The Crab with the Golden Claws

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Tintin: The Crab with the Golden Claws
(Le Crabe aux pinces d'or)


Cover of the English edition
Publisher Casterman
Date 1941
Series The Adventures of Tintin (Les aventures de Tintin)
Creative team
Writer(s) Hergé
Artist(s) Hergé
Original publication
Published in Le Soir (first part in Le Soir Jeunesse)
Date(s) of publication October 17, 1940 - October 18, 1941
Language French
ISBN ISBN 2-20-300108-9
Translation
Publisher Methuen
Date 1958
ISBN ISBN 1-40-520620-9
Translator(s) Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner
Chronology
Preceded by King Ottokar's Sceptre, 1939
Followed by The Shooting Star, 1942

The Crab with the Golden Claws (Le Crabe aux pinces d'or) is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It is also the first to feature Tintin's longtime friend, Captain Haddock.

The Crab with the Golden Claws is the ninth in the series. It was first published (in French) in 1941. Since publication of Le Petit Vingtième was stopped when the Germans invaded Belgium in 1940, Hergé has to look for another means of publication. This story was the first that appeared originally in the newspaper Le Soir, which would continue publishing all new Adventures of Tintin until the liberation of Belgium in 1944.

Hergé was asked by Le Soir to create a weekly supplement, reminding of Le Petit Vingtième, which was called Le Soir Jeunesse. It appeared for the first time on October 17, 1940, with the start of this new story, and every week Herge published two full pages. But the supplement disappeared again after September 3, 1941, due to paper shortage during World War II, when only 98 pages had appeared. The publication of the story was interrupted until September 23 1941, when Hergé and Tintin got a daily strip in Le Soir, where it continued for 24 days until the story was finished on October 18. This meant a major change in the method of working of Hergé, with a daily instead of a weekly publication, and a rethinking of the layout of the comic and the rhythm of the storytelling.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] The storyline

The ramblings of a drunken man and a scrap of paper from what appears to be a tin of crab-meat leads Tintin to the ship Karaboudjan, where he is captured by a gang of criminals who have been hiding opium in the crab tins. Escaping from his locked room, Tintin encounters Captain Haddock, who proves to be an alcoholic manipulated by his first mate, Allan, and is unaware of his crew's criminal activities. Escaping the ship in a rowing boat, they are attacked by a seaplane. They hijack the plane but it crashes in the Sahara.

After trekking across the desert, Tintin and Haddock reach a Moroccan port - but the Captain is kidnapped. Tintin saves his newfound friend, but they both become drunk on the fumes from wine barrels breached in a shootout with the villains. Upon sobering up, Tintin discovers the necklace with the Crab with the Golden Claws on the now-subdued owner of the wine cellar, and realizes that he must be the leader of the drug smugglers. After capturing Allan (who returns in a few other Tintin stories as a henchman of Rastapopoulos), the gang is soon put behind bars.

[edit] Notes

After King Ottokar's Sceptre, Hergé had started work on Land of Black Gold which also included a political sub-plot: Tintin in the Middle East during the British Mandate of Palestine, getting involved in the conflict between Jews, Arabs and British troops. When Nazi Germany took over Belgium, Hergé suspended Land of Black Gold in favour of this less controversial story dealing with drug smuggling. Other Tintin adventures during the World War II years dealt with scientific missions and treasure hunts.

In the 1960s parts of the album were redrawn to remove stereotyped depictions of African people. [1]

[edit] Film

The Crab with the Golden Claws
Directed by Claude Misonne
Produced by Wilfried Bouchery
Written by João B. Michiels
Release date(s) January 11, 1947 (France)
Running time 75 min
Country France
Language French
IMDb profile

The Crab with the Golden Claws was adapted into a stop motion-animated feature film of the same name in 1947, produced by Wilfried Bouchery for Films Claude Misonne. It was the first Tintin movie and copies the story of the original comic almost exactly. It was first shown at the ABC Cinema on January 11, 1947 for a group of invited guests. It was screened publicly only once, on December 21 of that year, before Bouchery declared bankruptcy and fled to Argentina. All of the equipment was seized and a copy of the film is currently stored at Belgium's Cinémathèque Royale.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

The Adventures of Tintin
Creation of Tintin · Books, films, and media · Ideology of Tintin
Characters: Supporting · Minor · Complete list
Miscellany: Hergé · Marlinspike · Captain Haddock's exclamations
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