Peyo

Peyo
Peyo in 1990
Born	Pierre Culliford (1928-06-25)25 June 1928 Brussels, Belgium
Died	24 December 1992(1992-12-24) (aged 64) Brussels, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Notable works	The Smurfs[1] Johan et Pirlouit Benoît Brisefer
Awards	full list
Signature

Pierre Culliford (25 June 1928 – 24 December 1992), known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.^[2]

Personal life

Peyo was born in 1928 in Brussels, as the son of an English father and a Belgian mother.^[3] On Christmas Eve 1992, Peyo died of a heart attack in Brussels at age 64.

Career

He took on the name "Peyo" early in his professional career, based on an English cousin's mispronunciation of Pierrot (a diminutive form of Pierre).

Peyo began work, fresh from his coursework at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, at the Compagnie Belge d'Animation (CBA), a small Belgian animation studio, where he met a few of his future colleagues and co-celebrities, like André Franquin, Morris and Eddy Paape. When the studio folded after the war, the other artists went to work for Dupuis, but Peyo, a few years younger than the others, was not accepted.^[3] He made his first comics for the newspaper La Dernière Heure (The Latest Hour), but also accepted many promotional drawing jobs for income. From 1949 to 1952, he drew Poussy, a stop comic about a cat, for Le Soir. For the same newspaper, he also created Johan.

In 1952, Franquin introduced Peyo to Spirou, a children's Franco-Belgian comics magazine published by Dupuis.^[3] Peyo wrote and drew a number of characters and storylines, including Pierrot, and Benoît Brisefer (translated into English as Steven Strong). But his favourite was Johan et Pirlouit (translated into English as Johan and Peewit), which was a continuation of the series Johan he had created earlier. He also continued Poussy in Spirou.

Set in the Middle Ages in Europe, Johan et Pirlouit stars a brave young page to the king, and his faithful, if boastful and cheating, midget sidekick. Johan rides off to defend the meek on his trusty horse, while Peewit gallops sporadically behind on his goat, named Biquette. The pair are driven by duty to their king and the courage to defend the underpowered. Peewit only appeared in the third adventure in 1954, but would stay for all later adventures.

Smurfs

The first smurf appeared in Johan and Peewit on 23 October 1958 in the album La Flûte à Six Schtroumpfs (The Six Smurfed Flute). As the smurfs became increasingly popular, Peyo started a studio in the early 1960s, where a number of talented comic artists started to work. Peyo himself supervised the work and worked primarily on Johan and Peewit, leaving the smurfs to the studio. The most notable artists to come out of this studio are Walthéry, Marc Wasterlain, Gos, Derib, Lucien De Gieter, and Daniel Desorgher.

In 1959, the Smurfs got their own series, and in 1960, two more began: Steven Strong and Jacky and Célestin. Many authors of the Marcinelle school collaborated on the writing, or as an artist, including Willy Maltaite (aka 'Will'), Yvan Delporte, and Roger Leloup. Peyo became more of a businessman and supervisor, and was less involved in the actual creation of the comics. He let his son, Thierry Culliford, lead the studio, while his daughter Véronique was responsible for the merchandising (I.M.P.S. was established in 1985 by her).^[3]

The merchandising of the Smurfs began in 1959, with the PVC figurines as the most important aspect until the late 1970s. Then, with the success of The Smurfs records by Pierre Kartner, the Smurfs achieved more international success, with a new boom in toys and gadgets. Some of these reached the United States, where Hanna-Barbera created a Saturday morning animated series in 1981 in which Peyo served as story supervisor. Peyo's health began to fail. In 1989, after his partnership with Dupuis ended, he established Cartoon Creation to publish new Smurf stories. Sadly, in late 1991, the company is forced to shut down due to mismanagement. The publishing rights are soon sold to Le Lombard, of the Smurfs books include only one story ever since. He died at age 64, on Christmas Eve 1992, of a heart attack in Brussels. His studio still exists and new stories for various series are regularly produced under his name.

In the 2011 movie The Smurfs, Peyo was included in the plot as a researcher who studied the myths concerning the Smurfs, who were made to be real-life legendary creatures in the movie's story line.

Bibliography

Only those comics Peyo collaborated on are listed here: the comics made in those series after his death can be found in the articles for each series. Artist and writers mentioned are only those officially credited: unnamed studio collaborators are not listed here.

• Jacky and Célestin, 1960–1978: 10 stories in Le Soir, 4 albums by Dupuis: artwork by François Walthéry, Francis, Jo-El Azara and Mitteï, stories by Peyo, Gos, and Vicq
• Johan and Peewit (Jehan et Pirlouit), 1952-1970: 13 albums by Dupuis
• Natacha, 1992: 1 album by Dupuis, artwork by Walthéry, story by Peyo
• Pierrot: 1991, 1 album by Cartoon Creation
• Poussy, 1977–1978, 3 albums by Dupuis
• The Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs), 1959–1992, 17 albums by Dupuis: additional artwork by Alain Maury and Luc Parthoens, additional stories by Yvan Delporte, Gos, Thierry Culliford
• Spirou et Fantasio, 1969, 1 album by Dupuis, artwork by André Franquin and Jidéhem, story by Peyo and Gos
• Steven Strong (Benoît Brisefer), 1960–1978, 7 albums by Dupuis, additional artwork by Will, Walthéry, Marc Wasterlain and Albert Blesteau, additional stories by Yvan Delporte, Gos, and Blesteau

Awards and honours

• He received the Youth Prize (9-12 years) award 1984 at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France.
• The 50th anniversary of The Smurfs and the 80th anniversary of the birth of its creator, was celebrated by issuing a high-value collectors' coin: the Belgian 5 euro 50th anniversary of The Smurfs commemorative coin, minted in 2008.

Notes

External links

• Peyo biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia, lambiek.net
• Peyo biography, dupuis.com (English)
• Peyo biography The Smurfs official site