Spirou #1072

History

The Smurfs emerged from a running gag: while dining with fellow cartoonist André Franquin, Peyo (pen name of Belgian artist Pierre Culliford) momentarily forgot the French word for 'salt' and blurted 'schtroumpf' — Franquin playfully ran with the nonsense word for the rest of the evening, and it eventually gave the characters their name. The creatures made their serialized comic-page debut inside the ongoing Johan et Pirlouit story 'La Flûte à six trous' ('The Flute with Six Holes'), with the October 23, 1958 installment — published in issue #1072 — being the date universally cited for their first appearance. Editor-in-chief Yvan Delporte, who had taken over from Charles Dupuis in 1955 specifically to focus on editorial content, immediately recognized the breakout potential of the characters and personally persuaded Peyo to develop a standalone Smurf series, which began appearing in Spirou's mini-récit supplement section in 1959.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published October 23, 1958 by Éditions Dupuis (Marcinelle, Belgium); simultaneously issued in the Dutch-language Belgian edition of the magazine titled Robbedoes.
• Features the first Smurfs cover image in Spirou magazine's history, depicting the blue-skinned characters created by Peyo (Pierre Culliford) — marked by Key Collector Comics as '1st cover and 2nd appearance of The Smurfs.'
• The Smurfs debuted as secondary characters inside the Johan et Pirlouit serialized story 'La Flûte à six trous' ('The Flute with Six Holes'), in which Johan and Pirlouit encounter a colony of tiny blue humanoids led by an elderly figure in red — Grand Schtroumpf (Papa Smurf).
• The issue falls within the 1958 run of Spirou (issues #1029–#1080), which were 32-page full-color magazines in a 28×20 cm format — a standard Dupuis production of the golden age.
• Creator Peyo was an established member of the 'School of Marcinelle,' the influential Franco-Belgian artistic style associated with Spirou magazine, alongside contemporaries such as André Franquin.
• The Smurfs were so popular with readers that Spirou editor Yvan Delporte championed a standalone spin-off, which debuted in Spirou's mini-récit format in 1959 — making this issue the threshold moment between the characters as supporting players and their emergence as a self-sustaining property.
• All subsequent reprintings of the original story were retitled 'La Flûte à six Schtroumpfs,' and the story was adapted into the 1976 animated feature film 'The Smurfs and the Magic Flute,' which brought international attention to the franchise.
• The Hanna-Barbera animated television series (1981–1989), which introduced the Smurfs to American and global audiences, traces its lineage directly back to the characters' Spirou debut, making this issue the foundational publishing event for a multi-decade, multi-media phenomenon.

Full credits

Key issues in Spirou