics have been collected in the album ""Captivant"". He then created the characters of ""Bob Fish"", ""Adolphus Claar"", ""Freddy Lombard"", and ""Le Jeune Albert"", a scamp character living in the Marolles, a working-class area of Brussels. Yves Chaland, was approached to draw an adventure of ""Spirou et Fantasio"", appearinging in half-page installments of the weekly ""Spirou"" magazine. Done in a retro 50s style similar to his influences Jijé and André Franquin, both former artists on the ""Spirou"" feature. The unfinished story has been collected in the album "" Spirou et Fantasio – Hors Série, No. 4"" (Dupuis,"
"José Peñarroya José Peñarroya Peñarroya (Forcall, Castellon, 1910 – Barcelona, 1975) was a Spanish cartoonist of the Bruguera School, creator of famous characters such as ""Don Pío"" (about a mild-mannered man and his demanding wife) or ""Gordito Relleno"" (about a fat and kindly man people always take advantage to). He also was, alongside Cifré, the ""official"" cover artist of many of the publications of the house, until well into the 1960s. As a result, he is considered one of the ""Big Five"" of that editorial of the 1950s, along with Conti, Escobar, Giner (this, in realistic style) and Cifré. During"
"until 1952. It began publication in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ""Spirou"" on September 11, 1952, and the initially blond-haired hero became dark-haired. In 1954, Johan was joined by Pirlouit, and the series took its final name. It was in ""Johan et Pirlouit"", on October 23, 1958, that the first smurf appeared. Peyo stated that Pirlouit was his favourite character, and ""Johan et Pirlouit"" was the only series on which he always did the drawings without the aid of the studio. Their adventures appeared regularly in ""Spirou"" in the 1950s and early 1960s, but the success of the Smurfs meant that"
"Reuben Award for the series in 1951. The principal characters were Pogo the Possum, Albert the Alligator, Churchy LaFemme (cf. Cherchez la femme), a turtle, Howland Owl, Beauregard (Houndog), Porkypine, and Miz Mamzelle Hepzibah, a French skunk. Kelly used the strip in part as a vehicle for his liberal and humanistic political and social views and satirized, among other things, Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist demagogy (in the form of a shotgun-wielding badger named ""Simple J. Malarkey"") and the sectarian and dogmatic behavior of communists in the form of two comically doctrinaire cowbirds. The setting for Pogo and his friends was"
"in 1988 to commemorate Marc Sleen's induction as an honor citizen of the city. In 1995 a special wall near the Saint-Géry Island in Brussels, celebrating Nero characters and part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route, also included him. Pheip also received a statue of his own on August 24, 2012. It was sculpted by Guy Du Cheyne and placed in the Statiestraat in Moerbeke-Waas. The statue faces the local sugar factory across the street and stands in front of the local library. Meneer Pheip Meneer Pheip is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic strip ""The Adventures"
"and his young friend Peewit and the wizard Homnibus. There are 105 Smurfs. Since the first appearance of the Smurfs in ""Johan et Pirlouit"" in 1958, 31 Smurf comics volumes have been created, 16 of them by Peyo, the others by his studio. 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, German and Turkish. A number of short stories and one page gags have been collected into comic books next to the regular"
"Smurf to be introduced in the series. The Smurfs wear Phrygian caps, which came to represent freedom during the modern era. The word “smurf” is the original Dutch translation of the French ""schtroumpf"", which, according to Peyo, is a word he invented during a meal with fellow cartoonist André Franquin when he could not remember the word salt. ""The Smurfs"" franchise began as a comic and expanded into advertising, films, TV series, ice capades, video games, theme parks, and dolls. At the time he came up with the idea for the Smurfs, Peyo was the creator, artist, and writer of"
"of UPA's best known characters, Mr. Magoo. His work at the studio was noticed by Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, who hired Pyle as an animator on his 1950 UPA animated short film, ""Gerald McBoing-Boing"", which won an Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1951. Pyle's career as a freelance animator spanned several decades. His credits included the 1977 animated film, """", as well as several Charlie Brown animated specials. (Pyle and ""Peanuts"" animator Bill Melendez had originally worked together on ""Gerald McBoing-Boing""). Pyle later donated a portion of his archives and papers to the Lilly Library"
