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Not to be confused with the 1963 album version of the story, The Black Smurfs (comic book)

"The Black Smurfs" is the first story of the original French-language The Smurfs comic book series that was sold only in Belgium created by Peyo, it is published for the first time in n° 1107 in the Spirou newspaper in the form of a mini-story in 1959.

Unlike the 1963 album version of the story, there were some differences that never got into the 1963 album version of the story, and it doesn't contain any other stories in this print.

Characters[]

Plot[]

NOTE: The plot has some information taken from what the characters are saying in the story.

The story begins with the Smurfs gather to work on the bridge crossing the river in the forest, Papa Smurf spots one of them dozing off and sends him into the forest to cut a pole in the forest. As he works on chopping down his first tree, that Smurf gets stung by a fly known as the Bzz Fly that turns his skin jet black, drives him insane, and reduces his vocabulary to the single word "gnap!".

Papa Smurf becomes concerned when that Smurf fails to return and sends an unnamed Smurf, to go find him. No sooner does the Smurf find him, though, that he quickly returns to Papa Smurf, telling him that that Smurf has turned black. Papa Smurf becomes fearful, realizing that that Smurf has been infected by the Bzz fly. The Smurf spots the transformed Smurf hopping his way to the village. They chase after him and capture him, binding him in rope. After Papa Smurf tells some of his little Smurfs to take the captured black Smurf to his house, he tells the others of a similar case of this disease occurred when he was 108 years old, but now he can't remember what the composition of the remedy that he used.

However, the captured black Smurf doesn't stay bound for long. After breaking his bonds, he spots a normal Smurf outside his house and bites his tail, turning that Smurf black as well. As he watches the two black Smurfs hop into the forest, Papa Smurf sees that he needs to find the antidote. He tells his little Smurfs not to disturb him as he spends the night working on a possible cure for the black Smurfs, which was a green pill.

By morning, Papa Smurf sends some Smurfs to capture one, though in the process, another Smurf gets bitten while trying to capture one, getting caught in his own lasso. This results in some Smurfs capturing the new changed one. Papa Smurf tries his cure on the captive though it fails as it only causes him to faint. It was a mistake, however, to release him, as Papa Smurf sends a Smurf to carry him back to his house, but the black Smurf wakes up and escapes by biting the Smurf's tail who in turn infects a bystander.

He and the new transformed Smurfs went back to the forest to escape capture. Then, Papa Smurf decides to make another possible cure, which is ointment. The next day, none of the Smurfs want to get another black Smurf, so Papa Smurf sends three Smurfs out to get one. They capture a black Smurf as one of them acts as bait while the others knock it out with a rock. They return with it and Papa Smurf pours and rubs the ointment on the black Smurf's head, which causes it to break its bonds. Papa Smurf then runs for cover as a bunch of black Smurfs hop out of his laboratory and into the forest... all except for one which is knocked out and dragged back inside Papa Smurf's laboratory so that Papa Smurf can attempt to find a possible cure, though he escapes as well.

Having no other option, Papa Smurf and his remaining Smurfs leave to capture the Bzz fly as fifteen of them (sixteen at the point during Papa Smurf's talk) are now infected. However, some of the Smurfs end up capturing other animals, while the infected keep adding to their numbers. Eventually, Papa Smurf captures the Bzz fly; however, he fails to get a cure from it, which causes problems. As time is running out each day, dozens of Smurfs are getting infected, until they are only about a handful left. Papa Smurf then decides to give it a tuberose flower to eat, which causes it to sneeze and turn blue. Realizing the cure is tuberose pollen, he and a Smurf go out to test it on a black Smurf and it works! They get all the flowers, and they take the flowers home.

Meanwhile, the first black Smurf and leader of the transformed Smurfs sneaks into the village and overhears this, so to avoid being sprayed with the antidote, he paints himself blue. After giving all the remaining Smurfs their bellows that contain the antidote, they prepare to battle the black Smurfs. However, a swarm of all the infected Smurfs appear into the village and attack. It becomes a disaster, for if a black Smurf was cured, he is immediately bitten again. Also, the fake blue Smurf turns the favor over to his side by biting some of the Smurfs with bellows.

This changes the playing field as this enables his transformed brethren to turn the last remaining Smurfs black -- all except for Papa Smurf, who is now out of pollen. The village leader runs to his laboratory to get more of the antidote when the leader who painted himself blue ambushed him. This fails as he knocks over a lamp, causing a fire in Papa Smurf's house. While Papa Smurf is trying to douse the flames, the leader bites him. Knowing all hope is lost, he tells the reader this as the village leader turns black as well. Fortunately, an explosion occurs that also sprays the pollen in the air turning the black Smurfs into their happy blue selves, and decided to throw a celebration, ending the story.

Trivia[]

  • This comic marks the first appearance of Grouchy (in his pre-Grouchy state) and Dopey (whom he was initially unnamed).

Comparisons between the original 1959 print and the revised 1963 album print[]

  • Jokey and Brainy were not introduced in the original 1959 print.
    • However, Brainy appears in the 1961 animated adaptation of the story (the 1961 version of "The Black Smurfs" is the first time Brainy wore glasses in any Smurf media, predating then), the revised 1963 album print, and the 1981 animated adaptation of the story.
  • The Bzz fly originally had yellow eyes in this print instead of white.
  • There were some sequences in the print that never got into the 1963 album print, such as close-ups of the Bzz fly preparing to bite a Smurf who was trying to swat the Bzz fly, and the Smurf (who was sent by Papa Smurf) being punched onscreen by a black Smurf that was bitten by the Bzz fly.
  • There were some characters who are miscolored in this print, this mistake was corrected in the 1963 album print. This was eventually resolved in later re-releases of the comic.
  • The sequences in the original 1959 print, has slightly different illustrations compared to the revised 1963 print.

See Also[]

The link to the original print: http://www.inedispirou.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2848

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