Johan and Peewit explained

Johan and Peewit
Foreigntitle:Johan et Pirlouit
Publisher:Dupuis and Le Lombard
Date:1947-2001
Issues:17
Main Char Team:Johan and Peewit
Creator:Peyo
Writers:Peyo and Studio Peyo
Artists:Peyo and Studio Peyo
Origpublication:Spirou magazine
Origlanguage:French
Next:The Smurfs

Johan and Peewit (French: '''Johan et Pirlouit''', pronounced as /ʒoˈan e piʁˈlwi/) is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo and named after the two main characters. Since its initial appearance in 1947, it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic book creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories.

The series is set in Medieval Europe, and mainly concerns the adventures of Johan, a young squire and his jester sidekick Peewit, and includes elements of sword-and-sorcery. It is also notable for branching out into The Smurfs franchise, following their first introduction in the 1958 story The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.

Publication history

Initially titled simply Johan, the series first appeared in the newspaper La Dernière Heure in 1947 and then in Le Soir from 1950 until 1952. It began publication in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou on 11 September 1952[1] and the initially blond-haired hero became dark-haired.[2]

In 1954, Johan was joined by Pirlouit, and the series took its final name. It was in Johan et Pirlouit, on 23 October 1958, that the first smurf appeared.[3]

Peyo stated that Pirlouit was his favourite character,[4] and Johan et Pirlouit was the only series on which he always did the drawings without the aid of the studio. Their adventures appeared regularly in Spirou in the 1950s and early 1960s, but the success of the Smurfs meant that they were much neglected afterwards, aside from a very short one-off adventure in 1977. However, following Peyo's death, other artists and writers have revived the series with 4 more albums between 1994 and 2001.

Synopsis

Set in the Middle Ages in an unnamed European kingdom, the series follows the adventures of Johan, a brave young page to the King, and Peewit, his faithful, if boastful and cheating, midget sidekick. Johan rides off in search of adventure with his trusty horse Bayard, while Peewit gallops sporadically, and grudgingly, behind on his goat, Biquette. The pair are driven by duty to their King and the courage to defend the underpowered. Struggles for power between deposed lords and usurping villains form the basis of many of the plots which also contain elements of detective fiction as the pair hunt down traitors and outlaws, as well as fantasy, with witches and sorcerers, giants, ghosts and, above all, the Smurfs.

The first few adventures did not feature Peewit. From his first appearance in 1947, Johan had a number of solo adventures and met Peewit in 1954, thus, in line with many other comic series of the time, giving Johan's earnest hero a comic relief sidekick similar to Tintin's Captain Haddock, Lucky Luke's Rantanplan, Asterix's Obelix, or Spirou's Fantasio.

Characters

The Smurfs appear in several stories as Johan and Peewit's allies. While the Smurfs have their own series, adventures with their two human friends remain part of the "Johan and Peewit" series. Papa Smurf's knowledge of magic is especially helpful.

Merchandising

While never as popular as the Smurfs, Johan and certainly Peewit enjoyed their share of fame and popularity as well, and consequently some merchandising was made. In 1959, a first Peewit figurine was made by Dupuis, followed a few years later by a Johan. In the 1970s, Bully and Schleich made Johan and Peewit figurines in their series of PVC Smurf figurines. Plush puppets were made as well.

In other media and comics

Stories and English translations

Few of Johan and Peewit's adventures have been published in English: La Flûte à six Schtroumpfs as The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (Hodder and Stoughton UK, 1979, Random House USA, 1983 and Papercutz USA, 2010), La guerre des sept fontaines as The War of the Seven Springs (Papercutz USA, 2013), and La Flèche noire under the title The Black Arrow (Fantasy Flight Publishing USA, 1995).[8]

Below is a list of the French titles, their year of publication, an English translation of the titles and a brief description.

The first 13 albums were published by Dupuis; those that came afterwards were published by Le Lombard.

As well as Spirou magazine, some of the shorter stories, like Sortilèges au château, were published in Risque-Tout (French for "Daredevil") which came from the same publishers.

Johan's adventures published in newspapers prior to his appearing in Spirou are not included.

French TitleDate of PublicationEnglish TranslationWriterArtist

Other languages

Johan and Peewit appeared in different other languages, of which the ones below with their corresponding names.

See also

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dupuis Publishing. Peyo.
  2. http://www.lambiek.net/artists/p/peyo.htm Lambiek.net entry on Peyo
  3. Web site: BDoubliées. Spirou année 1958. French.
  4. Web site: Le Centre Belge de la Bande dessinée . Peyo forever . French . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070930195433/http://old.rtbf.be/rtbf_2000/bin/view_something.cgi?id=0074663_article&header=none&file=print.html . 2007-09-30 .
  5. La horde du corbeau, published in 1994.
  6. Hold-up sur pellicule, written by Thierry Culliford and drawn by Pascal Garray, published in 1993.
  7. L'île de la désunion, written and drawn by Pascal Garray, published in 1993.
  8. Web site: Euro-comics: English translations. Johan and Peewit.