[Fram]

In a sub-poll to the election of the Greatest Belgian (Flemish version, as we have three elections in Belgium), we also had a small election of the greatest comic book hero. I'm glad to say that the Smurfs made the top 10!!! You can see the complete list here, with Flemish classic Suske en Wiske (Bob & Bobette in French and other languages, Spike and Suzy or Willy and Wanda in English) as the number one, in front of Tintin.
Oh, the site is in Dutch...

[Syd Smurf]

That's 2 top 10 lists in 2 countries within a week for the Smurfs....it's good to know they are still in people's thoughts

[DrunkSmurf]

Was that a Dutch-only comic character list?

[Fram]

No, but people here read mostly comics from Belgium or France. Some of the comics were originally Flemish (i.e. Belgian Dutch), like Suske en Wiske, Nero and Jommeke, while others were originally Walloon (i.e. Belgian French), like Tintin, the Smurfs, or Lucky Luke. Thorgal is drawn by a Polish artist, but first appeared in a Belgian comics magazine as well.
We are of course aware of the existence of manga and American comics (and graphic novels), but they are of minor interest here (I mean with regards to the number of people that read them). American and Japanese comics get prizes here and attention, but the commercial success is still for the European comics only, and the ones that are listed in the top ten have a long history (the youngest one started in the seventies) and are mostly of high quality as well, even though they are juvenile.

[DrunkSmurf]

Anyone ever heard of Cerebus the Aardvark? Its author, Dave Sim, was a Canadian, who ironicly fathered the American Independant comic movement from Kitchener, Ontario.

Went mad towards the end.

Maybe he should've written about happy blue smurfs instead... Peyo was pretty stable mentally, right?

[Syd Smurf]

Anyone ever heard of Cerebus the Aardvark? Its author, Dave Sim, was a Canadian, who ironicly fathered the American Independant comic movement from Kitchener, Ontario.

Went mad towards the end.

Maybe he should've written about happy blue smurfs instead... Peyo was pretty stable mentally, right?

I haven't Tim...but I have never been really into comics that much throughout my life. I think Peyo & Smurfs have brought them more to my attention than ever before.

Peyo might of been mentally stable but I think he created less stable collectors throughout the world