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Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald (Review)

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Darren

In the lead-up to the release of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, I’m going to be taking a look at Hergé’s celebrated comic book character, from his humble beginnings through to the incomplete post-modern finale. I hope you enjoy the ride.

The Castafiore Emerald is famous as an example of Hergé playing with the reader’s expectations of a Tintin book. It’s essentially an exercise in creating suspense out of nothing, with the mystery of the eponymous jewel ultimately turning out to be a rather mundane affair, and instead allowing for all sorts of hilariously mundane hijinks to befall Hergé’s cast with relatively little point to it all. Then, after all, this is fiction, as Tintin seems coyly aware of on the cover, staring our at us with his finger on his lips, smiling like he knows something none of his castmates do. If you can embrace the central pointlessness of it all, and enjoy it as a collection of wryly observed scenes, The Castafiore Emerald is another rewarding addition to a series growing gradually more experimental.

That engagement's news to Haddock!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, Hergé, Jamie Bell, Nestor, peter jackson, Simon Pegg, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald, The Castafiore Emerald, Tintin and The Castafiore Emerald | 4 Comments »

Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun (Review)

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Darren

I have to admit to really liking the two-part Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun adventure, to the extent that I’m actually eagerly anticipating Peter Jackson’s adaptation that may never materialise. The two-parter really just takes the best aspects of Hergé’s Tintin mythos, brewing up a pop culture stew that can be served as a mystery story or an adventure into a mystical and unknown world. The idea of discovering a long-lost tribe of ancient Inca is certainly an appealing one, and would make for a gripping turn-of-the-century adventure. Using that premise as a starting point, Hergé leads us and Tintin in the heart of Amazon, filled with excitement and danger and mystery.

Tintin, why don't you come Inca?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, edgar wright, Hergé, indiana jones, Jamie Bell, peter jackson, Prisoner of the Sun, prisoners of the sun, Red Rackham's Treasure, steven spielberg, the adventures of tintin: prisoners of the sun, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the prisoners of the sun, the prisoners of the sun, tintin and the prisoners of the sun, Tintin in the Congo | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls (Review)

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Darren

Apparently, if Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a success, Peter Jackson will be directing a sequel that will be based on the two-part story directly following The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. I’m already anticipating that, seen as The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun are probably among my favourite Tintin stories, and I can actually see the rather wonderful conflict between mysticism and rationality playing out really well on the big-screen. It’s pure unadulterated pulp fiction, and it’s pulp fiction done exceptionally well.

Mummy!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, Hergé, List of The Adventures of Tintin characters, peter jackson, Red Rackham's Treasure, Secret of the Unicorn, seven crystal balls, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the seven crystal balls, the seven crystal balls, tintin and the seven crystal balls | 2 Comments »

Tintin: The Shooting Star (Review)

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Darren

It’s very strange to return to material you read as a child. Occasionally – as when reading King Ottokar’s Sceptre – you find a lot more than you remember. However, reading The Shooting Star, I was quite surprised to find the more surrealist elements I so strongly recalled – foreshadowed by the giant mushroom on the cover and the not-so giant spider on the telescope – were pretty much confined to the last ten pages of the adventure. Reading it again, I was incredibly impressed with the atmospheric opening scenes and the wonderful race to the fallen meteorite, both elements downplayed in my memory to giant apples and exploding mushrooms. It’s things like this that make me glad I decided to revisit the series for the occasion.

Tintin scopes out the observatory...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, belgium, Captain Haddock, Crab With the Golden Claws, Hergé, peter jackson, Shooting Star, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the shooting star, the shooting star, tintin: the shooting star, United States | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws (Review)

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Darren

The Crab With the Golden Claws is the first of three Tintin stories that were used as the basis of Steven Spielberg’s upcoming The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (the other two being, obviously, The Secret of the Unicorn and its sequel, Red Rackham’s Treasure). The Crab With the Golden Claws was originally written during the Nazi occupation of Belgium, when Hergé feared that his then on-going storyline The Land of Black Gold would have proved too politically charged for the country’s new governing force. So the adventure was essentially written as filler, a bit of light entertainment to take the minds of his headers as far away from the political reality as possible. And it certainly succeeds as one of the lighter and brisker adventures in the series, with one major addition to the franchise’s mythos in the form of Captain Archibald Haddock.

