The Adventures of Tintin

   

Tintin and Snowy (Tintin et Milou) are world travellers and inseparable friends in The Adventures of Tintin.
Tintin and Snowy (Tintin et Milou) are world travellers and inseparable friends in The Adventures of Tintin.

The Adventures of Tintin (originally Les Aventures de Tintin), is a well-known series of comic books drawn and written by the Belgian writer-artist Hergé. Over 200 million books have been published to date, with translations into over 40 languages. The hero of the series is a young reporter named Tintin, who travels all around the world landing himself in a variety of adventures. The comic book series has been admired for its clean but expressive drawings (executed in Hergé's signature ligne claire style), engaging plots, and the painstaking research going into the later stories. It is one of the great 20th century European humourous adventure strips, along with René Goscinny's Asterix and Spirou under André Franquin.

The series straddles a variety of genres. Many of the stories are swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, but there are also mysteries, political thrillers, ghost stories, and science fiction stories. Most of the tales take place in early-20th century historical settings, and all include plenty of slapstick humour, offset in later albums by dashes of sophisticated satire and political or cultural commentary.

Characters

Tintin

The character of Tintin was created on January 10, 1929, and his 75th birthday was widely celebrated in 2004. Tintin was largely based on Hergé's earlier character Totor, a boy-scout with a striking resemblance to Tintin. The comics starring Totor, Les aventures de Totor, chef de patrouille des Hannetons, appeared in the magazine Le Boy-Scout Belge between 1926 and 1929. In the later comic book series, Tintin is a young Belgian reporter who becomes involved in dangerous cases in which he takes heroic action to save the day. He is a young man of more or less neutral attitudes and is less colourful than the supporting cast around him. His actions, unlike those of the other characters, never result in mishap or misfortune, and as such he is a real classical hero.

Tintin's character changes in the last albums, starting with The Castafiore Emerald. As Hergé began to grew tired of his character, Tintin no longer actively seeks out adventure but rather gets taken along with what happens around him: this is especially evident in Flight 714. Related to this, before Picaros was written very little was known about Tintin, and those characteristics that were revealed about him were usually directly related to the story. In Picaros more of Tintin's hobbies were shown: he drives a moped, and practices yoga in his spare time. Some fans consider this album a betrayal of the image they had of Tintin, which could be built easily on the neutral view Hergé originally provided.

In the earlier stories Tintin often changes his clothes, even at times within the same story—a rare occurance in comics to this day. Tintin often wears local outfits: he dresses in a cowboy outfit in Tintin in America, and wears traditional Chinese clothing in The Blue Lotus. After The Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin usually wears his "classic look": brown plus-fours, a white shirt, and a blue pullover (see Tintin et Milou (http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4278/tintin-et-milou.png) image). The only significant change from this afterwards is in the last published album, Tintin and the Picaros, where Tintin wears brown jeans and loafers. It should be noted however that many early stories were redrawn, and in redrawing Hergé at points altered Tintin's clothes.

Tintin lives in a boarding house that is situated at 16 Labrador Road in "the city" (exactly which city is never clearly specified), but later in the series he often stays over at the opulent estate of his friend, Captain Haddock.

Interestingly, although almost every adventure features Tintin hard at work at his investigative reporting, only once in the entire series does he actually turn in a story.

Is Tintin a Belgian?

Chang's letter to Tintin, addressed to "Brussels, Belgium"
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Chang's letter to Tintin, addressed to "Brussels, Belgium"

In Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin is introduced as a Belgian reporter who works for a Brussels newspaper. In the original edition of Tintin in Africa (Tintin in the Congo) he returns to Belgium at the end of the story, and in the first black-and-white version of The Black Island he boards a Sabena plane to return home.

