Smurf Soup

Smurf Soup (original French title: La Soupe aux Schtroumpfs) is the tenth album of the original French-language Smurfs comic series created by Belgian artist Peyo.

Apart from the titular story, it contains several one-page Smurf gags.

Plot

Brainy Smurf and two other Smurfs wander through the forest. When they are near Gargamel's house, they see a giant arriving. The giant introduces himself to Gargamel as Bigmouth and tells he's hungry. Gargamel, driven by fear to Bigmouth, gives him some soup, but Bigmouth is still hungry and tries to eat Azrael, though Gargamel stops him, and noticing that Bigmouth would eat anything (even candles), uses him as a tool in his vengeance against the Smurfs, offering to get him some to make a soup. Luckily the three Smurfs hear this and go to the Smurf Village to warn Papa Smurf.

On their way to find the village, Gargamel and Bigmouth separate and Bigmouth follows a Smurf riding a stork to the village. There, Papa Smurf makes a plan. He makes the Smurfs behave very polite to Bigmouth and offers to make the Smurf soup he wants.

Papa Smurf makes many Smurfs distract Bigmouth (a band with music, Poet Smurf with an ode to Bigmouth, Brainy Smurf with some moral phrases, and so on) while he prepares a cream that prevents burnings.

The following day, Papa Smurf secretly calls four Smurfs. They apply the cream to themselves and then jump to the boiling water, where the cream (about which Bigmouth does not know) protects them. Papa Smurf sends Bigmouth after more wood to the fire, and while he's out, the four Smurfs leave the water, a formula is applied to it, and four Smurf costumes are thrown to make Bigmouth believe the Smurfs dissolved. When Bigmouth returns and drinks the soup, he becomes a blue monster (due to the formula), and Papa Smurf tricks him into believe that was the effect of drinking Smurf soup and that Gargamel knew all along.

Right then Gargamel arrives. He catches some Smurfs, but they aren't worried because they know Bigmouth is mad at Gargamel. When Gargamel sees blue Bigmouth, he releases the Smurfs and tries to run, but Bigmouth catches him and everybody goes to Gargamel's house to see him try to make an antidote to Bigmouth. Papa Smurf carries a little box.

All of Gargamel's tries for an antidote fail, making Bigmouth angrier, who then destroys most of Gargamel's lab. At the end, Gargamel asks Papa Smurf for help. Papa Smurf opens his box, takes a little sarsaparilla leaf, and Bigmouth eats it and returns to normal.

At the end, the Smurfs return to the village when Azrael tries to catch one of them. This Smurf calls Bigmouth, and even though Bigmouth doesn't answer, Azrael runs away in fear.

Publication and Other Media

• "Smurf Soup" was adapted as "Soup A la Smurf" for the Hanna-Barbera TV series. Smurfette, absent from the comicbook story, appears in the animated version.