Johan and Peewit - in Other Media and Comics

In Other Media and Comics

Originally a Johan and Peewit adventure, The Smurfs and the Magic Flute was adapted into an animated film in 1976 in Europe, with considerable success. It was re-released in 1983 in the wake of the success of the Smurfs cartoons from Hanna-Barbera, and enjoyed some success in the USA as well.

Johan and Peewit were also featured in some of the animated Smurf cartoons, being the main stars in many episodes. In France their TV cartoon adventures were treated as a separate series from that of the Smurfs, even though the latter feature heavily.

In the early 1980s, some records about their adventures were made in France and Italy, contributors including Cristina D'Avena.

Another Peyo series was Benoît Brisefer (best known in English as "Steven Strong") about a little boy with extraordinary strength. Benoît's adventures are set in modern times. In one episode a man strongly resembling Johan can be seen signing into a luxury hotel near a film studio — he even wears a brown jacket and red trousers smiliar to Johan's; in another, Benoît reads a newspaper which appears to indicate the announcement of a film called Johan: The Return II with a photo of Johan next to it.

When the Smurfs got their own series, Johan and Peewit did not feature. However, they did appear in a 2008 Smurf adventure called Les schtroumpfeurs de flûte (French: "The Flute Smurfers"). This story, published to mark the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of the Smurfs, is a prequel to La flûte à six schtroumpfs (published in English as "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute") and tells how the Smurfs first deliver the flute which was to be the basis of the 1958 story. Johan and Peewit help out a human friend of the Smurfs, but do not actually get to meet the little blue elves themselves.