Talk:The Adventures of Tintin

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Contents

[edit] Page illustrations

They are rather odd at the moment, like someone is trying to be arty rather than informative. There is no prominent image of Tintin himself on the entire page, for example.

In accordance with fair use policy, copyrighted images should be kept at a minimum. Nobody is trying to be arty, the lead photo is well suited to illustrating the series and has the benefit of being a free to use image. Please appreciate that using copyrighted images is something we are lucky to do on the English Wikipedia, other wikipedia's do not have such policies, for example contrast with the german version of this page. Currently, there are no images of Tintin himself uploaded to Wikipedia that meet Wikipedia's usage policies. Steve block Talk 10:18, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
These images should indeed be kept to a minimum, but if you should not use them on your user page or other non-directly related pages, I think that fair-use crtiteria for Tintin-related image does apply to this page without problem. I think the new images suffer from severe quality problems : The first one (books cover) has blown out highlights and is badly cropped (there is some unrelated material visible at the bottom, and some of the covers are cut off). The one with the watch is completely out of focus and badly cropped (part of a doorway visible). If I am not mistaken, you are the author of the stuffed Snowies picture and the last picture. Would it be possible to re-take those two pictures? The stuffed snowy would benefit from being taken out of their shelf and placed on a table or other open space for the picture. The Watch picture needs to be in focus. Besides, I am not a copyright expert, but I am not sure that a picture of a copyrighted book cover doesn't fall under copyright laws. By the way, it seems that the first picture is being discussed for deletion for that precise reason. Glaurung 07:08, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
I am not the author of the images at all, no, I sourced them from flickr as being free to use. The reliance of fair use images is a concern at the featured article review and that's what I am trying to address. My understanding of fair use policy is that where a free alternative exists, it should be used. The quality of the images seems acceptable from my end. I'm no copyright expert either, and especially not on US copyright laws, so I can't comment on the status of that picture. Steve block Talk 08:37, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
  • It appears that the copyright status of these images is the same as images from the work, so where it makes sense to use the images from the work they can be replaced. If you can find a better image that illustrates the merchandise section suitably, that would be great. Steve block Talk 09:35, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
  • That said, it appears that a photograph of merchandise has two copyrights, one to the photographer and one to the charcter copyright holder, so the fair use is more complicated unless the photo is released as these have been, under a Wikipedia compliant free to use license. Steve block Talk 09:40, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
  • Suggestion: Which image would be better suited for the merchandise section, the watch or the snowy image? The Tintin and Snowy image works for both characters, really, so if you feel the Snowy image is better suited than the watch to illustrate that section, that seems a better idea. On the wall shot, Perhaps the best image to use in the lead might be the cast shot Image:TintinCast.gif? Or do you have other thoughts? Steve block Talk 09:49, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
  • I think the Snowy image is better for the merchandise section, and the cast shot for the top of the article. A better quality image for the merchandise would be welcome, but I shouldn't complain as I don't contribute any images ;-) Fram 09:54, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
  • Okay, I've implemented that move then. What I'll do either tonight or tomorrow is post links to the images I found on flickr and we can see what's the best one to use. Steve block Talk 10:04, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
I think it looks pretty good like this. Thanks. -Glaurung 11:09, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of books with links?

It suprises me that there is no list of the books with links to their wiki articles on the main tintin page

There is an infobox at the very bottom of the page. Poulsen 21:50, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
But said infobox does not organize the titles in any useful way. A chronological list of the books would be desireable in a featured article. (And I don't know what the order is, so don't tell me to do it myself.) 4.231.168.184 22:45, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I was going to raise this same point. I came here for a definative list of Tintin titles translated into English and found it absent, odd given that there is a complete list of Tintin in every other media he has appeared in. AlanD 20:20, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you 17:30, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Political (in)correctness

The first stories of Tintin were naively racist from a modern point of view but at the time they were no more or less racist than contemporary pulp adventures. The idea for the _Tintin in Africa _was originally from the editor of _Le Petit Vingtieme _who wanted Herge to make propaganda for Belgian colony of Congo. After WW2 he made colored versions of the first stories and removed most blatant propaganda and racism – and completely ludicrous sequences like blowing up a rhino with dynamite. It still does exist in some editions, though.

When Herge was planning _Blue Lotus, _he was introduced to young Chinese student Tsang-Tsong-jen. After that he consciously tried to place the story in accurately depicted China and make Chinese human beings instead of caricatures. After that he wanted to make the stories as accurate as possible – within the limits of the comical medium, of course. Even vehicles are accurate to the point of correct door locking mechanisms. For _Calculus Affair _he looked for a suitable place in a real Swiss road where a car could drive into a lake.

Still, Herge changed his later albums for various reasons afterwards. British publisher of _The Black Island _wanted more accurate Britain – of the 1965 when the original version was made in 1938. He changed a black man with a whip in _The Crab with the Golden Claws _into an Arab. From _the Prisoners of the Sun _he removed a sequence where Haddock chews coca leaf. _Land of Black Gold _was originally about a conflict of Jewish guerilla and British mandate soldiers in Palestine. In _The Red Sea Sharks, _he made would-be-slaves “primitive” speech less so. Indian Airlines complained that none of their planes had ever crashed like in _Tintin in Tibet _and Herge changed the company into Sari Airlines. He seemed to have bent over backwards to avoid any hint of racism or jingoism. In fact, he ridicules those attitudes in the form of Dupont and Dupond who always believe in the stereotype – use ridiculous “national” costumes and jump to conclusions based on ethnic origin.

Nuevo Rico appears only in _the Broken Ear. _The country mentioned in _The Shooting Star _is Sao Rico – of which we know nothing else than its flag and the fact that there is a bank. _The Shooting Star _was made during German occupation of Belgium and Herge was apparently afraid of censorship of the possible worst kind – in short, he had to make propaganda again. He was briefly suspected of collaboration after the war. In a post-war version he replaced USA with Sao Rico. Banker’’s original name was Blumenstein and Herge was afraid that it would sound too Jewish and changed it to Bohlwinkel – which proved to be a real-life Jewish surname...

Skysmith¨ Skysmith

More elaboration is needed. -- Hajhouse

Yes, things like the importance of "Le journal de Tintin", that is the weekly comics periodical founded in 1948 in Brussels, are sadly neglected, and the personal and professional friendship btween Herge and Edgar P. Jacobs (author of the adventures of Blake and Mortimer) is a crucial element in understanding the development of the adventures and their graphic styles.

Unfortunately, all my Tintin stuff is in storage, across the country. From memory though: Hergé and his mentor, mr. Wallez?, were originally strongly anti-American. The picture of the poor woman in the ghetto may have been a criticism of the USA, and the American publishers may have interpreted it as such.

