Johan and Peewit

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Johan and Peewit (in French Johan et Pirlouit) is a Belgian comic created by Peyo. It appeared from 1948 in Belgian newspaper Le Soir and from 1952 on in Spirou, and 13 albums appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of cartoonists (Studio Peyo) have continued publishing adventures. Set in the middle ages in Europe, the comic tells the adventures of Johan, a brave young page to the king, and Peewit (pronounced Pee-Wee), 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. The first few adventures did not feature Peewit; he was the main character of the third album and remained in the series from then on.

"Johan and Peewit" was the favourite series of Peyo himself and the only one on which he did the drawings without the aid of the studio until his death.

It was in "Johan et Pirlouit", on 23 October 1958, that the first smurf appeared.

[edit] Albums

The titles given are translations of the original French titles. The first 13 albums were edited by Dupuis, the last 4 by Le Lombard. The years given are the years of the first album publication and not of the original first magazine publication.

The defeat of Basenhau (1954)
The master of Roucybeuf (1954)
The dwarf of the rocky forest (1956)
The Moonstone (1956)
The oath of the Vikings (1957)
The source of the gods (1957)
The black arrow (1959)
The lord of Montrésor (1960)
The flute with 6 smurfs (1960)
The war of the seven fountains (1961)
The ring of Castellac (1962)
The unblessed land (1964)
The witchcraft of Maltrochu (1970)
The clan of the Raven (1994)
The minstrels of Roc-à-Pic (1995)
The night of the sorcerers (1998)
The rose of the sand (2001)

[edit] 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 1970's, Bully and Schleich made Johan and Peewit figurines in their series of PVC Smurf figurines. Plush puppets were made as well.

The album "The flute with 6 Smurfs" was turned into a movie in 1976 in Europe, with considerable success, and was rereleased in 1983 hot on the heels of the success of the Smurfs cartoons from Hanna-Barbera, and enjoyed some success in the USA as well. Johan and Peewit also starred in some of those cartoons.

Also in the early 1980's, some records about their adventures were made in France and Italy.