This one came out in May, and continues the story of the "Schtroumpfs" (original name for the "Smurfs"), created by the late Peyo. It's by artist-writer Tébo, and breathes some welcome new life in to the franchise. HERE are some samples of Tébo's work, and here's BDgest's summary of the new album:
A smurf wakes up in the middle of the village. No one knows him, and he doesn't quite understand the language of the Smurfs. In fact, he's not even sure who he is, and doesn't know what he's doing there. After dealing with the suspicion that Gargamel is behind all this, Papa Smurf gets busy preparing a remedy for this curious amnesia. In the meantime, Smurfette decides to set up an expedition to clear it all up, accompanied by a small group including the newcomer who, for lack of a better word, will call himself "Unknown Smurf."
So I read the album in my beginner-ish French and am happy to say that I found it quite enjoyable and fresh. I must admit that one of my frustrations with Peyo's albums is that despite how lovable the Smurfs are and how amusing their 'language' is, the scenarios, artistry, and expressiveness of the characters are generally quite limited. While yes, adorable, these are essentially kids books that double as all-ages books at best. Which brings me to artist-writer Tébo, who addresses those traditional limitations with a great deal of skill, creativity, and humor.
To give a couple examples-- one of the things I liked in this album is that Smurfette takes a leading role in the adventure, and not just as a pretty face. There's also a fun new character who's effectively "Brawny Smurf," a nice alternative to "Hefty Smurf." But best of all, the little questing party travels to a completely unknown, maze-like realm in the forest, with brand new characters and dangers to contend with. This was a welcome change compared to the routine of idling around the village, with the same old characters repeating cliché jokes and the same old behaviors (lookin' at you, Jokey-Smurf, Lazy-Smurf, Grouchy-Smurf, etc). Another amusing novelty was seeing the normally unflappable, problem-solving Papa Smurf meet his Waterloo, so to speak. Finally, as a special bonus, two semi-famous BD characters play significant roles in the story.
Anyway, let's get to the goods. Here are 12 page samples from the new album at BDgest: [LINK]
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This looks cool! I remember reading some Smurf comics when I was little. I remember them being “kiddy”. Unlike e.g. Tintin or Asterix and Obelix, which I still find charming, I probably wouldn’t read them now, but this looks fun. Is it only available in French?
I honestly don't know much about the publishing-side of things. Still, The Smurfs are a major property, and as such, tend to get published in to a slew of other languages quickly enough.
It's strange, though... this one came out exactly four months ago as of tomorrow, and I'm not sure it's been translated yet. Possibly the legal teams are working out rights issues, or something.
There's also the situation of the late Peyo's son...
Well, according to Wikipedia, this comic is a part of new series, One-shot Schtroumpfs par…, so I can see why it would take longer to translate. (Perhaps they'll translate the comic only if the series sells.)
You say that, but at least Czech translations of Smurf comics seem to be slower than, for example, translations of Asterix and Obelix or Tintin. All the Tintin episodes have been translated for a long time, and new Asterix and Obelix episodes are translated with a year’s delay. I wonder if it's because the market for kid comics is quite saturated here by local production.
Thanks for the info. In the English WP page this album isn't mentioned at all, and at BDgest, I'm not seeing any info as to whether this is indeed a one shot or if Tébo will be doing more of these. So... hmm.
One thing I totally forgot about is that the last Smurf album was published in 1992, so quite likely such a huge gap contributes to a delay in translation. You know, compared to titles like LL and Asterix, which are churned out on a semi-yearly basis like a well-oiled machine.