The Smurfs is a comic and television franchise centered on a group of small blue fictional creatures called Smurfs, created by and first introduced as a series of comic strips by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo on October 23, 1958.
The original term and the accompanying language came during a meal Peyo was having with his colleague and friend André Franquin in which, having momentarily forgotten the word “salt”, Peyo asked him (in French) to pass the schtroumpf. Franquin replied: “Here’s the Schtroumpf - when you are done schtroumpfi ng, schtroumpf it back” and the two spent the rest of that weekend speaking in schtroumpf language. The name was later translated into Dutch as Smurf, which was adopted in English.
Their first appearance was published in Spirou on October 23, 1958. The characters proved to be a huge success, and the fi rst independent Smurf stories appeared in Spirou in 1959, together with the first merchandising. The Smurfs shared more adventures with Johan and Pirlouit, got their own series and all subsequent publications of the original story were retitled La Flûte à six Schtroumpfs. |
