I had little knowledge of the Smurfs history outside of them being from Belgium, they were “three apples high” and blue. I knew the cartoon of the 1980s, but at the time unaware of its
comic/graphic novel background. This collection, The Smurfs Tales #1: The Smurfs and the Bratty Kid by Peyo tells a little of the behind the story (in afterwards that was previously used as an introduction in other collections) but is mostly separate comics. And it starts from where the company producing them left off.
The first story starts on what seems to be a continuation story plot point (but is a standalone story) and the style of the writing is such as this must be from the original 1950s stories. This is due to the fact a second story that the Smurfs cameo in has some stereotypes that would not be allowed today. No, this book is not politically correct (in this second story the villains are a cross between Native American/Chinese stereotypes and of course the issues with how Smurfette is portrayed and treated). This first story is how the Smurfs deal with a human who is a (wait for it) Bratty Kid. (No surprise there.) Of course, it all works out in the end. And only a few Smurf houses are damaged in the process. In the middle of the collection, there are comic strip jokes of the Smurfs and the final story is about the characters that are non-Smurf but who actually started it all. The illustrations are typical of the Smurfs (colorful, crowded and tell a part of the story that you do not see in the text, yet are not overly detailed at the same time). The language can be difficult at times as Smurfs like to insert the word Smurf wherever it serves a point. Or doesn’t serve a point, just seemed like a good idea at the time.
Overall, this is for someone trying to capture a piece of their youth, wants to learn a little about comics that came before (in many ways The Smurfs and Peyo helped to start what we know as comics/graphic novels) and who can understand the implications of what is being read.
