The Smurfnapper (comic story)

The Smurfnapper is the second story of the original French-language The Smurfs comic book series and was part of the Little Comics Collection sub-series that was sold only in Belgium created by Peyo, it is published for the first time in issue 1130 of the Spirou publication on December 10, 1959.   The story sees the official introduction of the franchise's main antagonists, Gargamel and Azrael, and how they have come in major conflict with the Smurfs from this point forward; what is notable is that Azrael was originally a female character before being retconned into a male character.   The story also sees the introduction of Brainy Smurf, whom at the time was originally an indistinguishable Smurf who would not wear his trademark glasses at the time until The Flying Smurf.

Characters

 * Gargamel (first appearance)
 * Azrael (first appearance)
 * Papa Smurf
 * Brainy Smurf (first appearance)
 * Generic Smurfs

Plot
A reclusive sorcerer named Gargamel wants to create the Philosopher's Stone that turns base metals into gold, and his book says that one of the ingredients is a Smurf. After finding out what a Smurf is, and that his favorite food is sarsaparilla, he goes with his cat Azrael to install a trap in the woods.

The next day, two Smurfs go out into the forest to look for nuts. One of them ends up following a sign pointing to sarsaparilla, but instead it leads him into a trap that Gargamel catches him in. The other Smurf, Brainy, returns to the village to tell Papa Smurf about the situation, and all the Smurfs go to Gargamel's home to rescue the prisoner.

When Gargamel first goes out with Azrael to look for mandrake roots, the Smurfs enter and attempt to free the captured Smurf by cutting the rope that holds his cage to the ceiling. But before they can open the cage, Gargamel returns, so they go into hiding and watch as the wizard notices the cut rope and decides to replace it with a thick chain. He then goes to the attic to find the sulfur, which gives the Smurfs the next opportunity to free the captured Smurf. This time three Smurfs pull on a rope that lifts up a metal file to the cage so that the captured Smurf could file his way through the bars. But all too soon Gargamel returns and they go into hiding again, leaving the wizard wondering how a file and a rope got over there. Nevertheless he has all the ingredients put together, which leaves him waiting for the first ray of daylight to come, so he goes to sleep.

During the night, the Smurfs concentrate on a new task: getting the key from Gargamel so they could free the Smurf from his cage. However, they have to deal with Azrael first, so one of them tricks the cat into attacking him while standing near a window. Azrael charges while the Smurf dodges, causing the cat to jump out the window, and then he closes up the window before she can return inside.

Unfortunately, even with all the effort the Smurfs put into getting the key from Gargamel so they could free the captured Smurf, it is all for nothing, for the wizard wakes up at the break of dawn to discover the key mysteriously appearing in the lock, making him wonder if he's gone crazy. Nevertheless, he goes ahead with attempting to add the final ingredient for creating the Philosopher's Stone: the captured Smurf. It is then that Papa Smurf calls his other little Smurfs out from hiding to attack the wizard, overpowering him to the point where he has fallen unconscious. The Smurfs rejoice as they return home to their village, though Brainy on the way home lectures to the once-captured Smurf.

Gargamel wakes up and sees that the Smurfs are gone, so he decides to take his elixir that turns him into a giant to go after them, but after drinking he finds out that the Smurfs have switched the contents of the bottles so that he now appears Smurf-sized. As he now swears to get even with the Smurfs someday for what they have done, his cat Azrael appears behind him ready to play with her new "pet toy".

Revised version
On January 1963, Peyo releases a revision of the comic book story in the Black Smurfs comic album in which it would be featured with the previous comic story of the same name. The revision gives Brainy Smurf his trademark glasses while updating the art style of the series to match the official art style of the series we know of today.