The error of Hergé's ways was, IMHO, not so much seeing that what he wrote could be construed as being racist, but rather that it could be recognised as inaccurate. IIRC, a reader who was offended by the simplistic stereostypes of the early albums offered Hergé to inform him about 'real life' in China.

I think The Blue Lotus deserves its own article, on the grounds of it being one the most important 20th century comics albums, because it was a break-through album in Hergé's development and because it helps portray the way Hergé and many Europeans of his time looked upon 'racial' and cultural differences. -- branko

Early Herge is more naive than racist. He wrote at a time when his publisher was keen to promote Belgium as a colonial power, hence the scene in Congo where Tintin does a stint as a schoolteacher, writing "notre patrie la Belgique" on a blackboard. -- Tarquin

I think intention to promote Congo (colony or not) is quite clear in the french and spanish language titles of this album which would translate as Tintin in Congo instead of Tintin in Africa.
--Fern 21:46, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Tarquin, did you intend to remove "Cuthbert"? -phma

I made a huge accident in the layout when I put headings in for the characters -- it was probably that. Sorry. - tarquin

The ISBN for Le Haddock Illustre is correct (tested on www.fnac.com), but the site that Wikipedia is using for ISBN's doesn't like it. I'm assuming that's because it's not an English book. -- Tarquin

Is Abdullah's full name "Abdullah ben Mohammed Ezab" (with Ezab being the family name) or "Abdullah ben Mohammed" (i.e. Mohammed's father was Kalish Ezab ben someone else)? -phma

Should app the book pages be put into a sub-category. It is not obvious that Cigars of the Pharaoh is fictional or has anything to do with Tintin.

-- Chris Q 10:57 Oct 18, 2002 (UTC)
The policy is to avoid creating subpages. However, we should rewrite the intro to Cigars of the Pharaoh to make it clear what it is. -- Tarquin 14:19 Oct 18, 2002 (UTC)

Is there an English texpression for "La Ligne Claire" ? Ericd 21:57 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

The term "ligne claire" appears to be used quite widely in English. Flapdragon 17:44, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

This paragraph is gratuitous:

Tintin has also been accused of sexism, due to its almost complete lack of female characters. It must be noted, though, that the only recurring female character, Bianca Castafiore, is portrayed as temperamentic and strong willed, and as an independent agent without a direct attachement to any of the male characters.

Unless sources for the accusations of sexism can be provided, I think it should be removed. A great deal of books, comics, cartoons, and computer games targeted at young boys contain mostly male characters, so Tintin is hardly alone in that regard; in any case, IMO the lack of major female characters in a work is not in itself an indication of sexism.

Comments about Hergé and ideology.

Tintin first albums are anti-Soviet, pro-colonialist, anti-American. This is obvious. Well Hergé is young, Belgian and catholic and published in catholic newspaper. He's naive and under influence and his comics are reflecting the dominant ideolgy in Belgiumat that time.

Things begin to changes with "The Blue Lotus" (his encouter with Tchang may have change his mind) his vision of China his more subtle and the album can be read as anti-colonialist.

Things gets more complicated later "King Ottokar's Sceptre" is obviouly anti-nazi. But some album are more controversial. The early and unfinished version of "Land of Black Gold" is generally considered as pro-Arab, anti-Zionist and anti-British.

The more controversial book is "The Shooting Star" which can be read as a competition between Europeans (German occupied at that time) and anglo-Americans (some of the Anglo-American have Jewish names, and Tintin flies a German plane at least in first edition), IMHO the ideology is not obvious and maybe it was done to fool censorship but it can be discussed.

"The Calculus Affair" is anti-Stalinist but there is nothing controversial IMO.

"The Castafiore Emerald" takes part for the gispsies.

"Flight 714" is obviously mocking Marcel Dassault who was both a jew and a weapon seller, this could be interpreted as anti-semitic by some but there's no reference to the fact he was was jewish. BTW weapons sellers are a recuring theme in Tintin there are several (more or less obvious) references to De Havilland.

The last controversial album is "Tintin and the Picaros" it has been seen both as left-wing and right-wing. Well Hergé fooled everyone, Tintin supports the guerrilla but the guerrilla is pro-west and the end suggest that the revolution didn't change anything.

If someone can turn it in good English and incorporate in the article, thanks.

Ericd 22:49 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

"This paragraph is gratuitous:

Tintin has also been accused of sexism, due to its almost complete lack of female characters. It must be noted, though, that the only recurring female character, Bianca Castafiore, is portrayed as temperamentic and strong willed, and as an independent agent without a direct attachement to any of the male characters.

Unless sources for the accusations of sexism can be provided, I think it should be removed. A great deal of books, comics, cartoons, and computer games targeted at young boys contain mostly male characters, so Tintin is hardly alone in that regard; in any case, IMO the lack of major female characters in a work is not in itself an indication of sexism."

All the Franco-Belgian comics until the end of the 60's suffer from a complete lack of female characters. This is an interresting problem. Seccotine a minor character in Spirou and later Laureline (My favourite. Boys, what a woman. She inspired "The Fifth Element" !). In Belgian comics, Natacha and Yoko Tsuno where probably the first female characters.

Ericd 16:59, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

She more than inspired the 5th element -- Mezieres who draws Valerian designed the aliens & stuff in the film -- Tarquin 23:03 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

I agree with you at 200% a lot of themes in the plot can be found in Valerian. The flying taxi, the space cruise... Ericd 23:07 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

I forgot the most important the four elements (Yes not the five) have a major role in "Métro Chatelet direction Cassiopée" and "Brooklin Station terminus cosmos". I'm still disappointed that even in France so few people have made the connection between the film and the comics which are IMO among the best sci-fi comics ever written (drawed ?).
Ericd 23:37 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

Allan or Alacazar ? Ericd 21:15, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

In Cigars? I think it must be Allan, given the Rastapopoulos connection, but I haven't the book to check -- Tarquin 11:09, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I don't understand the question, but I think EricD was asking whether Allan appeared in Cigars. He did, but anonymously as the crook who ditches the coffins bearing Tintin, Snowy and the made professot overboard. Arno 01:14, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

130, you are welcome to add notes here. However, please note the following:

(1) Please reemember to punctuate your comments. For instance, start sentences with capital letters.

(2) Make sure that your comments are not redundant.

(3) Avoid obsolete web page links.

