The Tintin Thread

[vandermolen]

Anyone else like the Tintin books here? They are suitable for anyone aged between 6 and 60 and I just fall into this category  . The books were increasingly very well researched with excellent drawings featuring Tintin, his dog Snowy and loyal but drunken friend Captain Haddock. There was a Tintin exhibition in London very recently which I went to with my daughter. The early books were cruder and indeed racist 'Tintin au Congo' which turned into something of an embarrassment to Herge. 'Tintin in America' was another early book and full of stereotypes but in the end Tintin ended up wearing a 'Ban the Bomb' symbol on his motorcycle helmet and became much more politically correct (Tintin and the Picaros). My favourite books are 'The Calculus Affair', 'The Castafiore Emerald' (where not much happens but it is more humorous as a consequence) and 'Tintin in Tibet' which symbolised a personal crisis for Herge. Tinting and Captain Haddock are aided and abetted by the opera singer 'Bianca Castafiore' with her constant renditions of 'The Jewell Song' from Gounod's 'Faust'. In 'Explorers on the Moon' where our heroes appear to be trapped in their lunar landscape Captain Haddock's asks their base to put the radio on to cheer them up just as 'The Gravedigger' by Schubert is being broadcast. The English translations were very accomplished as Tintin is, of course, from Belgium.

[Turner]

En enjoyable documentary, IMHO, "Tintin & I":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8trmVNUr2U0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_and_I

[vandermolen]

En enjoyable documentary, IMHO, "Tintin & I":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8trmVNUr2U0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_and_I

Thank you. I saw a Tintin documentary on TV a while back and it was excellent but I think that it was delivered by the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner although I may be wrong. This one looks excellent too.
Here is the one I mentioned:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016xjqx

[North Star]

I can recommend 'Tintin & I' as well, it was broadcast some time ago here.

[vandermolen]

I can recommend 'Tintin & I' as well, it was broadcast some time ago here.

Thanks - will look out for it. Are you a fan of the books?

[North Star]

Thanks - will look out for it. Are you a fan of the books?

Yes I am. Very much agreeing with what you say of the books, too - although it's a very long time since I've read some of them, and quite a while from the last time I read any actually.

[Jo498]

I am not really a great fan of comic books but I have loved Tintin ("Tim" as he is called in German translation, and Asterix) since childhood. (And I prefer the Tintin drawing style.)
The Tintin books were comparably expensive, so I could afford only a few (my parents strongly disliked all kinds of comics and cartoons, we were not forbidden to read them but it was in no way encouraged and we had to spend our own money) but a friend of mine and his brother had all of them.

As an adult, I bought most of them (again) a few years ago and still appreciate them (some more than others). I find it almost "prophetic" that the first stories appeared in a periodical called "Le Vingtième Siècle" because they really seem to cover most of that century, even if it's actually only about 50 years from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. From the international crises leading to WW II to perennial conflicts like the South American or Balkanian banana republics, oil dependency and depletion, dangerous scientific discoveries etc. He even put Tintin on the moon several years before 1969 (and with a rather different technology). All this without obvious politicizing or moralizing.

The first ones are weak and show crude and racist stereotypes. But already "The blue Lotos" is very good and reverses most of the racism (as Hergé had befriended a chinese guy and took pains to not fall into the crudest clichees about chinese culture). There are a few weaker ones (the one with the meteor and I am not too fond of the late one with the aliens either) but overall starting with the first two "sagas" that cover two books each (Unicorn/Rackham and the Inca story) they are very accomplished and hardly any bad ones.

[vandermolen]

Yes I am. Very much agreeing with what you say of the books, too - although it's a very long time since I've raid some of them, and quite a while from the last time I read any actually.

Nice to hear. My mother threw the whole lot out whilst I was at university (apart from 'The Red Sea Sharks' which is v good despite racial stereotypes). I had to buy them all again as adults. My grown up daughter who came to the exhibition in London with me is now taking an interest in them.

[vandermolen]

I am not really a great fan of comic books but I have loved Tintin ("Tim" as he is called in German translation, and Asterix) since childhood. (And I prefer the Tintin drawing style.)
The Tintin books were comparably expensive, so I could afford only a few (my parents strongly disliked all kinds of comics and cartoons, we were not forbidden to read them but it was in no way encouraged and we had to spend our own money) but a friend of mine and his brother had all of them.

As an adult, I bought most of them (again) a few years ago and still appreciate them (some more than others). I find it almost "prophetic" that the first stories appeared in a periodical called "Le Vingtième Siècle" because they really seem to cover most of that century, even if it's actually only about 50 years from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. From the international crises leading to WW II to perennial conflicts like the South American or Balkanian banana republics, oil dependency and depletion, dangerous scientific discoveries etc. He even put Tintin on the moon several years before 1969 (and with a rather different technology). All this without obvious politicizing or moralizing.

The first ones are weak and show crude and racist stereotypes. But already "The blue Lotos" is very good and reverses most of the racism (as Hergé had befriended a chinese guy and took pains to not fall into the crudest clichees about chinese culture). There are a few weaker ones (the one with the meteor and I am not too fond of the late one with the aliens either) but overall starting with the first two "sagas" that cover two books each (Unicorn/Rackham and the Inca story) they are very accomplished and hardly any bad ones.

