Tintin was born in 1929 when the artist Georges Remi, more widely know under the pseudonym Hergé, got an assignment to edit the children pages of the catholic magazine Le Vingtiéme Siecles (The twentieth century). The first comic was “Tintin in the land of the Soviets”. It has few things in common with the later comics. The early drawings are crude and sometimes even indistinct (this evolves during the comic, however), and it has an unlikely story and the Soviet of the comic has little to do with the former communist state of the real world. The comic criticizes communism, but the only material Hergé had was an anti-communistic book which probably was characterized by mainly subjective opinions, and as such Hergés criticism became crude and one-dimensional. He did much better research before he wrote the later comics, even though “Tintin in the Congo”, the second comic, has a very biased picture of the black people in Africa. Tintin travels hither and dithers all around the world. Except already mentioned Africa and Soviet, he visits among others China and Tibet, but also some made up countries. Those nations are, even though they don’t exist in real world, very naturally portrayed and could very well have been real countries. For example, two neighbouring countries, Syldavia and Borduria, of which the first is a peaceful country, clearly inspired by the Slavic nations and the other a “communist-fascistic” country, probably inspired by both Soviet as well as Nazi Germany. In the comic where these countries are introduced, ”King Ottokar’s Sceptre”, we get a brief look at Syldavia’s history and culture. Sadly, we don’t get to know much about Borduria, except that their government is power hungry and that they have a leader with moustache… Something all books have in common is the timeless sense of humour. Slapstick is mixed with accurate satire, and it blends in so well with the rest of the comic. It never gets boring. I myself have probably read the Tintin-albums I own, and I have never gotten tired of it. There are however both ups (“Destination Moon”, “Explorers of the Moon”, “The Blue Lotus”) and downs (“Flight 714”). The Tintin comics are characterized by a strong cast: Captain Haddock, Tryphon Tournesol (Cuthbert Calculus in English) and of course Tintin himself and his dog, Milou (Snowy in English) just to mention a few.

Tintin is one of the world’s most famous journalists. However, we never see him write a single article, except in “Tintin in the land of the Soviets”. As a person he is timeless and without age, you could almost call him genderless, as there really is nothing that specifically points him out as a man. The name Tintin is even a girls name (at least here in Sweden)! He also seems to mirror his creator Hergé to a certain degree. At the beginning of the comics, when Hergé was young, Tintin was always vigorous and on the go. But in the last comic, “Tintin and the picaros”, when Hergé was an old man, a lot of the vigour Tintin once possessed seems to be gone. Tintin has a quite simple personality. He is the typical hero – brave, good-hearted and he is ready to sacrifice his life for others. He also lacks a past; we don’t get to know anything about how his

life once was, no relatives and the like. Hergé once said: “Tintin, c’est moi!” As a reader I must agree. Tintin’s neutral personality and lack of past can function as a mould in which we can pour our own experiences and thoughts – the reader is Tintin!

Milou is Tintin’s constant supporter and most faithfull companion. As with Tintin he has no past, but his personality is more distinctive. In the early stories he talks to Tintin, comments on events and shows both bravery and cowardice. When captain Haddock is introduced Milou loses a lot of his personality, and while some of it is transferred into Haddock it is sad that Milou is pushed a little into the background.

Captain Archibald Haddock is probably one of the reasons of Tintin’s great success. He is a loud, bad-tempered and unlucky man, but still sensitive and good-hearted. Much of what Milou once was, before Haddock was introduced, has been transferred into the captain. What characterizes Haddock except his love for booze (mainly whiskey and rum) and his pipe is his colourful vocabulary, with swear words such as “Thundering typhoons”, “Blistering barnacles” and a lot of other expressions which are directed at people, like “Two-timing tartar twisters”, “Lily-livered bandicoots” or “Pithecanthropus”. Haddock has a considerably stronger and more interesting personality than Tintin. He also has something that Tintin lacks: a past. In “The secret of the Unicorn” we get to know that he has an ancestor, Sir François of Hadoque, a person whose appearance is strikingly close to Haddocks and who was talented with an equally developed vocabulary.

Tintin, Milou and captain Haddock are the three most important characters in the comics and the three I chose to eye a little closer, but you shouldn’t forget about professor Tournesol (Calculus), Dupont and Dupond (the Thompsons in English, Thomson and Thompson), or all the colourful and imaginative villains who figure in Tintin. Together they constitute all the important parts in the comic which so many have read and loved during the years. Tintin can be read by everyone. Kids read it because of the exciting adventures and the fun slapstick humour; adults read it because of the accurate satire, but many enjoy the other humour, as well. And I would guess that most adults enjoy a good adventure as much as kids do. Tintin should be read by everyone. A masterpiece this excellent is something as many as possible should take part of. One who has never read Tintin has missed something big.

© 1997-2004 Freeway
Writers: Tomas Brännström (nv06-03@park.se).
HTML by: Joakim Strom Ramén (te05-02@park.se).