The Adventures of Tintin: Breaking Free
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The Adventures of Tintin: Breaking Free is an anarchist parody of the popular Tintin series of comics. The book was written under the pseudonym "J. Daniels" and published by Attack International in April of 1989 and then republished in 1999 (ISBN 0951426109). The story features a number of characters from the original series, notably Tintin himself and Captain Haddock (referred to only as 'the Captain'), but not the original themes or plot. The characters themselves have been changed, practically beyond all recognition. For example, Wolff from Destination Moon makes an appearance as the ineffectual "Mr. Jones, the Union Representative," while Thomson is converted into the revolutionary firebrand Frank (see image below). Tintin himself quite uncharacteristically uses a great deal of violence and profanity.
While anarchist themes and ideas are strongly expressed throughout the comic, none of the characters explicitly refer to themselves as anarchists. Some have criticised the comic for this, regarding it as contrived.
[edit] Story
The comic opens with Tintin arriving at the Captain's flat in a fictional estate, somewhere in England, Tintin has recently been sacked for losing his temper and punching his boss and expresses frustration about being "pushed around" and "kicked around like a lump of dogshit." The Captain offers to get Tintin a job on a local building site where he works.
As the story progresses, Tintin meets the local residents and his workmates and issues faced by the area, such as racism, gentrification and general apathy from local government, are introduced.
The anger felt by the working class people of this town boils over when a construction worker, Joe Hill (apparently named after the anarcho-syndicalist organiser of the same name) falls to his death due to poor safety standards at the local building site. Faced with insensitivity from their manager ("Had he been drinking?"), as well as apathy and condescension from their trade union official, the construction workers stage an unofficial strike action. The builders demand better safety standards, improved wages, a change of management for the site and a large sum of money for the family of their dead workmate.
The strike escalates, with management refusing to concede any of the demands, doing under the table deals with union officials to bring in scab labour (see strike action). Meanwhile, the strike begins to spread to other local workplaces, becoming a symbol of class struggle, as well as a struggle for better short-term conditions. The workers become increasingly militant, turning to violent tactics and eventually firebombing the original building site.
The strike begins to spread to other areas of the country with no official union involvement. Panicked, the UK government deals with strikers with increasing violence and repression, demonstrations turn into riots, and the Captain is arrested on false charges of conspiracy.
As the story closes, there is a demonstration of hundreds of thousands of people in the town in which the events of the book unfold, several people have brought rifles and references are made to "strike committees" taking power in other areas of the country, the army being sent into Liverpool to "restore order," and similar unrest taking place around the world.
The last page features the Captain, Tintin and the Captain's Wife Mary in silhouette. Tintin holds an assault rifle above his head, while the others raise their fists. Below is written: "This Is Not The End / Only the beginning..."
