When the Belgian cartoonist Peyo created a village of cute little woodland creatures for his heroes Johan and Peewit to discover, he couldn't have known that they would wildly outgrow those humble origins to become a worldwide phenomenon all on their own. More than 50 years later, The Smurfs continue to delight us all with their silliness, bravery, heroism, and heart, and now we finally have a definitive collection of Peyo's original comics to see where it all began.
Newly remastered and presented in original publication order, along with a Smurfy collection of historical notes and photographs, this volume introduces us to Smurfette and features a Johan and Peewit story never before seen in the U.S.
What do you say in a review about the Smurfs? They're cute, they're blue, they make you happy. And the original comics, cartoons, graphic novels, funnies - whatever you prefer to call them - that inspired the popular show are fantastic!
FYI, Papercutz is releasing these Smurfs stories in 2 different formats - a smaller-size library of the individual stories, and these larger-size anthology books that contain several stories. I'm not sure why they chose to do this. I found it confusing and poked around awhile online to try to figure out the difference between the 2 formats. As far as I can tell, the Anthology editions just print the comics on larger pages and in the original chronological order. Personally I think the anthology edition is the one to go with. They're remarkably inexpensive considering their deluxe hardback covers, glossy paper, color that really make the illustrations comes to life, and text that is a comfortable standard size for comics. Everything is really vibrant and you can tell a lot of care went into these books.
Anthology Volume 2 contains one of the most legendary Smurfs stories - the origin of how Smurfette came to be! I'm not sure I understand the fuss about it being sexist. She's created by the Smurfs' enemy Gargamel to infiltrate the village and is one-half ditzy, one-half mischief, but her whole purpose is to scheme against the Smurfs. And she's a girly girl. Personally I was laughing out loud reading this story. It's so well done, and despite no Lone Smurf like in the cartoon, I think everyone knows Smurfette does discover her inner Smurfiness and changes her ways - well, most of them.
Other stories here include Vanity Smurf's mirror creating his double (the 100th Smurf!) and Gargamel transforming himself into a Smurf to sabotage the village, only he's missing his little blue tail (adapted as a cartoon episode, with Gargamel replaced by Hogatha). A longer Johan and Peewit story is also included as the final story in this book. The Smurfs only make a minor appearance here, but I still enjoyed Peyo's artwork and the magical world his characters inhabit.
Ook de tweede Smurfen integraal was geweldig. Boordevol verhalen voor mijn zoon en de interessante achtergrondinformatie omtrent het leven van de auteur en interessante achtergrondinformaties rondom de verhalen in dit bundel. . Het is zeer moelijk te vertellen welke van de huidige verhalen wond ik het best want daar komen er bij mij gelijk meerdere in aanmerking De Karwakrawka, de ruimtesmurf en de regen smurf wond ik absoluut top.
De andere smurf dan anderen, de honderdste smurf en de paassurfverhaal vond ik ongeveer het zwakste van het boek.
Fun series! A type of comic that is rarely seen nowadays. The art, the adventure, the imagination, the length of each story, and all compiled into a beautiful, big Anthology! I look forward to the future anthologies of this amazing series!
Smurfette's origin is problematic and uncomfortable. The other stories are fun. The Johann and Pewitt story is episodic, and thus overstays its welcome.