In the post-war colour albums, however, Hergé removed most references to Tintin's nationality, in order to give his hero a more universal appeal. In these later albums, there are only a few subtle clues hinting at Tintin's nationality. For instance, the cryptic languages of the Picaros and the Syldavians are partially based on Marols or Marollien, the Brussels Flemish dialect spoken by Hergé's grandmother. The names of some characters and places are also often puns on words or expressions from this dialect. Also, in Tintin in Tibet, Tintin receives a letter from Chang, which is seen to be addressed in Chinese to Tintin's address in Belgium. And the Captain and Tintin also fly Sabena from Marlinspike to Geneva in The Calculus Affair. But in the American Editions at least, Tintin is seen in The Secret of the Unicorn (before Captain Haddock takes possession of Marlinspike Hall) holding a letter addressed to Messrs. M. & G. Bird, Antique Dealers, Marlinspike Hall, Marlinshire, England.

Captain Haddock

Captain Haddock is Tintin's best friend. He is a seafaring captain who was introduced in The Crab with the Golden Claws, originally as a sad slapstick character, but in later albums became a more respectable and genuinely heroic character. The Captain's coarse humanity acts as a counterpoint to Tintin's often implausible heroism; he is always quick with a wry comment whenever the boy reporter gets too idealistic.

Haddock uses all sorts of words as insults and curses to express his feelings, such as "blistering barnacles," "bashi-bazouk", "kleptomaniac", "pockmark" and "anacoluthon", but no words that are actually considered swear words (see list of exclamations used by Captain Haddock). Haddock is a hard drinker, especially of whisky of the brand Loch Lomond, and his bouts of alcoholism are often used for comic effect: often they usually result in minor unpleasantness for the captain, but at times (especially in earlier albums) they almost lead to a more tragic consequence.

Haddock's surname was derived from a conversation that Hergé had with his wife, in which she mentioned that the haddock was a 'sad English fish'. Hergé chose this name accordingly. Haddock remained without a first name until the last completed story, Tintin and the Picaros (1974), when the name Archibald was suggested. Physically, he is probably based on Bob de Moor, a longtime collaborator of Hergé's. After Rackham's Treasure, Haddock lives in the castle Marlinspike (Moulinsart).

In an interview in 1971, Hergé admitted to increasingly identify with Haddock in the later stories, rather than Tintin. This is further alluded to in the documentary Tintin and I.

Professor Cuthbert Calculus - Professeur Tryphon Tournesol

NOTE: In some albums the name is translated Tryphonius Sunflower instead.

Professor Cuthbert Calculus is a distracted, hard-of-hearing professor, who invented many objects used in the series, such as the Moon rocket, a one-person submarine and an ultrasound weapon. Calculus is an idealist and seeks to benefit mankind by inventions such as a pill that cures alcoholism by making alcohol taste horrible to the patient. These inventions are usually disliked by Haddock, although Calculus usually interprets this the other way round: his deafness often prevents him from hearing Haddock's real opinion. Somewhat conflicting with his apparently scientific prowess, Calculus often uses a pendulum for dowsing, and highly believes in the method.

Calculus' deafness is a frequent source of humour, as he repeats back what he thinks he has heard, usually in the most unlikely words possible: "attachez votre ceinture" (fasten your belt) is repeated as "une tache de peinture?" (a paint stain). He does not admit to being near-deaf and insists on having just poor hearing. Notably in the "Moon" books, Calculus has a hearing aid inserted, and for the duration of the albums has near-perfect hearing: this made him a more serious character (that is, as long as the word "goat" is not uttered in his presence). However, in later adventures Calculus once again lost his hearing aid, and went back to his old deaf self.

Calculus first appeared in Red Rackham's Treasure, and was the end result of Hergés long quest to find the archetypal mad scientist: for instance, Dr. Sarcophogus in Cigars of the Pharaoh, and Prof. Alembick in King Ottokar's Sceptre.

The Calculus character was most likely inspired by Auguste Piccard. In The Castafiore Emerald Bianca Castafiore mistakes Calculus for Piccard in claiming that Calculus is "famous for his balloon trips".