Thanks

Arno 10:27, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Tintin's name

I think the sentence on the meaning of Tintin's name is spurious - both the original version stating that it "literally means 'nothing'" and the recent edit that it is short for "Valentin". Neither Harry Thompson's biography of Herge nor Michael Farr's Tintin: The Complete Companion make any mention of a meaning for Tintin's name. Google doesn't reveal any other alleged links from "Tintin" to "Valentin", and the only one linking "Tintin" with the meaning of "nothing" is this page: http://www.tutorgig.com/encyclopedia/getdefn.jsp?keywords=Tintin which the original author of the name/meaning sentence seems to have copied from word-for-word. Therefore, I am deleting the sentence entirely until anyone can come up with some more conclusive evidence. dmmaus 03:08, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

Hmmm. As a matter of fact, that tutorgig article is copied from Wikipedia! So there is no source at all for Tintin literally meaning "nothing". dmmaus 03:17, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

www.tintin.com states about Tintin: "Take the name for a start. In neither French nor English does it mean anything. Is it a first name or a surname?" This seems pretty conclusive that "Tintin" does not mean anything. dmmaus 03:27, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

I have a book--"Tintin: The Complete Companion." It clearly states that the name is a derivative of Herge's earlier comic about a scout master named Totor, who also looks almost exactly like Tintin. Lockeownzj00 04:08, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Correct. See Les aventures de Totor for some images. Totor is chef de patrouille des Hannetons, i.e. "scout master of the May Beetles". The name Totor may be derived from Du. tor, which means "beetle". Karl Stas 10:17, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Then again, Totor and Tintin may well be pet names derived from Victor and Martin or Valentin. Karl Stas 22:25, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I may be a bit late, but I can answer for the "Tintin's name literally means 'nothing'" quote. It's taken from the book TINTIN Y EL MUNDO DE HERGÉ by Benoît Peeters. Editorial Juventud ISBN 84-246-2523-9 on page 31. A side-bar titled TINTIN says, and I quote:

"Escuchemos primero su nombre: éste nombre que en francés significa «nada», destaca inmediatamente por su doble sílaba. Como si este patronímico que en realidad no lo es (¿se trata de un apellido, de un nombre o de un simple apodo?) no pudiese prolongarse más que para repetirse, más que para anularse instantáneamente."

--Fern 21:46, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I have an odd information, but not sure where it should go. "Tintin" is translated as "Tantan" in Japanese editions. "Tintin" happens to be a childish word for a penis and was deemed inappropriate when first translated. Revth 02:21, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)
The japanese word for penis is "chinchin", "tintin" would be spelled (and I believe in most dialects?) pronounced differently. Another reason might be that "tantan" is closer to the original french pronunciation. Check out the "Katakana" entry for more information about the differences between ti and chi. (Actually, "Ti" is not a native phoneme in the japanese language.)

[edit] Pictures

The lack of pictures is astounding. We need some Haddock, Calculus, milou, etc. in here. Lockeownzj00 04:08, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I am surprised that there are any images at all. All Tintin images are copyrighted and no images can be used without permission from the Fondation Hergé Moulinsart. Karl Stas 10:02, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The Foundation responded to e-mail and gave me permission to use images on The Tintin Trivia Quiz. Just because something is copyrighted doesn't mean you can't copy it. You just can't copy it without permission.

I'd say, be happy to have A picture, since there's people with a great fear of copyright lawyers who always takes it off. I don't know how it got to be on there. I'm guessing permission was obtained but I'm not sure
--Fern 21:46, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The proper contact to ask for permission seems to be Yves Février at yves@tintin.com. Apparently they do, on occasion, grant permission, seeing as Mark Rosenfelder's page on Syldavian has several images, and notes that they are "Used by kind permission of the Fondation Hergé." --Xiaopo ℑ 23:05, Sep 17, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Mad Scientist

Does Cuthbert Calculus qualify as a mad scientist ? He might be a stock character scientist but not mad IMO ! Ericd 22:46, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I agree, Calculus doesn't qualify as a mad scientist. He's merely a little deaf, as he says when he introduces himself in Red Rackham's Treasure making a funny character, but nevertheless, being funny he still plays vital parts in the plot. If Calculus is to be considered "mad", then all scientists who are as distracted as he would be also. Can't think of any other examples of distracted scientists except Professor Elm from Pokémon.
--Fern 21:46, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Personally, I'm fascinated by the paragraph "The Calculus character was most likely inspired by Auguste Piccard. 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, Prof. Alembick in King Ottokar's Sceptre)." Could we have more info on this? - Ta bu shi da yu 11:36, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Interesting point of view, Ta bu shi. However, neither of them was mad. The professor from Cigars of the Pharaoh was simply somewhat forgetful, and probably didn't have the right glasses on (of course, he does go compleately mad once he gets that drug). Professor Alembick for starters isn't himself for most of the book, it's his twin, and from little we get to know of him from the begining (he smokes, uses glasses, and is obsessed with studying seals) I don't think we could call him mad. If you are refering to the part where he confuses Tintin with a lady, it was because he didn't turn around to look at who had walked in.
--Fern 13:01, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Featured article

I have placed Tintin on WP:FAC (link to discussion), and invite everyone to help me get it up to FA status. {Ⓐℕάℛℹℴɴ} 13:00, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I support putting Tintin as a featured article. This article is really well done. While it may not be the most illustrated article, it certainly does go very in-depth on the subject of Tintin. Horray to that! J.
--Fern 21:46, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup and clarifications

I'm not in the publishing business but "200 million books have been published" just doesn't sound right. I suggest replacing "published" with "sold" or "printed" or whatever was meant or is true.

Can we have some clarification of the sentence "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.". Which fans were these? - Ta bu shi da yu 10:46, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Well, Hergé never provided any details on Tintin's past nor his habits which (according to Tintin en el Mundo de Hergé) is what let him be so flexible in so many different scenarios. By starting to give Tintin some of these features, some of Tintin's ability to fit in every scenario could be lost.
Also, some people just assumed some of these details (such as "Tintin is a Belgian reporter that probably graduated from some university where he studied the reporter carreer. He doesn't seem to have much free time due to his occupation, and when he takes a 'vacation', it turns into a big adventure, taking the 'relax' out of it")
--Fern 11:54, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I understand now. Firstly, how do we incorporate this into the story? Secondly, I object to the words "some fans" without a qualification of who those fans might be. This is called a weasel term and is frowned upon by Wikipedia. - Ta bu shi da yu 12:05, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I've attempted some more rewording. {Ⓐℕάℛℹℴɴ} 12:14, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

"In later stories, Hergé admitted to increasingly identify with Haddock, rather than Tintin." where are we getting this information from? Can we expand on this? Seems interesting, just unverifiable. - Ta bu shi da yu 12:02, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hergé was filmed stating this in an interview, which was also in the documentary "Tintin and I" (Tintin et Moi). It is a well-attributed statement, but I am searching for the original interview now for sources. {Ⓐℕάℛℹℴɴ} 12:14, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Cool... if we could get clarification then this will be good. If you find it put into a References section (see Cite your sources for the format). - Ta bu shi da yu 04:38, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Apparently the source is a 12-hour audio interview by Numa Sadoul from 1971, which appeared — abbreviated — in book form, but was edited by Hergé. {Ⓐℕάℛℹℴɴ} 12:16, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Cool. Can we include something of what he said? - Ta bu shi da yu 15:12, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Actually, I think it must be from Tintin and I. We should really see if we could incorporate this into the story - it seems pretty important! - Ta bu shi da yu 15:13, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

---

This is just a minor error, but Chang is listed as a country.

