InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I think I'm a bunny"

dr_hermes (dr_hermes) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-30 22:14:00

What the smurfing smurf is going on here?

A sizeable gap in my cultural awareness is my lack of knowledge about the Smurfs. Until I came across these covers for the German editions, I hadn't even noticed that they have short stubby tails sticking out of a hole in their trousers. All I knew about these folk was the gag "Where do baby Smurfs come from?" (answer, "Smucking.") But these covers are intriguing and appealing enough to make me want to check the series out. (I do know that "smurfs" is just the American name for these critters, and they were created by a Belgian named Deyo. Well, that and the merchandising which was huge for a while, and which you would have to make an effort not to have noticed. I still liked the Troll dolls better.)

This looks vaguely obscene to me. I'm just saying.

Ritual cannibalism appears to be part of Smurf culture, with the victims going to their fates willingly as Aztec maidens thrown in the sacrificial wells or 18-year-old boys getting drafted to fight overseas.

Obviously waiting for the DNA tests to come back.

Getting beat black and blue was never more literally true.

So, if a Smurf drowns, does he turn purple, or what?

(Post a new comment)

	ashtoreth 2009-04-30 09:38 pm UTC (link)
	Hm. I was told Smurfs were created when people went into the Black Forest and were very blue. :) (Reply to this)

	foxhack 2009-04-30 09:44 pm UTC (link)
	I thought it was Peyo. Also, the Black Smurfs bite regular Smurfs' tail thing and then they turn Black too. I think they actually turned purple in the cartoon. Wonder why... :p (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-04-30 09:48 pm UTC (link)
	It is Peyo, not "Deyo." (I was thinking of calypso music all day.) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-04-30 09:57 pm UTC (link)
	puts on the Beetlejuice soundtrack album for you (Reply to this) (Parent)

	crinosg 2009-04-30 11:26 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, I thought it was a smurf equivalent of a drow elf. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-01 12:51 am UTC (link)
	Because race relations in America are a dead horse, that's why! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	benicio127 2009-05-01 12:14 am UTC (link)
	WHEEEEEEEEEE!! Smurfs (aka Schtroumpfs) : Belgium's third best export, after chocolate and beer. We need some scans of Gargamel and Azrael the cat, too. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tahngarth 2009-05-01 03:54 am UTC (link)
	Fourth best export. It goes Chocolate, beer, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Smurfs. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-05-01 09:34 am UTC (link)
	Belgium's third best export, after chocolate and beer. Ummm I'd certainly rank Tintin above the beer, oh and Hercule Poirot deserves an honourary mention (He may have been written by an English Woman, but he was based on a Belgian man she had met during WWI so I'd say he counts) (Reply to this) (Parent)

ulf_boehnke
2009-05-01 04:29 am UTC (link)

Just some translations:
First book: "Smurfy stories"

Second book: "The magic egg and the smurfs"
(bit of a pun there: "Die Zauberei" is a noun for magic)
Subtitles: "The fake/wrong smurf", "the hundredth smurf"

Third book: "The smurf soup"

Fourth book: "The smurf baby" (duh) "and three other smurfy stories"

Fifth book: "Bluesmurfs and blacksmurfs"
(Blue smurfs and black smurfs would be "Blaue Schlümpfe und Schwarze Schlümpfe")
Subtitles: "The flying smurf" "The smurf thief" (not sure if it's about someone who is stealing smurfs or a smurf who is also a thief)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-05-01 05:00 am UTC (link)
	A Smurf who is also a thief, IIRC. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	psychop_rex 2009-05-01 04:36 am UTC (link)
	...There is a walking sausage wearing a Smurf hat. THERE IS A WALKING SAUSAGE WEARING A SMURF HAT. How this thing did not get its own series, I'll never know. Who WOULDN'T read about the wacky adventures of a walking sausage wearing a Smurf hat? (Reply to this)

	arilou_skiff 2009-05-01 05:01 am UTC (link)
	Interesting enough I never read much Smurfs. I dead read a lot of the medieval adventure comics they debuted (?) in though. Can't recall the dutch title though, "Johann & ... Something?" Because it had swordfights. And as a kid I'd read ANYTHING with swordfights. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	yotsuba123 2009-05-01 06:06 am UTC (link)
	Wasn't that Peewit? Or did he have a different name in the original series. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-05-01 09:36 am UTC (link)
	English version "Peewit", Belgian version "Pirlouit" Peewit was one of those character I know I was supposed to find amusing, but I just found him so bloody annoying I was wishing painful and swift death on him every time he appeared. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashenmote 2009-05-01 06:43 am UTC (link)
	But the best one is missing, "Schlumpfissimus, König der Schlümpfe", or King Smurf. I learned aproximately 35 % of all things I needed to know about life from that book. (Reply to this)

	besamim 2009-05-01 09:38 am UTC (link)
	I remember the PVC Smurf miniatures craze back in the early 80s. Yes, they've been produced almost continuously since the mid-sixties, but at the time my younger brother got into collecting them, there were like a zillion different ones: Skiing Smurf, Tennis Smurf, Spy Smurf, you name it, there was a Smurf for it. (Reply to this)