Quite literally.
The Smurfs will appear in full for the time a few months later in 1958, looking very much like they always would whenever modern audiences some many decades later would first see them, but this is the very first hint of the mere existence of the Smurfs.
Earlier in 1958, and from the hand of Belgian cartoonist Peyo in his comic strip Johan and Peewit (a human duo fans of the Smurfs cartoon should recall) in the pages of Spirou we can catch a set of eyes peering out.
A set of eyes belonging to a Smurf.
This is the first issue of a set of three that would hint at the Smurfs leading to their first full appearance later in the year. In comics parlance we refer to such appearances as cameos and its especially cool when you consider Peyo is making these comics a few years before Marvel comics existed as Marvel comics and here he is in his weekly comic strip dropping hints at characters or creatures that would go on to be a significant hugely popular cartoon series (over 250 episodes aired – which was an absurd amount for its time), a popular toy line, and a series of films that would include in its credits names like Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Julia Roberts, and Neil Patrick Harris in different iterations, all coming from a long series of books full of these wonderful comics. Peyo had what was not a small licensing empire on his hands
I loved find out that te first glimpse of the Peyo’s Schtroumpf is them actually catching a glimpse of us, It just feels smurfy… err right.
If you enjoyed this check out my blog on the introduction of the Smurf’s most famous enemy: Gargamel and his cat Azrael and the very first time we Peyo took us to Smurf Village!