[edit] Tintin in Thailand

Can we add something about this? - Ta bu shi da yu 15:29, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Other than provide a link to it, I am not sure what… but I'll try. {Ⓐℕάℛℹℴɴ} 15:35, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
If anyone is interested, I managed to track down a PDF version of this. 2,79 MB, contact me by e-mail for a copy.

-- Jordi·✆ 20:40, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Is Haddock really British ?

The article says Haddock is British. I have no evidence of that. If I don't have any justifications, I'm gonna suppress this. Thanks. --JeDi

I hadn't noticed the article said that. If it does, I'm sure it's wrong. Tintin met Cpt. Haddock in a port in France so he could tecnically be from anywhere. However, when we have to discover the secret of the Unicorn (the ship, not the animal) then we find out that he descends from a frenchman, right?
--Fern 10:39, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
All Haddock's colleagues have English names: Chester, Allan Thompson. Hadoque's Unicorn had rum onboard, French ships during that period did not stock rum. English ships did. The cannons on The Unicorn were tied in an English fashion. François Hadoque (Sir Francis Haddock) used English spelling on the seacharts: eg. W for West instead of O for French Ouest. And of course a 'haddok' is a "sad English fish". So yes, he is English at least. Anárion 11:43, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Also, I read that he yelled "hurrah" in the French edition, after having escaped from the Red Rackham. This exclamation seems to have been common in English (inspired by similar shouts in other Germanic languages), but virtually unknown in French in the 17th century. I got this info from an English book about the ships of the Tintin comics.

Well I don't think so. His ancestor was Francois de Haddock (maybe Francis in the english translation) and he was a captain in the Louis XIV's marine, which is not an english king as I know. I really see no hard evidence he is english here ...

"François de Haddoque" aka "Chevalier de Haddoque" a is the commander of a French vessel, "La Licorne" has a French flag (not the blue-white-red, the old royal flag). And I'm pretty sure that the French trade rum from Martinique and Guadeloupe under Louis XIV. Ericd 14:50, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Ok, so If nobody minds, I'm gonna suppress this reference tomorrow and let the reader guess Haddock's nationality himself. --JeDi

His ancestor is Sir Francis Haddock, and only Brits can have the title "sir" as far as I know.--212.100.250.207

There is no direct reference to Haddock being British, so it should not be added in the article. /GurraJG 16:33, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

This is an old controversy among Tintinologists, the name "Archibald Haddock", among with several other mentioned facts could imply a British origin, but there hasn't been made any unambiguous canonical claims by Hergé himself.

Hey guys, I only have the Dutch edition in my possesion and I've found some interesting facts. Here Haddock's ancestor was named Ridder Hadoque Kapitein van 's Konings Marine Kommandant van Het Schip De Eenhoorn. In 1698 he commanded a French vessel, however with a British flag. The 1606 Union Jack is depicted several times (without St. Patrick Cross). So he might have been a Brit in service of Louis XIV. How is this depicted in the British version? Meursault2004 17:18, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Could Haddock be a Belgian ? According to the French edition of "the Castafiore Emerald" Moulinsart is in the Ardennes near Ghand (Yes, not Gand). However in the French edition the Licorne is a French ship. Ericd 22:50, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yes of course, it is evident that he is Belgian. We are talking about his ancestry ;-) Meursault2004 01:07, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I've read again "The Crab with the Golden Claws", "The Shooting Star", "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure" in French edition. There's no doubt that the "Chevalier de Haddoque" is commanding a French vessel : the Unicorn has the lily flower flag and Moulinsart is a present from Louis XIV. Strangely "the Unicorn" carries Jamaican rum. However there are many reason to believe that Haddock is British or at least born somewhere in the British Empire. His first name is Archibald, he drinks Whisky and when he meet Chester he makes some kind of maori dance. My final opinion is that Hergé designed Haddock as a British character but during German occupation it was important to give him some French origins.

Ericd 10:13, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yes I think you opinion is right. Herge might have changed his nationatily/ethnicity during German occupation. BTW "The Crab with Golden Claws" appeared during the war. I am just surprised why the Dutch edition depicts the British flag on Haddoque's vessel. An aside: Red Rackham is also an English name. Meursault2004 07:14, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

It all depends on which edition you've read. In the original French versions, Francois Haddock's ship, La Licorne, clearly had a Franch flag flying. In the English version, Sir Francis Haddock's Unicorn flies an English flag. Moulinsart a.k.a. Marlinspike should be somewhere in Belgium, because everytime you see firefighters (example, the magpie from The Castafiore Emerald) wear specific uniforms, and they don't seem French nor British to me.

With respect to Belgium: in The Calculus Affair, gendarmes appear. They don't wear French Gendarmerie uniforms, most probably they are Belgian gendarmeries. So Marlinspike is in Belgium probably. David.Monniaux 11:07, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Yes you're right. But do not forget that Tintin and Haddock explicitly drove to a French port, probably Le Havre where they met Genaral Alcazar. It was a long drive form Moulinsart/Marlinspike. Meursault2004 13:51, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

Yep, in the "Seven Crystal Balls" we see Tintin and Haddock driving to Saint Nazaire a famous harbor (France, territorial department of Loire Atlantique, near the city of Nantes) and there we see the typically French police uniform with Kepis, so it's obvious Tintin doesn't live in France.
And yes, in the French version, The ancestor of Haddock is a captain of a French ship (a blue flag with golden lillys). waggg 16:07, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