I totally agree with your perceptive comments. There was I think a 'golden era' in the late 40s, 50s and early 60s which took in the Calculus Affair (which features my favourite scene when insurance agent Jolyon Wagg picks up Haddock's emergency call from a helicopter whilst chasing the crooks over Lake Geneva). The best is perhaps the Castafiore Emerald as the whole thing takes place at Marlinspike Hall and nothing much happens. I think that the best scenes were often at Marlinspike Hall. The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun are also terrific stories. There is an excellent book by Harry Thompson, who sadly died young:
[asin]1848546726[/asin]

[Jo498]

As a kid I did not much care for the "Castafiore Emeralds" because of these restriction to the castle (and the surprising solution of the case). But as an adult I also find it brilliantly done (although for sentimental reasons it will not replace other favorites).
Of the pre-war ones I probably like "King Ottokar's Sceptre" best, but "The Black Island" was the first I bought myself, so despite a fairly standard "mystery" plot it will also remain a sentimental favorite.

The Calculus Affair might be the best (and has been voted as the best several times, I think) but I am happy to have some variety.

[vandermolen]

As a kid I did not much care for the "Castafiore Emeralds" because of these restriction to the castle (and the surprising solution of the case). But as an adult I also find it brilliantly done (although for sentimental reasons it will not replace other favorites).
Of the pre-war ones I probably like "King Ottokar's Sceptre" best, but "The Black Island" was the first I bought myself, so despite a fairly standard "mystery" plot it will also remain a sentimental favorite.

The Calculus Affair might be the best (and has been voted as the best several times, I think) but I am happy to have some variety.

Me too. I like many of the 'middle period' Tintins. As a wedding present a Dutch friend bought me a framed poster of the (original) cover of 'The Black Island'. I also have a copy of a reprint of the original 1943 version which is interesting to compare with the 1966 update. The old turbo-prop aircraft at the end, for example, being replaced with a British Airways (or BEA) Trident jet aircraft. It is perhaps my favourite of the ones that pre-date Captain Haddock. The air show with the Thompsons is very funny:
1966 version followed by 1943 version (I did not have to pay £999 for my copy!)

[asin]1405206187[/asin]
1943 version:
[asin]0686545869[/asin]

[Jo498]

Interesting: The new cover picture keeps the island, the birds and Tintin almost in place (and on the diagonal).
"The Black Island" was the most frequently re-drawn/up-dated of all books, I think. The impressive care and precision with which Hergé and his team attended to airplanes, cars, ships (and also firearms, I think) has been remarked upon frequently.

When going back to the early one's one tends to miss Haddock, of course, but this is somewhat unfair. And the one that introduces Haddock as a very unreliable drunkard, "The crab with the golden claws", is not really one of the better ones, I think, partly because Haddock is rather different from the later (more sober, but still irascible and funny) character.

[vandermolen]

Interesting: The new cover picture keeps the island, the birds and Tintin almost in place (and on the diagonal).
"The Black Island" was the most frequently re-drawn/up-dated of all books, I think. The impressive care and precision with which Hergé and his team attended to airplanes, cars, ships (and also firearms, I think) has been remarked upon frequently.

When going back to the early one's one tends to miss Haddock, of course, but this is somewhat unfair. And the one that introduces Haddock as a very unreliable drunkard, "The crab with the golden claws", is not really one of the better ones, I think, partly because Haddock is rather different from the later (more sober, but still irascible and funny) character.

Yes, I agree with you as Haddock, whilst drunk and hallucinating in the desert tries to remove Tintin's head with a corkscrew or something like that and sets fire to a lifeboat to keep warm. By 'The Shooting Star' he was a much more sympathetic character. I also like the contrast between the old and new fire engine in 'The Black' Island. In the last completed one 'Tintin and the Picaros' it was a surprise to see Tintin wearing flared trousers with a 'Ban the Bomb! Symbol on his motorcycle helmet. Pity that 'Alph Art' was never completed.

[lisa needs braces]

I read these works as a youngster in grade school and quite enjoyed them.

[vandermolen]

I read these works as a youngster in grade school and quite enjoyed them.

Pleased to hear it. 

[Turner]

Just a passing note - heard the other day of a local fellow here whose travel destinations were always chosen from places mentioned in the Tintin stories - he was trying visit all of them  ... quite an unusual idea.

[North Star]

Just a passing note - heard the other day of a local fellow here whose travel destinations were always chosen from places mentioned in the Tintin stories - he was trying visit all of them  ... quite an unusual idea.

Good luck getting to the Moon.

[Turner]

Good luck getting to the Moon.

Hopefully he´d feel satisfied with the earthly destinations

[Jo498]

I guess Bulgaria or some other Balkan state can serve for Syldavia and maybe Colombia or Venezuela for the banana republics of General Alcazar and General Tapioca...

[Mister Sharpe]

As a kid I did not much care for the "Castafiore Emeralds" because of these restriction to the castle (and the surprising solution of the case). But as an adult I also find it brilliantly done (although for sentimental reasons it will not replace other favorites).
Of the pre-war ones I probably like "King Ottokar's Sceptre" best, but "The Black Island" was the first I bought myself, so despite a fairly standard "mystery" plot it will also remain a sentimental favorite.

The Calculus Affair might be the best (and has been voted as the best several times, I think) but I am happy to have some variety.

I must say I really enjoy the Castafiore Emeralds for several reasons but primarily for the relative complexity of its plot.  I also believe it is the Tintin episode that is most taught in college level French courses in the U.S.