who remembers these great guys?

In 1947, Peyo (a Belgian cartoonist) created a series of magazines about Johan, a brave messenger of the king, and Peewit his dwarf sidekick.

In 1958, Peyo introduced new characters to Johan and Peewit's story "The Flute with Six-Holes." These tiny blue-skinned humanoid creatures called "Smurfs" (who looked a lot like Peewit) became a huge hit and their first independent comic appeared in 1959.

The Belgian comic book series quickly spread to advertising, movies, TV series, music, ice capades, video games, theme parks, dolls and merchandise.

Tested and logical (which doesn't always mean easy or without trial and error).