"2016 at the age of 86. The 2017 film Smurfs: The Lost Village is dedicated to her memory. Nine Culliford Janine ""Nine"" Culliford (née Devroye; 29 March 1930 – 5 July 2016) was a Belgian colorist of comic strips. Nine Culliford was the wife of the comic strip creator known as Peyo (the pseudonym of Pierre Culliford, 1928-1992). She colored his illustrations up until his death. She is especially notable for coming up with the idea that the Smurfs should be colored blue. After the death of her husband, she continued to color the comic strips produced by the studio"
"Antwerp Zoo. The characters can also be seen on a wall dedicated to characters from Sleen's other series, ""The Adventures of Nero"", at the Sint-Goriksplein/Place Saint-Géry in Brussels, where it is part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route. Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke was a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Marc Sleen from 1944 until 1965. It was continued by artists Hurey and Jean-Pol until 1974. ""Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke"" was a classic family comic strip, drawn by Sleen. All gags center around a father, Piet Fluwijn, and his naughty, but innocent little son, Bolleke."
"Bobo (Belgian comics) Bobo is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Paul Deliège and Maurice Rosy. The series features an eponymous prisoner of the jail Inzepocket (""in the pocket"" with a French accent). In Dutch, the series' name is ""Jaap"". ""Bobo"" first appeared in a mini–récit (mini-story) in ""Spirou"" magazine on May 11, 1961 In the early years, it was written by Rosy, who also took artistic responsibility during a brief period in the 1970s. Eventually, the character evolved into its own series, mostly consisting of short stories, and a few full length (i.e. 44 pages) stories. Fifteen albums appeared"
"Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal are fictional, funny-animal comic-book characters created by cartoonist Al Jaffee for Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Initially appearing as individual stars of solo features in the comedy anthology ""Krazy Komics"" #1 (cover dated July 1942), they were soon teamed to become, along with Super Rabbit, the most prominent stars of what Timely called its ""animation"" comics. With such ""Krazy Komics"" cohorts as Toughy Cat, the anthropomorphic duo are among the first funny-animal characters created specifically for"
"to work. This animal has become part of Belgian and French popular culture, and has spawned cartoons, merchandise, and since 1989 a comic book series of its own. The cartoons have broadened its appeal to English-speaking countries. By 1951, Franquin had found his style. His strip, which appeared every week on the first page of ""Spirou"", was a hit. Following Jijé's lead in the 1940s, Franquin coached a younger generation of comics artists in the 1950s, notably Jean Roba and Jidéhem, who both worked with him on ""Spirou et Fantasio. In 1955, following a contractual dispute with his publisher Dupuis,"
"The Spiffy Adventures of McConey The Spiffy Adventures of McConey (Les formidables aventures de Lapinot in the original French language) is a Franco-Belgian comic series by the popular French cartoonist Lewis Trondheim. It debuted in 1992. The series mixes satire and fantasy. The main characters are all animals: for instance McConey (""Lapinot"") is a shy and easygoing rabbit, while Richard is an engaging cat with a loud mouth and a knack for getting into trouble. The stories alternate between modern France and stock historical settings. The recurring characters in the series can be thought of as actors who don't always"
"Pom (comics) Jozef Van Hove, better known as Pom, (b. Berchem, 16 November 1919 - 2 May 2014) was a Belgian comics writer and artist, mainly known for the comic strip ""Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber"" published in ""Gazet van Antwerpen"". Pom was one of the best known Flemish comics authors of the 1950s. Between 1955 and 1995, 45 comic books were published of his newspaper comic strip. In 2010, a new album of ""Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber"" was created by Tom Bouden, with the collaboration of Luc Cromheecke, , , Martin Lodewijk, , Willy Linthout, , , ,"