Pierre Culliford, better known by his pen name Peyo, was a renowned Belgian comics writer and artist. He is best recognized for creating the sword-and-sorcery series "Johan and Peewit" and its spin-off, the adventure comedy series "The Smurfs". Peyo's works have been adapted into numerous animated films and television shows.
Peyo was born in 1928 in Schaerbeek, a municipality within the Brussels-Capital Region. His father was an Englishman, and his mother was Belgian. Peyo received his art training at the "Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts" in Brussels.
In the early stages of his career, Peyo worked for the animation studio "Compagnie belge d'actualités" (CBA). Following World War II, the studio folded, and Peyo decided to pursue a career as a comics artist. He was hired by the sports-oriented newspaper "La Dernière Heure" and later by "Le Soir", where he created the comic strip "Poussy".
Peyo's breakthrough came in 1947 when he created the character Johan, a heroic page of the Middle Ages, for "La Dernière Heure". The character was later transferred to "Le Soir" and became a part of the magazine "Spirou" in 1952. In 1954, Peyo retooled the "Johan" series to "Johan and Peewit", adding a comic-relief sidekick, Peewit, a dwarf.
In 1958, Peyo wrote an adventure story called "The Flute with Six Holes", which introduced the Smurfs, a race of small, blue-skinned creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses. The Smurfs quickly gained popularity, and Peyo created a spin-off comic strip for them. The characters supplanted Johan and Peewit in popularity, and Peyo's studio was tasked with producing Smurf-inspired stories.
In 1963, the first comics album devoted to the Smurfs was published, and it was a huge success. The album ensured the production of further Smurf comics, and by the time of Peyo's death in 1992, 16 comics albums had been completed.
Peyo remained active in the 1970s, but his work output diminished. He did, however, provide a script for the animated film "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute" in 1976 and served as a story supervisor for the animated series "The Smurfs" from 1981 to 1989.
In the 1980s, Peyo authorized an adaptation of his work by the American studio Hanna-Barbera. The series was a huge hit and introduced the Smurfs to a wider international audience.
Until 1989, all Smurf stories were published by Dupuis due to a long-standing contract with Peyo. However, Peyo decided to terminate their business relationship and establish his own publishing house, Cartoon Creation, in 1989. Unfortunately, the company folded due to management problems.
In 1992, the publishing rights to the Smurfs were sold to Le Lombard, and Peyo tried working with his new publisher. However, his career was ending, and he died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve 1992 at the age of 64.
After Peyo's death, his son, Thierry Culliford, continued his father's work, and new Smurfs-related comics albums were published into the 2020s. The popularity of the Smurfs has endured, decades after the demise of their creator.