Snowy - Milou

Snowy, an exceptionally white Fox Terrier, is Tintin's four-legged companion who always travels with his master. The bond between the dog and Tintin is deeper than life, and they have saved each other from perilous situations many times over. With a few exceptions, Snowy never speaks since he is only a dog. However, he always manages to communicate well with Tintin in spite of these biological facts. Snowy often adds to the story in many interesting ways. For instance, Snowy is the only character in Flight 714 to remember that he was abducted by aliens. Like Captain Haddock, Snowy is fond of Whiskey of the Loch Lomond brand, and his occasional bouts of alcoholism tend to get him into problems, as does his raging arachnophobia. Milou was named after Hergé's first girlfriend.

Thomson and Thompson - Dupont et Dupond

Thomson and Thompson are two clumsy detectives who, although unrelated, look like twins. They provide much of the comic relief throughout the series, as they are afflicted with spoonerism. They are thoroughly incompetent, and always bent on arresting the wrong character, but in spite of this they somehow get entrusted with delicate missions—for instance the Syldavian space project.

The detectives usually wear bowler hats and carry walking sticks, except when abroad: during those missions they insist on wearing the local " costume" of the country they are visiting so as to blend into the local population, but in general only manage to find some ridiculous attire that actually makes them stand apart. In this they took over Tintin's rôle of dressing as a local.

Thomson and Thompson were originally only side characters, but later became more important. In the redrawings of the earlier albums, especially The Black Island, the detectives gained their now traditional mannerisms.

The detectives were based on Hergé's actual father and brother, both of whom wore matching bowlers. They also provided the name for 1980s synthesizer band The Thompson Twins — who had three members.

Translators of the series have tried to find names that are different only in spelling for this pair. Dupond and Dupont thus become Thomson and Thompson in English, Schultze and Schulze in German, Jansen and Janssen in Dutch, Hernández and Fernández in Spanish and 杜本 and 杜朋 (Dùběn and Dùpéng) in Chinese — the Spanish and Chinese examples not being quite so faithful translations since the pronunciation of the two names is slightly different, and not just the spelling.

Minor characters

See also: Minor characters in Tintin

Humour

Humour is an important ingredient of all Tintin albums. Tintin himself is a real hero and thus a very serious character, so it is the secondary and minor characters who have to provide comic relief. Captain Haddock's temper, Bianca Castafiore's singing, and professor Calculus' deafness provide endless material for gags. Thomson and Thompson are real slapstick characters. There are also numerous examples of national stereotyping.

Less obvious sources of humour are the frequent use of puns for names of characters and places, as well as the use of Marols (see above).

The Tintin Trivia Quiz (http://tintin.eugraph.com), in its Notable Names section (http://tintin.eugraph.com/tqsect/feature/names/namesai.html), is one web site that contains a list of the humorous names in (the English translations of) Tintin.

Race and Colonialism

The earliest stories in The Adventures of Tintin have been criticized for racist and colonialist leanings, including caricatured portrayals of non-Europeans. However, Hergé changed his views sometime between these early works and The Blue Lotus. This story, set in China during the then-current Sino-Japanese War, was the first for which he did extensive background research. It criticized Japanese and Western colonial meddlings in China and helped to dispel popular myths about the Chinese people (though it does contain flagrant stereotyping of Japanese people). From then on, meticulous research would be one of Hergé's trademarks.

Some of the early albums were altered by Hergé in subsequent edition, usually at the demand of publishers. For example, at the instigation of his American publishers, many of the black characters in Tintin in America were re-coloured to make their race white or ambiguous. The Shooting Star originally had an American villain with a Jewish name, who was changed to an American with a less ethnically-specific name in later editions, and subsequently to a South American of a fictional country.

For a further discussion, see The ideology of Tintin.

Fictional countries

Hergé devised several fictional countries later in the series. Syldavia in particular is described in considerable detail (history, customs, language etc.).