As it happens, he did not drive to a French harbour. In the Dutch version (remember 60% of Belgium is Dutch speaking, do not let the local word Flemish confuse English speakers that Flemish is a different tongue to Dutch, it really irks me when people refer to say, a town square in Dutch speaking Belguim as Grand Place when it is Grote Markt) anyhow, The town they drive to is called Antwerpen (Antwerp)furthermore, the landscape and house architecture is Netherlandish. Herge worked in Brussels a Dutch town, it was once the capital of the Netherlands, not the Hague, indeed, the Netherlands begins at the Somme, so even if Tintin goes to northern France, it is still the Netherlands. Herge would have been well able to speak and read Dutch even though he was chiefly a French speaker. He would have used Dutch words and twisted these to hide their roots such as in King Ottokar's motto, eik bennet, eik blavet, this is a French speaker's phonetic writing of the Dutch, Ik ben het, Ik blyf het (I am it, I stay [remain] it). He used what so ever worked. I see that people like to put Hrege down on let's say a possible Nazi link because the plane in the Secret Star is German. I have found a Tintin type story called Tristan in the Brood of Adders via www.tristancomics.com, some readers claim him to be the Son of Tintin. Well Tristan drives an Alfa Romeo, does that make him pro-facist? Artists are not always of one persuation or another, they have a mixed audience and so they jumble ingredients to appeal to many and make from all the ingredients a new reality, it is rarely some one person's reality, but it is one they like to share. They are pragmatic.

The justification for this is reports that the character was named Haddock, when Hergé’s first wife served him fish. He asked what it was, she replied “Haddock”, and Hergé is supposed to have then called it “the sad British fish”; from this he took the name for the character, and the idea that Haddock was British was born. Further to that “Archibald” (Haddock’s first name) is more common in Britain than on the continent. Slight confirmation is also found in the illustration that was done for Tintin magazine to mark the Tintin themed “Jeux Sans Frontieres”, which has Tintin carrying a Belgian flag, and Haddock a Union Jack.

I only have British Tintin books, but it's implied Haddock is of British ancestry as Sir Francis Haddock serves King Charles the Second, who gives him Marlinspike and his ship flies the union jack. However, from reading this discussion it would appear the French version implies French ancestry. Might I suggest the mention of ancestry is either removed from the article, or changed to state ambiguity? --Tim 13:53, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Ok I'll change that tomorrow if everybody agree to something like "is acestry origin are disputed but they may be british, french or more probably belgian". JeDi 09:19, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tryphonius Sunflower

In which English Language edition is Calculus named Tryphonius Sunflower ? I can find no other source than Wikipedia on the Web. It seems that the original sentence was (aka Tryphonius Sunflower). Sunflower is a direct translation of Tournesol. Ericd 16:34, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

He is NEVER refered to as Tryphonius Sunflower in the English editions. /GurraJG 16:37, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That's the direct translation of his original French name: Prof. Tournesol.

The use of “tournesol” is more probably in reference to the French for litmus paper than for the flower - it makes better sense, given that he is a scientist (see also “Professor Alembic”)

[edit] Snowy

"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." It's been a while since I've read any Tintin, but I clearly remember Snowy speaking quite often. Whether anyone could hear him or not is a different story - like with Garfield, it always seemed a bit ambiguous - but he often had speech balloons. Am I totally misremembering? -leigh (φθόγγος) 20:24, Dec 5, 2004 (UTC)

He spoke a lot in the early albums. But in the later ones as well. Like at the end of "Flight 714". He usually seems to be contemplating to himself, not really communicating orally.
I stumbled arcoss this page because it was linked to the main page and have never read the Tintin comics but this line "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" struck me as a little odd. The dog has a drinking problem? I thought it might be possible vandalism or something.

--The_stuart 18:47, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Not a drinking problem, really. Snowy likes the taste of alcohol, but doesn't seem to be aware of its consequences. I don't think it's alcoholism, as much as inebriation.
Isn't it completely natural that a French cartoon should glamorize and trivialize alcoholism? Lestrade 02:15, 10 January 2006 (UTC)Lestrade
Would you change your opinion if I told you the cartoon wasn't French? (Which you would know if you took the time to read the article...) Glaurung 07:12, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
As though Belgian culture is not saturated with French influence. Is it my subjective point of view that such Franco-Belgian comics trivialize alcoholism by portraying a dog as being drunk? There is no more vulgar or low way to get a comic effect than by showing a character as being inebriated. Crude and dull people laugh at drunks. Showing a baby or child affected by alcohol is sure to raise a laugh among unintelligent folks. According to Schopenhauer, the laugh comes from the mismatch between the perceived figure, who has lost self-control, and the concept of a dignified individual, which the figure normally represents.Lestrade 13:23, 10 January 2006 (UTC)Lestrade

[edit] Split this article?

This article is getting quite long. Perhaps we should split The Adventures of Tintin with The Adventures of Tintin (television), with a disambig notice at the top. -leigh (φθόγγος) 02:13, Dec 12, 2004 (UTC)

I think that's a good idea, because a lot more commentary and analysis about the television series in general could be added. –– Constafrequent (talk page) 06:06, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Why on earth do the character pages redirect to this page?

If the fictional countries like Syldavia and Neuvo Rico have their own pages, despite playing very trivial roles, why don't the major characters like Captain Haddock have their own pages? It's not logical.--212.100.250.207 07:27, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Redrawings

I'm surprised there isn't any information here on the redrawings; they're referenced all over the place, yet explained nowhere. When did the "modern" style kick in? How many were redrawn entirely? What was changed?

The early Black-and-White books were redrawn, largely because there was a paper shortage in Belgium at that time. They were colorized, though. Apart from that, "The black island" was completely redrawn for the British edition (in the 60's, I think), because the British publisher believed that Britain was depicted too old-fashioned.

[edit] Tintin Movie

Apparently Spielberg is producing a Tintin movie: http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=20254 -Adjusting 07:48, 2005 May 21 (UTC)

[edit] Tintin & Universal

A special limited edition of The Adventures of Tintin home video collection, with 21 full-length episodes and 7 exclusives have been featured in 7 three-in-one volumes. It is scheduled for release on VHS and DVD in North America by Universal Studios Home Video around early 2006.

