The Smurfs (French: Les Schtroumpfs; Dutch: De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic series, created by cartoonist Peyo (pen name of Pierre Culliford).

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 23 October 1958, Peyo introduced a new set of characters to the Johan et Pirlouit story "La Flûte à six trous" (tr.

And in this manner, they met a tiny, blue-skinned humanoid creature in white clothing called a "Schtroumpf," followed by his numerous peers who looked just like him, with an elderly leader who wore red clothing and had a white beard called Grand Schtroumpf" (Papa Smurf).

A number of them were translated into English by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, and published by Hodder & Stoughton (Random House in the USA).

In the 1970s and '80s, the British children's magazine Look-In ran an original series of one-page comic-strip tales called "Meet the Smurfs."

Following a special preview comic in July 2010 that contained the story "The Smurfnapper," the following graphic novels have been issued to date: Other special books: Papercutz published "The Smurf Submarine" in Geronimo Stilton & Smurfs for Free Comic Book Day on May 7, 2011.