This could be the start of a beautiful friendship...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, alcoholism, captain archibold haddock, Captain Haddock, Comics, Hergé, opium, peter jackson, raiders of the lost ark, Red Rackham's Treasure, Secret of the Unicorn, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the crab with the golden claws, The Crab with the Golden Claws, tintin, tintin and the crab with the golden claws, tintin: the crab with the golden claws | 2 Comments »

Tintin: King Ottokar’s Sceptre (Review)

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Darren

It’s amazing what you can miss in enjoying your favourite stories as a child. For me, at the tender age of seven or eight, King Ottokar’s Sceptre was a thrilling tale of palace intrigue with a rather wonderful locked-room mystery at it heart. Returning to it now, it feels like quite a bit more. This is the first time, reading a Tintin book, that it feels part of a particular place or time. Even the possibly-Nazi agent from The Black Island was cast ambiguously enough that the story could have been set at any time in the relatively recent past, but King Ottokar’s Sceptre is something quite a bit different, capturing the sense of fear in Europe on the eve of warfare.

A locked room mystery...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Crab With the Golden Claws, Hergé, King Ottokar's Sceptre, List of The Adventures of Tintin characters, peter jackson, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin and King Ottokar's Sceptre, Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre, Valley of Fear | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Black Island (Review)

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Darren

The Black Island is a fun piece of pulp fiction, which wonderfully feels like Hergé was drawing on whatever pop culture reference was closest to hand at the time. In a way, this strange blend of influences mixes to produce a cocktail that fits surprisingly well against this instalment’s British background. It also features some of Hergé’s strongest artwork, in my own very humble opinion. It might lack the sort historical and political context that defined The Broken Ear and The Blue Lotus, but it’s still a more-than-worthy entry in the series.

Well, don't they have egg on their faces...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, adventures of tintin: the black island, blue lotus, British Isles, Captain Haddock, england, Hergé, indiana jones, Loch Ness Monster, peter jackson, snowy, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the black island, the black island, tintin and the black island, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, tintin: the black island | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Broken Ear (Review)

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Darren

The Broken Ear is a strange little Tintin story. On one hand, it begins as a sort of a mystery adventure, with an artifact stolen from a museum and then replaced the following night, a little note apologising for a childish prank. As seems to be the case in these kinds of stories, the authorities decide “no harm, no foul” and go on about their daily business, but our boy Tintin is not convinced. However, over the course of his investigation, the story develops into something a bit more substantial, allowing Hergé the opportunity to indulge some of his wonderfully broad political satire. It wouldn’t be among my favourite entries in the franchise, if only because I was too young to appreciate a lot of the commentary when I first read it.

Hergé doesn't go overboard...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, andy serkis, blue lotus, Captain Haddock, cigars of the pharaoh, comic con, Hergé, Jamie Bell, List of The Adventures of Tintin characters, peter jackson, politics, South America, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the broken ear, the broken ear, tintin and the broken ear, tintin: the broken ear | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Blue Lotus (Review)

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Darren

The Blue Lotus is regarded as something of a turning point for Hergé’s boy reporter. The cartoonist, apparently urged by those close to him, decided that – rather than basing his depiction of China on a collection of pop culture stereotypes (as he had done in Tintin in America) – he would undertake a considerable amount of research in order to ensure that the story was as respectful and faithful to Chinese culture as might have been possible. Indeed, the Chinese boy who Tintin befriends, Chang Chong-Chen, is named in honour of one of the students who helped him in coming to understand the Far East.

East of Eden...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, blue locust, blue lotus, Chang Chong-Chen, China, Far East, Hergé, japan, opium, peter jackson, political correctness, racism, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the blue locust, the adventures of tintin: the blue lotus, the blue locust, the blue lotus, tintin and the blue locust, tintin and the blue lotus, Tintin in the Congo, tintin in the far east, tintin: the blue locust, tintin: the blue lotus | 2 Comments »

Tintin: Cigars of the Pharaoh (Review)

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Darren

This is more like it. I think Cigars of the Pharaoh is the first quintessential Tintin story. It really feels like Hergé has figured out the kind of stories he wants to tell, with a weird blend of various pulp genres from crime to mystery to horror, all mixed with a healthy dose of comedy. It’s also the first adventure in the series (and I’m including Tintin in the Congo) that feels truly exotic as our hero travels the world to unearth the central mystery.