Can anyone confirm this ? I've searched around and can't find anything on the Internet. I also am not convinced that seven episodes exist in addition to the 21 originals - the 21 were adapted from the 21 books available in English at the time. For there to be 28 episodes, the remaining three books (one black and white, one questionable in content and one massively unfinished) would have to have been produced plus four entirely new stories. Can anyone give any sort of confirmation for this, or indeed anything relating to the Tintin/Universal topic ? Richard W 28 June 2005 15:56 (UTC)

[edit] Loch Lomond whisky

There is a real Loch Lomond whisky ([1]). Was this around in Hergé's day, and if so did he know about it? Also, has this ever caused any problems with the portrayal of the fictional brand? (I had some of the real stuff in Scotland recently; can't say I was that impressed!) Loganberry (Talk) 04:14, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm, they have a French version of their Web page, which seems to show they're aware of the comic label(?).
There's no date for the Loch Lomond brand before 1985 in their history. Marketing hype ? Ericd 16:45, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Syldavia

"Syldavia in the Balkans is by Hergé's own admission modelled on Albania". I am inclined to think that Syldavia is more modelled from Austria, Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia. Source please ! Ericd 16:42, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

I'm fairly certain it's in Hergé by Pierre Assouline; I haven't got the book to hand but I'm sure Hergé cites Albania as the country he based Syldavia on (despite the obvious Anschluss allusions). Will check the book and cite the source. Richard W 22:55, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
Source checked and cited. A rough translation of the quote would be: "If you have a vague knowledge of history, you'll see it's completely based on fact. Syldavia is Albania. It's about the preparation of annexation. If you want to benefit from this concurrence, it's now or never."Richard W 14:39, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The japanese name of Thomson and thompson

If i believe what was written in Japanese (in katakana) on your Tintin page, the 'tranlsation' of their names is not "Dupont" and "Duvont" but "Dyupon" and "Dyubon" (sounds a bit like "dyoopon" and "dyoobon"). It's a detail but ... HTH.

Isn't that basically a transliteration from the French pronunciation? The best that could be done, considering the limited amount of Japanese different phonemes. 85.226.122.165 13:22, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

IMHO, no. "dyubon" is closer of "dubont" than "duvont" if we have to chose a francisized (? , frenchified ?) version of 'dyubon'.

IMO : it should be said that their names are : "dyupon" and "dyubon". Anyway, that's the direct translation of the katakanas you gave and as such it should be considered as the Japanese version of their names, I think. My 2 cents.

[edit] "SON OF TINTIN"

(boxed comments were deleted and later reinstated, see below)

Who is Son of Tintin and does he fit in this article? If he doesn't, I'll continue to remove the content when added.Poulsen 14:00, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

 It is somebody's modern comic that has no connection to Tintin aside from the drawings are swiped - er, derived from it. It's a pay site, as well. It's an inappropriate link and should continue to be removed. - DavidWBrooks 14:33, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Blatant linkspam. Flapdragon 15:11, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

I found this in the section "Race and colonialism":

SON OF TINTIN
The spirit of Tintin it is said by many fans lives on in a very Tintinish hero called Tristan according to fans on various forums such as on Tintinologist.org[http://www.tintinologist.org Many fans have said, that if Tintin had a son, it would be TRISTAN. The comic, A Brood of Adders, is very much in the Tintin genre but is only available as an ecomic at www.tristancomics.com.

Its poor formatting and lack of relevence made me suspect it was just an attempt to advertise these sites, and it didn't really add anything to the article, so I deleted it. —Saric (Talk) 01:38, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Note: Somebody, presumably the SON OF TINTIN poster, is removing comments from this talk page. Obviously the modern comic is linkspam and irrelevant and will be removed. - DavidWBrooks 13:09, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Persistent little spammer isn't he. Posts anonymously from a range of IP addresses starting "60.228.116.". I've tried to reinstate the deleted comments above. Flapdragon 14:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

"Zadoc" is at it again. Linkspam irritated me so much I actually signed up for a user account to nuke it. --EStoner 06:41, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Particularly annoying (though not directly relevant to the question of whether it's linkspam) is his claim that his comic is "in the tradition of Tintin", when it shows an obvious streak of anti-Semitism that would have been alien to Hergé. (And in fact makes it more dated than the original.) Flapdragon 11:26, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

"In the tradition of" means "visually ripped off from" - DavidWBrooks 12:02, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Well, I looked at the site and I think you really are a bunch of downers, and as for anti-semitism, wow, that is term getting banded around an awful lot these days. What is it, a censor tool just to stiffle anything someone else doesn't like? In the tradition of means ripped off? Give the readers a bit more credit, let readers make up their own mind. In the tradition of means to follow in a trend and so what? So many things are in a tradition of, sport teams do so, food makers do so, wine growers do so, car makers do so...big deal! I think, that when you guys can draw as good as Zadoc then may be you can start being critical. Programing and deprograming is just clicking away at something someone else has already created, and you have the nerve to speak as experts on the process of creativity? Ha! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.231.179.236 (talk • contribs) , at 15:01, 15 December 2005.

This is now clearly a case of vandalism from anonymous IP addresses, presmably for commercial reasons, though it's not clear whether it's by or with the approval of the author of the comic concerned. If you (60.231.179.236) are Zadoc or acting on his behalf you are wasting your time, as vandalism is not likely to increase sales of the comic to anyone round here, and anyway (as you've found out) your edits get deleted on sight. Flapdragon 14:23, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
I suppose we could e-mail Zadoc from the link on his page and ask him to stop. Sometimes that just aggravates people and makes them more truculant, though. By the way, I think creating an article about his comic would be perfectly reasonable - there are wikipedia articles galore about much more amateurish web comics. The only problem is the attempt to piggy-back on Tintin. - DavidWBrooks 15:08, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Zadoc responded very fully and constructively to an email asking him to make clear that he is not behind the spamming of this page, and has posted his reply here. (So for the record this is definitely the real Zadoc.) Flapdragon 23:44, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Thank you so much for your email I appreciate you informing me of this. I think I know who is doing this, I will not mention any names but he is a young and very keen supporter of my work, he loves the story and he promised to help me get the site well known. I will be talking to him over the weekend and you will not have any such problems again.
You see, Tasmania is a very small economy and artists find it hard to get by at the best of times, here even more so, so he had his own ideas and told me to trust him. I have in the meantime read comment on this page and may I please state my case? My teenage life was in Holland and Tintin was but one of the many such style of comics that I loved. I used the term on my site, “In the tradition of…” to stress to the English speaking world that my comic was not in the American style (and that is not to be taken as knocking American comics, please!) but in the European style, and as you may notice, I did not say in the tradition of Tintin, I stated in the tradition of Tintin, Blake & Mortimer, Agent 327, Suske & Wiske (Spike & Suzie) and Franka… because these are very typical Netherlandish comic styles which I loved and I wanted to bring to Australia, I wanted an Australian comic in that style or tradition. I wanted to blend my Dutch heritage with my Australian reality.
My story is set in the island state of Tasmania, it is a beautiful part of the world and I wanted to share this with the world through the enjoyable medium of comic entertainment, and to me, the Netherlandish tradition allows for this due to the great detail it has for depicting the settings in the comics of that trend. It is thus not a case of plagiarism but one of continuity of ones love and heritage.
I also noted David W Brook’s suggestion to contact me. That I would welcome very much. His suggestion of a feature would be great and I would be most thankful and any help I can get to gain acknowledgement would be most appreciated and would be happy to cooperate in any way. If ever he came to Tasmania, I would be most happy to meet with him. I am a struggling artist and I need any help and seek opinions. I know one can not please everyone, but I don’t wish to displease everyone. Please understand, I have done this whole thing on my own, I have spent 2 years drawing and colouring it and redrawing, asking peoples opinions and modifying the story and characters without trying to lose the guts and depth of the story too much. If your readers see a problem, let me know and let’s see if the problem is real and how can it be fixed. My dream was to be a comic writer years ago, this is my first serious attempt, I don’t want it to die a death. I need all the help I can get, your criticism if genuine is appreciated, but don’t give this in outlandish statements, give these in a way that a constructive outcome is reached. I am too close to my own story to see its faults. Again, thank you Harry for you email.
Yours truly,
Zadoc

