Three apples high and able to eat berries without ruining their white clothes, The Smurfs are a pretty amazing bunch. But when they first debuted, they were all boys… until La Schtroumpfette! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Les Schtroumpfs #3 awaits!

LES SCHTROUMPFS #3

Writer:  Pierre Culliford (as Peyo)
Translation: Yvan Delporte & Joe Johnson (Translation)
Penciler: Pierre Culliford (as Peyo)
Inker: Pierre Culliford (as Peyo)
Colorist: Nine Culliford
Letterer: Uncredited
Publisher: Éditions Dupuis S.A.
Cover Price:
Current Near-Mint Pricing:
Release Date: March 16, 1967

Previously in Les Schtroumpfs: In 1958, Peyo (real name Pierre Culliford) was the successful cartoonist behind Johan and Peewit, a nebulously-Middle-Ages story wherein a bard and a squire walk the Earth having adventures. During one such adventure, they encountered a Schtroumpf, a tiny blue creature presumably named for the sound it might make if you stepped on them. (SCHTROUMPF) The tiny forest dwellers appeared in the next few editions of Johan and Peewit’s own stories before their first album arrived in 1963. King Smurf followed in 1965, but both those volumes featured a sorcerer named Gargamel, who needed a Smurf as an ingredient to create the Philosopher’s Stone. By the time of this third volume, he’s been foiled twice and is now ready for a little revenge.
I’m glad he chose not to burn down the forest, as that seems a little dark for a kid’s comic. Having grown up with siblings who watched the Smurfs’ cartoon adventures (and only one TV set in the house), I was immediately struck by the fact that Gargamel’s design is exactly the same here as it was on TV. The art is also full of detail and little bits of business, which makes this a fun volume to read. Gathering the bits and pieces necessary to bring a woman to life (which is… not good), Gargamel sets his hermunculus loose in the forest to find a Smurf to manipulate.

Things get a little bit uncomfortable from here, as she begins plying the various Smurfs with her “feminine wiles,” causing rifts between the various Smurfs. Papa Smurf tries to get answers about her origins, but she continually brushes him off, thanking her various big, strong saviors for bringing her in from the cold. The next day, all the Smurfs are hard at work building a dam. Smurfette is an immediate distraction, endlessly questioning Papa Smurf, asking why the dam can’t be pink, and even injuring one of her new friends with a hammer that she insists she’s not strong enough to lift. She even tries to pull a lever that will open the sluice gates and flood the village, with Papa Smurf barely stopping her in time. The other Smurfs tire of her antics, eventually altering her clothing and messing with her mirror to make her feel fat.

Remember, folks, sexism isn’t funny.

After a little plastic smurfery, she is beautiful and blonde and causing havoc once more.

After nearly causing the demise of the entire village, she lets it slip that she was sent by Gargamel, leading Papa Smurf to place her under smurf arrest and convene a tribunal. The Smurfette must be judged.

After being acquitted (since only prosecutor Brainy Smurf was willing to consider that someone so pretty could be anything but honest), Smurfette realizes that she has brought only chaos to the village and chooses to leave to try and restore balance to the Smurfs.

But Papa Smurf is ready to get a little revenge on Gargamel.

As he is chased through the forest, the sorcerer declares that he will get his own revenge, and the cycle of senseless violence continues. There’s a second story, The Hungry Smurfs, wherein the little blue folk invade a local castle looking for food, which is fun and has a cute final stinger joke, and I’m actually glad to have something to take the edge of the sixties misogyny of the lead tale. The upshot of Les Schtroumpfs #3 is that, without the unpleasant sexist bits, it would be a perfect volume in art and story, but even with that complaint, it’s still a book worthy of 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. As a kid, I had no interest in the cute-and-fluffy adventures of The Smurfs, but as an adult comics fan, even I can’t deny that this is a charming premise and a fun cast.

Dear Spoilerite,

At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.