By Peyo
Publisher: Papercutz
ISBN: 978-1-859707-250-2
Another original Smurf book reprinted for the English-speaking market, and this time it's the turn of the Astrosmurf to take centre stage. The Astrosmurf dreams of travelling to new worlds and is captivated by the night sky. He decides to build himself the means to get there, so behind a large screen he constructs himself a wooden rocket, waves his friends goodbye and climbs into the cockpit. Alas, his knowledge of propulsion doesn't extend beyond pedal-power, so after an hour of furious pedalling he climbs down, defeated and dejected. Feeling sorry for him, Papa Smurf has a bright idea that uses the interior of a volcano some distance away. They slip Astrosmurf a sleeping potion before encouraging him to climb into the cockpit and try again, take apart the rocket, move everything lock, stock and barrel to the volcano and put it all back together again. When Astrosmurf awakens that evening he appears to have arrived on a new world…
This story involves the rest of the Smurfs taking a potion to make them into alien Smurfs, or Swoofs, who look like little Neolithic green versions of themselves. Earlier editions of this book have them coloured brown, so it looks like that may have caused some problems with past printings. I have to say I prefer them green.
The back of the book features The Smurf Submarine, a shorter story featuring Gargamel. As in a previous Papercutz collection, the artwork doesn't look like Peyo's, but whether that's because he had a team of underlings working for him at this stage or his style changed with age, it lacks the fluidity and friendliness of the main story. That aside, it's OK, but if you're going to buy this book it'll be for the main Astrosmurf tale which is worth the cover price in its own right.
And if you like that: Don't spoil it by seeing the movie
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