[edit] Sondonesians?

it that a misspelled? i'm from indonesia, and the indonesian version of the comic mentions that tintin is in indonesia (although maybe a fictional indonesia). HoneyBee 11:12, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

No, it's not a typo. I think Hergé was trying to continue his tradition of creating fictional countries. Seen from that point of view Sondonesia might be a fictional country. Or like you said a fictional Indonesia. Meursault2004 22:20, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
I remenber Tintin landing in Jakarta. However the rebels are "Sondonesians". Ericd 10:37, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
I have my copy of Flight 714 beside me. Tintin & co. land in Jakarta as a stopover on their way to Sydney, but they fly out on Carreidas's plane that lands on an island somewhere in the Pacific (but not necessarily on an Indonesian isle). I would hazard a guess that "Sondonesia" is a fictional country whose inhabitants speak some form of Bahasa. Noelle De Guzman (talk) 16:27, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
IMO Sondonesia is not even a country it's a imaginary region. The Sondonesian are independantists rebels. Ericd 18:08, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, it's fictitious, it's a mix between the Sunda Islands (îles de la Sonde (in French, hence the "Sondo-" prefix), there is also a "détroit de la Sonde" (Sunda strait) - both in this region of the world) and Indonesia. - Waggg 03 August 2006

[edit] Commander Haddock

In the comic book The Shooting Star I had noticed that Captain Haddock was wear the rank braid of a Commander (like that of the Canadian Navy, three braids, and nothing else). Therefore, I had begun to believe that Haddock's rank in French was actually Capitaine de frégate (which translate litterally as Frigate Captain), but which is in fact a Commander of the Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, American Navy, etc. I would therefore believe that Haddock is in fact, a Commander. Christophe T. Stevenson.

I only have the Danish translations, but on page 12 in Tintin and the Picaros colonel Alvarez greets Haddock as "commander captain" and Haddock answers he is "just a captain" but I don't know how that is in English (or French). Poulsen 20:26, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Separate pages for Tintin characters

Due to the recent creation of separate pages for characters in Tintin (which has both advantages and inconvenients), I removed information about the main characters on this page, leaving just links to the separate articles. However Poulsen pointed me to the fact that information about the main characters should be left in the main article. As a result, I trimmed down the entries on the main page to leave the essential, but still explain who's who. I propose that new material for the characters should be added to the pages Tintin and Snowy, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and Thomson and Thompson Glaurung 14:42, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Are separate pages for the characters really necessary? I can just about see a justification for pages for Tintin & Snowy, Haddock and Calculus and maybe Castafiore and Rastapopoulos but I can see no point in pages for Joylon Wagg or Nestor let alone Mr Bolt or Klumsi and Kronik! Joe King 10:02, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
My sentiments exactly. If you look at the history of Minor characters in Tintin, it was a selection of characters (some more notable than others) until yesterday, when all entries were split up. Like Joe King, I don't feel that each and every character merits an individual article. The old list of "Minor character..." was a good way to convey information on subjects too small for their own artcles. I think we should re-instate the old page with multiple entries for at least the characters now dubbed "Minor Characters:" in the Tintin template: Professor Alembick, The Bird Bros. (Max & G. Bird), Mr. Bohlwinkel, Mr. Bolt, Cutts the Butcher, Irma, Klumsi and Kronik, Puschov, remove Quick and Flupke (only one cameo appearence in The Seven Crystal Balls - then we include Edgar Pierre Jacobs and Hergé himself on the list as well, with their various appearences), Sanders-Hardiman Expedition Members, Christopher Willoughby-Drope and Marco Rizotto and Igor Wagner, as well as a number of characters from the "Major Characters:" header. Poulsen 11:10, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
When I noticed that separate pages have been created for every character, I also noticed that the situation created was close to a plate of Spaghetti : Same text appeared twice (on the Adventures ... and Minor ... pages as well as on the newly created pages), wikilinks were somtimes linking to the separate articles and sometimes to the two main pages. I took the liberty to finish User:All Poofed Up task by completing what he did, because I saw no sense in reverting his numerous edits. Besides, the Minor ... page was becoming quite long. Of course, I don't feel that we need to have separate pages for every characters. I think that restoring the Minor ... page with the minor characters from the template would be a good idea. We can keep separate pages for the Main and Major characters. Glaurung 15:56, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
I just moved some characters on the template from Major to Minor. The minor list is now : Professor Alembick | The Bird Bros. (Max & G. Bird) | Mr. Bohlwinkel | Mr. Bolt | Laszlo Carreidas | Chiquito | Cutts the Butcher | Irma | Klumsi and Kronik | Puschov | Quick and Flupke | Sanders-Hardiman Expedition Members | Sophocles Sarcophagus | Christopher Willoughby-Drope and Marco Rizotto | Bobby Smiles | Tharkey | Igor Wagner | Wang Yen-Chi. I propose to re-create the Minor character in Tintin with these persons, and leave the major chracters on their separate page. Does that seem a good compromise? Glaurung 16:05, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
That sounds good to me, however for me there's still uncertainty in who are minor and who are major? Mitsuhirato (1 album), General Tapioca (1 album), Zorrino (1 album), Frank Wolff (1 storyline), and Pablo (2 albums, very minor) aren't major as I see it... I've written All Poofed Up, it might be best to wait for a response before taking action. Poulsen 16:28, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
Okay, All Poofed Up has not answered, so let's just start with your list? Poulsen 09:32, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
Some characters demand mention in the main article, as the article is a featured one and should be as comprehensive as possible.Just names of the characters with wikilink should be provided.And adding images , especially to an article relating to comics, helps generate interest in an uninitiated reader.
Interestingly, there are certain characters that appeared only in one or two albums, while they are remembered much more than some other more frequent ones.This factor should be bourne in our mind when placing/ displacing some character from the article.Bye.--Dwaipayanc 18:39, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linkbox

I think there are severla things missing in the Linkbox, I think at least the "Tintin and the Temple of the Sun" and "Tintin and I" movies should be added., as well as the two animated series and maybe some of the more important books about Tintin. I don't know hopw to edit, though, so I'm just giving a proposal. 惑乱 分からん 15:35, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jivaros

The Broken Ear depicted the famous "head-shrunkers" Jivaros according to the classic barbarian stereotype. Jivaros' real name are the Shuari.