List of books and films

Books

The books can either be listed in the order in which the stories first appeared in newspapers or magazines (the "production order"), or in the order they were first published in album form ("publication order"). As many early stories were altered in the redrawings, and therefore chronologically fit in more with the later albums, both orders can be considered valid. Sometimes the redrawings introduced problems with the chronological order, one example is when Sheik Bab-el-Ehr presents a copy of Destination Moon in Cigars of the Pharaoh — Tintin had not experienced the adventure yet!

Production order

  1. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets - (Tintin au Pays des Soviets) (1929–1930)
  2. Tintin in the Congo - (Tintin au Congo) (1930–1931)
  3. Tintin in America - (Tintin en Amérique) (1931–1932)
  4. Cigars of the Pharaoh - (Les Cigares du Pharaon) (1932–1934)
  5. The Blue Lotus - (Le Lotus Bleu) (1934–1935)
  6. The Broken Ear - (L'Oreille Cassée) (1935–1937)
  7. The Black Island - (L'Ile Noire) (1937–1938)
  8. King Ottokar's Sceptre - (Le Sceptre d'Ottokar) (1938–1939)
  9. The Crab with the Golden Claws - (Le Crabe aux Pinces d'Or) (1940–1941)
  10. The Shooting Star - (L'étoile Mysterieuse) (1941–1942)
  11. The Secret of the Unicorn - (Le Secret de la Licorne) (1942–1943)
  12. Red Rackham's Treasure - (Le Trésor de Rackam le Rouge) (1943–1944)
  13. The Seven Crystal Balls - (Les Sept Boules de Cristal) (1943–1948)
  14. Prisoners of the Sun - (Le Temple du Soleil) (1946–1949)
  15. Land of Black Gold - (Tintin au Pays de l'Or Noir) (1948–1950 1)
  16. Destination Moon - (Objectif Lune) (1950–1953)
  17. Explorers on the Moon - (On a marché sur la Lune) (1950–1954)
  18. The Calculus Affair - (L'affaire Tournesol) (1954–1956)
  19. The Red Sea Sharks - (Coke en stock) (1958)
  20. Tintin in Tibet - (Tintin au Tibet) (1960)
  21. The Castafiore Emerald - (Les Bijoux de la Castafiore) (1963)
  22. Flight 714 - (Vol 714 pour Sydney) (1968)
  23. Tintin and the Picaros - (Tintin et les Picaros) (1976)
  • Tintin and Alph-Art - (Tintin et l'Alph-Art): Unfinished work, published posthumously in 1986, and republished with more material in 2004.

1: Actually begun in 1939 but left uncompleted in 1940, redrawn starting 1948.

Publication order

  1. Tintin in the Congo (1931, black & white)
  2. Tintin in America (1932, black & white)
  3. Cigars of the Pharaoh (1934, black & white)
  4. The Blue Lotus (1936, black & white)
  5. The Broken Ear (1937, black & white)
  6. The Black Island (1938, black & white)
  7. King Ottokar's Sceptre (1939, black & white)
  8. The Crab with the Golden Claws (1941, black & white)
  9. The Shooting Star (1942)
  10. The Secret of the Unicorn (1943)
  11. The Broken Ear (1943, redrawn in colour)
  12. The Black Island (1943, colourized)
  13. The Crab with the Golden Claws (1943, redrawn in colour)
  14. Red Rackham's Treasure (1944)
  15. Tintin in America (1945, redrawn in colour)
  16. Tintin in the Congo (1946, redrawn in colour)
  17. The Blue Lotus (1946, redrawn in colour)
  18. King Ottokar's Sceptre (1947, redrawn in colour)
  19. The Seven Crystal Balls (1948, slight changes from initial run)
  20. Prisoners of the Sun (1949, slight changes from initial run)
  21. Land of Black Gold (1950)
  22. Destination Moon (1953)
  23. Explorers on the Moon (1954)
  24. Cigars of the Pharaoh (1955, redrawn in colour)
  25. The Calculus Affair (1956, slight changes from initial run)
  26. The Red Sea Sharks (1958)
  27. Tintin in Tibet (1960)
  28. The Castafiore Emerald (1963)
  29. The Black Island (1965, redrawn)
  30. The Red Sea Sharks (1967, edits in dialogue)
  31. Flight 714 (1968)
  32. Land of Black Gold (1971, redrawn version)
  33. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1973, black & white)
  34. Tintin in the Congo (1975, further redrawn version)
  35. Tintin and the Picaros (1976)
  36. Tintin and Alph-Art (1986, incomplete sketches)
  37. Tintin and Alph-Art (2004, more complete version)

