The Smurfs (comics)

Les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs)
Date	1958-present
No. of issues	41
Main characters	Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, Gargamel
Publisher	Dupuis[1]
Creative team
Writers	Peyo and Studio Peyo
Artists	Peyo and Studio Peyo
Creator	Peyo[2]
Original publication
Published in	Spirou magazine
Date of publication	October 23, 1958
Language	French
Chronology
Preceded by	Johan and Peewit

The Smurfs (French: Les Schtroumpfs; Dutch: De Smurfen) 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. More than forty 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 and one page gags have been collected in comic books next to the regular series. By 2008, Smurf comics have been translated into 25 languages, and some 25 million albums have been sold.^[3]