I've removed the bit about "barbarian stereotype" as it's not at all clear what that means or whether it's true. The linked article barbarian points out that the word has meant many different things to different people. A tribe of Indians who play golf isn't really a stereotype, for a start! Flapdragon 17:00, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tintin in the USA

Why is Tintin the only European comic widely known in the USA? JIP | Talk 18:17, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

The Smurfs are big in the U.S. They are Belgian too. Their French name is Les Schtroumpfs. I'll let you smurf what 'schtroumpfer' smurfs.

Smurfs though is only known in cartoon format in the US. Asterix is one of the few other european comics that I can think of thats known in the US. Black arrow 01:55, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Lucky Luke is rather well known as well, I believe (or is that only in Canada?). Fram 07:27, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
As far as I'm aware, it's only in Canada, although new English translations still seem to be made. In the 90's, Fantasy Flight Publishing decided to market the series in USA, with apparently disastrous results. 惑乱 分からん 23:39, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References to Tintin in Popular Culture

David Sanborn has a song on his Inside album called "Tin Tin Deo". I have no idea if it has anything whatsoever to do with Tintin. Does anyone know? -- Jalabi99 11:39, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fan email?

What's up with the weird hotmail adress in the external link section? That seems grossly misplaced but before I remove it I wanted to ask anyone who's worked on this entry for longer than I have. Cheers, Mabuse 19:35, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Well spotted. Removed. Flapdragon 20:07, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Marlinspike location

The discussion of this and other aspects of Tintin (the nationality of Haddock, etcetera) should not focus on what can be seen in translated versions of the comic, but only on what appears in the original French versions. The chance that a castle with the name of "Moulinsart" and the looks of Cheverny is located in England is slim. It is debatable whether it is in France or Belgium, although Belgium seems the most probable choice. Fram 09:27, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Legal action

I deleted a reference to the use of Tintin characters in a public domain publication meaning no legal action could be taken to enforce the estate's intellectual property as this is clearly incorrect, (one suspects the reason no action was taken was any action would cost more than it could recover as the defendant would be incapable of paying damages, while the court action would publicise the publicity seeking plagarist).

With regards to Marlinspike, I note Herge described sketching a real (Belgian) building as it's model.

Yep, the Cheverny Castle. But it's not in Belgium, it's in France ( http://www.chateau-cheverny.fr/ ). If we consider Tintin and all his friends as Belgian, Moulinsart (Marlinspike) should be located in Belgium though. - waggg 03 August 2006

[edit] Art installation

Not sure where to put this, because it's not popular culture, but an editor may want to add something about the 2000 Tintin art installation at the Mattress Factory museum in Pittsburgh that duplicated a scene from a Tintin comic. I saw it in person while an intern at the museum, and it was really fun and impressive, and I'm not even a Tintin fan.--Chris Griswold 02:40, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] REPORT : TINTIN INTRODUCTION IS SO WRONG...!

In the begining of the text, the "introduction" of the Adventures of Tintin...Read, somebody wrote that Tintin was a sex offender, etc... It has to change...!!!!

It was just vandalism that was reverted in this edit. You can read some of the information located at Help:Contents in order to learn how to revert vandalism yourself. gren グレン 02:14, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Light of Truth Award

I got this from the Desmond Tutu article: "In 2006, Tutu was named a Doctor of Public Service at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he was also the commencement speaker. He was awarded the Light of Truth award along with Tintin by the Dalai Lama for their contribution towards public understanding of Tibet." Can anyone incorporate it? (Source: [2])

[edit] addition of the bullets

I know a concern at the Featured article review is that the bulleted points were a bad thing, and I see they've been re-introduced. Appreciate any thoughts. Steve block Talk 21:44, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Bullets are a bad thing. Please remove them. --Maitch 22:04, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unsourced text

I'm placing the following text here as a marker and for discussion, since it's all sourceable. I'm away to bed now, but I figured it's better to keep the tags off the article so I took this out until it can be sourced, although strictly speaking it was, since the article gives in its references Michael Farr Tintin: The Complete Companion, John Murray (2001) ISBN 0-7195-5522-1, in which all the points below can be sourced. Still, better safe than sorry. Hopefully I can wrap this section up tonight.

The adventure which is largely seen as the first "serious" Tintin adventure is The Blue Lotus, published in 1936. This story, set in China during the then-current Sino-Japanese War, was the first for which he did extensive background research. His research was aided by Zhang Chongren, a Chinese student in Belgium, who would become a character in the Tintin comics under the name of Chang Chong-Chen. The Blue Lotus criticised Japanese and Western colonial meddling in China and helped to dispel popular myths about the Chinese people (although it contains flagrant stereotyping of Japanese people, who are portrayed as sinister and cruel). From then on, meticulous research would be one of Hergé's trademarks.

Mr. Bohlwinkel
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Mr. Bohlwinkel

Some of the early albums were altered by Hergé in subsequent editions, 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 album originally had an American villain with the Jewish surname of Mr. Blumenstein. This proved to be controversial, as the character looked very stereotypically Jewish. He was changed to an American with a less ethnically specific name, Mr. Bohlwinkel, in later editions and subsequently to a South American of a fictional country. Hergé later discovered that 'Bohlwinkel' was also a Jewish name.

The next book to have any controversy over race was The Red Sea Sharks, in which Africans were depicted as naïve and simple. Herge later re-did some of it to rectify this, though it remained controversial. In some of his other albums, such as Tintin in Tibet, there is not a trace of any racial stereotyping.

That's all the removed work. Steve block Talk 23:11, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

  • I've reinserted everything apart from the last paragraph (which I don't think is necessary) cited with alternative sources. Yomanganitalk 14:43, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DVD release

Currently the article says:

"A limited edition of Ellipse-Nelvana's The Adventures of Tintin TV cartoon series was scheduled for release on DVD in the United States by Universal Studios Home Video around 2007, containing 21 full-length episodes in 7 volumes."

Has the plans been dropped since it uses past tense? --Maitch 12:44, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

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