U.K. publication order

  1. King Ottokar's Sceptre (1958)
  2. The Crab with the Golden Claws (1958)
  3. The Secret of the Unicorn (1959)
  4. Red Rackham's Treasure (1959)
  5. Destination Moon (1959)
  6. Explorers on the Moon (1959)
  7. The Calculus Affair (1960)
  8. The Red Sea Sharks (1960)
  9. The Shooting Star (1961)
  10. The Seven Crystal Balls (1962)
  11. Prisoners of the Sun (1962)
  12. Tintin in Tibet (1962)
  13. The Castafiore Emerald (1963)
  14. The Black Island (1966)
  15. Flight 714 (1968)
  16. Cigars of the Pharaoh (1971)
  17. Land of Black Gold (1972)
  18. The Broken Ear (1975)
  19. Tintin and the Picaros (1976)
  20. Tintin in America (1978)
  21. The Blue Lotus (1983)
  22. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1989)
  23. Tintin and Alph-art (1990)
  24. Tintin in the Congo (1991)

Films

Groups

These fall in to three rough groups (rough outline only):

  1. Tintin as a young Belgian reporter and world-traveller exploring real countries (Soviets–Crab);
  2. Fantasy adventures: treasure hunts (Unicorn), ghost stories (Crystal Balls). These were mainly written during the buildup to World War II and the occupation, when Hergé had to steer clear of anything that could be construed as political. Science Fiction (Moon and Flight 714) in Moon, Tintin lands on the moon, and in 714 he flies away in a UFO only to be dumped on a raft. Tintin is here joined by a crew of secondary characters: Haddock and Calculus.
  3. Coming of age: Hergé returns to the political intrigue seen in Ottokar, the odysseys seen in Ear, but with a much broader stroke. Most are set in, or involve, fictional countries. Characters from old adventures make reappearances, e.g. Dawson from Lotus.

Other books

In 1993, after the death of Hergé, his friend Frederic Tuten published Tintin in the New World: A Romance (ISBN 0-7493-9610-5). More a thought experiment than a new adventure, Tintin here grows up: he is seduced and falls in love, has a dream about the death of Snowy and caring for an invalid Haddock, and critically examines his life and experiences so far. Few secondary Tintin characters reappear in this book, and those that do behave differently.

In 1980, a pirate comic/parody, Breaking Free, was released. The story dealt with the social problems of the time, featuring Tintin as an unemployed youngster living with his uncle-by-marriage Haddock, who gets involved with the socialist/anarchists. Tintin is given a British nationality here, and is apparently in his early twenties. The book ends with an open call for a social revolution, and was briefly notorious for the uproar it caused because of its graphic depiction of social unrest.

In December 1999, a pirate X-rated comic book Tintin in Thailand came in circulation. Written and drawn by Thai "fans", the book presented Tintin, Haddock and Calculus on a sex holiday to Bangkok, with numerous allusions to the characters being unhappy with their treatment by the Hergé Foundation. Over the course of the book Calculus gets engaged to a prostitute, Haddock spends several nights in brothels, Wagg nearly marries a transvestite, and Tintin is revealed as a homosexual. In 2001 Belgian police made several arrests regarding the book in the Belgian town of Tournai.

