Tintinesque

Herge Auction

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:07:38 -0500

Last week, on May 29, 2010, there was a big Herge auction going on in Paris. It was sponsored by Moulinsart, and there were some 230 items up for grabs. You can see the full list here.
Among the big-ticket items were this life-size bronze Tintin statue which sold for 125,000 Euros.

But the most expensive lot was two inked and water-painted original panels from the 1938 King Ottokar's Sceptre album which sold for 243,000 Euros.

My personal favorite was this Tintin illustrator Herge drew for a friend, who collected seashells. This one fetched 131,000 Euros.

Aurora/Boreas

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:04:09 -0500

The German polar exploration boat Schwabenland launching a flying boat called Boreas. The images, and the name Boreas, remind us of a similar boat called Aurora...
From "Hitler's Antarctic Base the Myth and the Reality"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25311/Hitlers-Antarctic-Base-the-Myth-and-the-Reality

Missing page from the Picaros (English)

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:32:16 -0500

Many of us know that Herge drew a page in his serialization of Tintin and the Picaros, which he took out when he formed it into an album. An image of this page has circulated among Tintinophils for quite a while. However, I had always seen the page in its original Frnech. Here is an English version:

Do you find this funny? It sounds like a silly joke to me, not living up to the standard of the rest of the Tintin literature, and even that of the book itself...

No, this is not from the new Spielberg movie!

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:46:36 -0500

Re-enacting of Tintin book frame, P. Carre, La Traversée 2006

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:24:27 -0500

It has been a long time since any major update here. Let's hope I can write more in 2009. Menawhile, I wish you a great year and Merry Christmas!

Yeti may yet exist!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:09:31 -0500

According to this article, there is new evidence that yet may really exist!

Cigars of the Pharaoh

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:29:23 -0500

This may be common knowledge to everyone but myself, but I have never seen it mentioned in any of the fan websites or even books about Tintin. In such books it should come under the sections titled "Continuity". Have you noticed that as late as "Flight 714", Rastapopoulos is still smoking the "Cigars of the Pharaoh"? They have the mark of Kih-Oskh on them. Have a closer look:

Herge, prisoner of his own characters

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:42:11 -0500

Herge might have had taken some time off during the writing of the "Land of Black Gold". Here he is shown arrested by his own characters and forced back to work to finish the story. I cannot read what Segneur Oliviera da Figuera is saying, but the rest are loosely translated as follows (clockwise, from the left):

Haddock: "Blistring barnacles! You must fill these pages fast, dude!"
Oliviera:"..." [something about the servants of Professor Smith].
Thomson: " No more fun, my son! Back to work!"
Dr. Mueller: "Damn, he is going to send Tintin after me again!..."
Thompson: "To be precise: No more sun!"
Emir Ben Khalish Ezab: "Are you finally going to let Tintin rescue my darling Abdallah?"
Tintin: "That's right, my firends! Herge has been found! We are finally going to know the rest of "The Black Gold""!
Snowy: "How upsetting! I was quite enojying the break! He will be sending me again on new adventures"
Calculus: "I always said that you would find him if you look towards the west..."

Original ending to "The Shooting Star"

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:57:59 -0500

Here is the original ending to "The shooting Star", omitted from the books. Capitan Haddock, Professor Calys (renamed Phostle in the English edition) and Tintin are interviewed on the radio after returning form the North Pole about the significance of their trip. Herge plays a joke on his editor and the paper shortages during the war: Tintin's says in the last frame "There is a lot more I would like to say, but our editor tells me there is no more paper." This is adopted from the controversial book "Tintin mon copain" by Leon Degrelle. More will be coming from this book.

Chrismas card by Yves Rodier

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:52:22 -0500

From the year 1994:

Breaking Free

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:13:26 -0500

Here is a new entry in my favorite category of Tintin albums by people other than Herge. This book called 'Breaking Free' shows Tintin and the captain as anarchist construction workers in Britain, challenging their evil employer and the workers union. Many other characters from the Tintin universe drop in during the story which is a few hundred pages long!

I don't know the author's name for sure; it has been listed as 'J. Daniels' online. So drop me a comment if you happen to know. The whole book can be viewed at Breaking Free.

Tintin and Thermezero

Mon, 08 May 2006 14:30:04 -0500

Here is another example of the works of the Canadian Yves Rodier, who is most famous for having completed 'Tintin and Alph-Art'.

In my opinion Rodier deliberately distorts the lines drawn by Herge in his reworkings to make the drawings 'his'. Compare Tintin's innocent face in Herge's drawing and the angular lines in the same face redrawn by Rodier in the bottom left frame. Many thanks to a correspondent who prefers to stay anonymous.

'Tintin and Thermezero', page 4, as redrawn by Yves Rodier :

The original drawing for that page by the master himself, Herge:

Tintin arrives in Quebec

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:40:46 -0500

A heads up to Tintin fans in Canada:

"Musée de la civilisation" Québec city, QC will host the first major Tintin exhibit to visit Canada since Montreal's « Le musée imaginaire de Tintin » in 1980. According to the Tintin official website, the exhibit "In Peru with Tintin" will stay there from October 2006 to January 2008.

One of my best Christmas presents ever!

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:34:19 -0500

Photo from store.tintin.com.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:22:12 -0500