Tintin Forums

Does anyone out there know the best way to collect the Papercutz Smurfs books?

At the moment I don't have any Peyo in my comics library, besides a long-ago purchased book by Matt Murray on the author and his characters, titled The World of the Smurfs.

There appear to have been omnibus editions of albums by Papercutz in the past, under a 3-in-1 banner, and also Smurf Graphic Novel boxed sets, as well as a Smurfs Anthology collection; furthermore there have been Smurfs & Friends volumes (which contained Smurf stories, plus additional Johan & Peewit and Benny Breakiron stories too).

Now there is to be a Smurf Archives collection, putting the stories into publication order...

...plus the individual albums in what may be one or perhaps several different series (e.g. The Smurfs, Smurf Tales, Smurf Village), perhaps based on whether they were original run or continuation series?

So, allowing for the fact that some of the books mentioned above may now be out of print, hard to find or both, what would be a good place to start?

The Smurfs Archives looks a possible way to go: it has the feature of being a good way, presumably, to see the series progress, with the added advantage that it's only two volumes in, with a third out soon, so should be easy enough to collect.

However I have no Benny Breakiron or Johan & Peewit, so The Smurfs & Friends has some merit, but would presumably at some point duplicate the Smurf content of the Archives...

Any suggestions? I'm imagining that you'll be able to tell me something, George, if you are around?

If the description of "The Smurfs And Friends" on the Smurfs Fandom is reliable, then this series was short-lived, only about 3 volumes.

What is more, the Smurf stories are post-Peyo, very recent ones written and drawn after his death by other writers and artists. Most of them are about Gargamel and his relatives which include a look-alike brother, a look-alike cousin and three look-alike nephews (too much Donald Duck and his look-alike relatives for my liking).

On the other hand, the "Johan and Peewit" and "Benny Breakiron" stories are Peyo's work and when he was at his height. So "The Smurfs And Friends" is a mixture of Peyo and non-Peyo and good quality and low.

The Smurfs' early publication history is a bit complicated. Like Tintin, many of their early adventures were redrawn. For example, "The Smurfnapper", the story of how the Smurfs first meet Gargamel, was originally published as a small booklet in which Brainy Smurf did not wear glasses (but was still a nuisance). It was later redrawn in a standard book-size edition in which Brainy did wear glasses.

These different versions are included in "Smurf Archives" vol 1 and 2, along with several other examples of stories as originally drawn and later redrawn. So if you want to know how the series developed and evolved then this is worth getting (like comparing Tintin stories as they were published in magazine and book form and how they differ).

The "Smurfs Anthology" series is an omnibus editions of their early adventures written and drawn by Peyo but in the standard book-size edition, so the original booklet versions are not included. This is really just for reading the series as commonly published today without worrying about how it all started and developed.

So really it is a matter of:
The "Smurfs Anthology" for the standard stories as they are commonly published today; or

The "Smurf Archives" in order to see how they developed over time.

"The Smurfs And Friends" is really for more recent non-Peyo stories of the Smurfs (it will be several Archives books before they appear), but they also include non-Smurf related adventures of "Johan and Peewit" and "Benny Breakiron" as written by Peyo and which I think are well worth reading in their own right.

I can't add much to mc16's excellent summary.

I liked the Smurfs and Friends (which I think only got as far as V2, else I've a weekend on eBay) for that non-Smurf Peyo content. But it seems I'm in a minority as Peyo interest is subservient to Smurf fandom which in turn does seem to be driven by (I) figurines, (II) those terrible looking CGI movies. Which doesn't leave much room for BD classics from 1950 onwards.

The ongoing The Smurfs Archives are probably the best current gateway as they include the development of the Smurfs as a series (as pointed out) but also include Johan and Peewit albums where the Smurfs feature. I'm slightly frustrated at the presentation of the archival content in these books, especially compared to Cinebook's exemplary Blake & Mortimer, Lucky Luke, and Valerian books.

Slightly left field, there's this book ('Pierre Culliford, known as Peyo: The Life and Work of a Marvellous Storyteller') which doesn't contain and full stories (IIRC) but is a great book about a key creator from the Golden Age of European comics.

George

Incidentally, Forbidden Planet in London has both of the Smurfs Archives in their reduced section at the moment, or at least a few damaged copies. The damage itself isn't clear, and the reduced price (c£25) is about the same as online for an undamaged copy.

They're wedged in the top right, along with about 10000 Dead on Arrival superhero albums which probably should have been pulped straight off the presses.

Gentlemen! Many thanks for the fantastic summary of the various different series, mct16, and again to George for the additional perspective, and the heads-up about the Culliford book (I will add that to my "wants" list, until I find a low-priced second hand copy), about which I knew nothing.

It was smurfing difficult to make heads or tails of what was going on, and you have both given the insights I was needing to make sense of it.

Fortunately for those titles still in print I am currently employed by a certain major highstreet bookshop chain, one of the benefits of which is that I get a very good staff discount, so I have an opportunity to fill in some gaps, and may not need to resort to the Clearance Shelves of Doom in FP!!

I'm managaing to fight the self control (which you mentioned here, George) just a little (I've already started by picking up volume one of the complete Lucky Luke omnibuses, which is brilliant)!