Memorabilia

Dutch Tintin and Snowy (Kuifje en Bobby) stamp from 1999.
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Dutch Tintin and Snowy (Kuifje en Bobby) stamp from 1999.

Belgium minted a limited-edition (50,000) silver 10-euro commemorative coin to celebrate the 75th birthday of Tintin in January 2004, which was one of the best selling coins ever. The Royal Dutch Post released a set of Tintin stamps on Friday, 8th October 1999 which sold out within hours of release.

Television series

The Adventures of Tintin is also the title of a TV show that came out on HBO in 1991, and all of these books between Tintin in America and Tintin and the Picaros were adapted into 39 half-hour episodes directed by Stéphane Bernasconi. In behalf of La Foundation Hergé, the television series was produced by Ellipse (France), and Nelvana (Canada). These stories were significantly altered for broadcast. For example, The Red Sea Sharks originally dealt with modern slavery, whereas the TV show dealt with illegal immigration.

Voice actors and their characters

  • Colin O'Meara: Tintin
  • Susan Roman: Snowy
  • David Fox: Captain Haddock
  • Wayne Robson: Professor Calculus
  • Dan Hennessey: Detective Thomson
  • John Stocker: Detective Thompson

Episodes

NOTE: This is a list of episodes, based on the Adventures of Tintin books by Hergé.

Season 1

  1. The Crab with the Golden Claws - 1 of 2
  2. The Crab with the Golden Claws - 2 of 2
  3. The Secret of the Unicorn - 1 of 2
  4. The Secret of the Unicorn - 2 of 2
  5. Red Rackham's Treasure
  6. Cigars of the Pharaoh - 1 of 2
  7. Cigars of the Pharaoh - 2 of 2
  8. The Blue Lotus - 1 of 2
  9. The Blue Lotus - 2 of 2
  10. The Black Island - 1 of 2
  11. The Black Island - 2 of 2
  12. The Calculus Affair - 1 of 2
  13. The Calculus Affair - 2 of 2

Season 2

  1. The Shooting Star
  2. The Broken Ear - 1 of 2
  3. The Broken Ear - 2 of 2
  4. King Ottokar's Sceptre - 1 of 2
  5. King Ottokar's Sceptre - 2 of 2
  6. Tintin in Tibet - 1 of 2
  7. Tintin in Tibet - 2 of 2
  8. Tintin and the Picaros - 1 of 2
  9. Tintin and the Picaros - 2 of 2
  10. Land of Black Gold - 1 of 2
  11. Land of Black Gold - 2 of 2
  12. Flight 714 - 1 of 2
  13. Flight 714 - 2 of 2

Season 3

  1. The Red Sea Sharks - 1 of 2
  2. The Red Sea Sharks - 2 of 2
  3. The Seven Crystal Balls - 1 of 2
  4. The Seven Crystal Balls - 2 of 2
  5. Prisoners of the Sun - 1 of 2
  6. Prisoners of the Sun - 2 of 2
  7. The Castafiore Emerald - 1 of 2
  8. The Castafiore Emerald - 2 of 2
  9. Destination Moon - 1 of 2
  10. Destination Moon - 2 of 2
  11. Explorers on the Moon - 1 of 2
  12. Explorers on the Moon - 2 of 2
  13. Tintin in America

Total Episodes: 39

Videos and DVDs

NOTE: The television series was originally released on DVD in Europe by Anchor Bay Entertainment. It'll also be scheduled to set for release on VHS and DVD in America by Universal Studios.

In the future

A feature-length Tintin movie is in development by Steven Spielberg for DreamWorks and Universal Studios, featuring many live-action model characters based on the Adventures of Tintin books by Hergé. It is scheduled to arrive in theaters by 2006.

See also

External links

Reference


de:Tim und Struppi da:Tintin es:Tintín eo:Tinĉjo fr:Les Aventures de Tintin et Milou nl:Kuifje ja:タンタンの冒険旅行 sv:Tintin zh-cn:丁丁




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