Smurf Samplers written and illustrated by Rich Rodriguez Newport Muse Studio Whittier, California August to December 2013 SMURFS characters © Studio Peyo 2013. Smurf movie characters © 2013 Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. This is a fan-made collection of original stories featuring the Smurfs characters, which are copyrighted by their respective owners. This e-book may not be sold or distributed for commercial purposes, and may be removed from circulation at the owners' request. To smurfy friends old and new, we re-introduce ourselves to you... Once upon a time, long ago, in a wooded forest, lived happy little creatures called Smurfs. They were good, living in harmony with nature and lending a helping hand to all creatures great and small. But there also lived an evil wizard named Gargamel. He was BAAAAAAD!!! Why he hated the Smurfs so much, not even his Mummy knew. But he was committed to getting them if it was the last thing he ever did. Now the forest is still there. And if you listen very carefully, you might still hear Gargamel yelling in anger. And, if you're good, you just might catch a glimpse of US... The Smurfs! Introduction This e-book is a collection of original comic strips, drawings and animation-style expression sheets of the Smurfs, those little blue characters created by the late Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, better known by his pen name Peyo. In recent years they've had a revival in pop culture thanks to the motion pictures The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2 from Sony Pictures Studios. I found myself caught up in the latest wave of smurfmania when I was at a local McDonald's near John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California after work. The restaurant chain was promoting its "Smurfs 2" Happy Meal and on the in-store video channel a clip from the original "Despicable Me" was playing where the Minions were disco dancing to Boogie Fever. A giant photo of Smurfette standing next to three stacked apples was on the window, and I thought, why not have her dance to the same song? I started sketching some drawings of the little lady doing "Saturday Night Fever" dance moves for a Flash animation that I later made into a story reel or animatic. Next thing I knew, I was coming up with some original stories for the rest of the Smurfs, I sought out a place online to share the cartoons, a student at my alma mater Chapman University recommended I open an account on DeviantArt to showcase and sell my original non-Smurf art, and the rest is history. These drawings are called "Smurf Samplers" because they are mainly one to two-page gag stories in the tradition of the "Smurferies" or short interludes Peyo drew in his original French- language Smurf comic books. In these stories I freely bring together the classic Smurf comic and TV characters with their newer brethren from the recent films and DVD's. Vexy, one of the new Smurf movie characters, hangs out with Grandpa, Nanny and the Smurflings. Narrator gets shouted down by the Smurflings when he fills in for Grandpa at kiddie storytime. Hackus gives Greedy some serious competition in the eating department. And so forth. Whether it's the high profile of the little critters from the films, the continued airing of the original Hanna-Barbera TV series on cable, the intermixing of the various properties, or all of the above, I've been pleasantly shocked and surprised at how well these cartoons have been received. If you are new to these little blue creatures, welcome. And if you grew up on them as I did and are rediscovering your childhood friends... welcome home. A Fan's Eye View... This section explains the deviations and spins I give the Smurfs and their friends in my stories —a fan's eye view, if you will. I try very hard to keep the characters in the familiar setting of the classic Hanna-Barbera TV series, with the newer characters from the Sony Pictures films and videos added in. My experience to date is that a lot of online Smurf fans love the intermixing of the different universes. Papa Smurf 542 years old as of last spring, Papa Smurf is the leader of the Smurfs, identified by his red hat and trousers. As in the TV series and films, he is always level-headed, calm and always knows just the right thing to smurf when things go wrong. I always liked his familiar "heh-heh-heh" laugh as voiced by Don Messick on the TV show, and that shows up regularly in my fan art. In my original stories he has two assistants instead of just one: Smurfette joins Brainy in Papa Smurf's lab, a nod to her elevated role in the films as the #2 Smurf in the village. When Brainy agitates Papa with his “As Papa Smurf always says...” to other Smurfs right in his presence, Papa is not above sternly replying “Brainy... shut up!” As a benevolent wizard in his own right, he is an ex-officio member of The Most Ancient and Noble Order of Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches and All Other Affiliated Arts (The Sorcerers' Order) and is held in high esteem despite his small size. Sir Culliford, the nit picky sergeant-at-arms, is a close friend. Smurfette The first female Smurf created by Peyo, for the longest time the only girl, and hands down the most popular and beloved Smurf of all time. She's pretty, feminine, feisty, a busybody, and full of surprises. Don't let her batting eyes and bombshell looks fool you into thinking she's a pushover. Originally a damsel in distress, over the years she has thankfully been toughened up through her portrayals by voice actress Lucille Bliss and pop star Katy Perry in their respective TV and film roles. In my stories she is the confident but modest second-ranking Smurf in the village, similar to her role in the films. She is Papa Smurf's personal secretary, keeps the lab neat and organized, assists in carrying out the village rules, helps Papa in his experiments and research, and is the interim leader when Papa must be away on trips. She hates being called the second-in- command, as Brainy often does in a derisive manner; she prefers to be called an assistant because she doesn't like being puffed up or bragged on for an everyday job she likes doing. When it comes to being adored for her looks, however... well, that's just another subject and none of your smurf! ;) Vexy A fiery, hot-tempered tomboy with an adventurous spirit and a caring heart underneath it all. Created with her twin brother Hackus by the evil wizard Gargamel as his little Naughties to wreak havoc on the Smurfs, they escaped his control and together became true Smurfs. She's a wild one, but to her fans she's so cute! In my stories Vexy has undergone some changes, most notably the change in hair color from black with blue streaks to dark brown (I think she looks cuter that way while still being a little rebel). And since new personality as a Smurf is still something of a blank slate, I take advantage of that and build on her tomboy nature. She is surly, blunt, a heavy coffee drinker and easily vexes the the other Smurfs' tempers (hence her name), but that is just her personality. On the other smurf, she's also agile, athletic, unusually strong and can level things to the ground with an echoing "super smurfy yell"... a permanent but fun side effect of the powerful smurfiness potion Gargamel cooked up in The Smurfs 2. She and Smurfette are best friends despite their opposite personalities. In the village she works as Handy Smurf's apprentice in his workshop and has a knack for fixing things. She may be a wild one, but once you earn her trust, you have a friend for life. All the Smurflings look up to her and have adopted her as their very own smurfy aunty. She adds a lot of spark and energy to the village with her presence, and all the Smurfs love their new tough and smurfy kid sister! Hackus In the Smurf Village, Hackus is not only Vexy's twin brother, but he is proud to be the village idiot. That should clue you in to his silly personality. Something must have went wrong when Gargamel created him, because where Vexy has both brawns and brains, he doesn't seem to have a grasp on how to use either, though he tries his smurfiest to be helpful. On top of that, he is perpetually hungry, and he gives Greedy Smurf serious competition in the bottomless- pit department. Hackus is quite helpful despite his shortcomings. He helps fellow he-smurfs Gutsy and Hefty in the heavy manual labor around the village, but he's basically a bulked-up Clumsy who needs constant supervision. Hackus is proud of being "perfessionally stupid" because it's the one thing he's good at. Even so, like Clumsy he's always the optimist and sees the smurfiest in everyone. And he looks so cute with that gap-toothed grin! Vexy is his protector as well as his twin and takes down anysmurf who would exploit or make fun of him. Gargamel You have five seconds to boo and hiss the villain. (Thank you.) Gargamel is the sworn enemy of the Smurfs, obsessed with their destruction, consumption and conversion to gold (all at the same time)--and a hopelessly inept wizard who is the shame and disgrace of his long-suffering Mummy.