Age is no factor when it comes to enjoying a Tintin comic. The boy-reporter with a tuft of ginger hair first appeared in a comic strip in the children’s supplement of a Belgian newspaper in 1929. The stories were later published as comic albums, 23 in all. The original stories were in French, but today we can read the adventures of Tintin in 50 languages.
Captain Haddock with his colourful vocabulary, the bumbling detectives, Thomson and Thompson, and the deaf genius, Professor Calculus are part of many adventures along with Tintin and his pet white terrier Snowy. The stories happen in distinct settings all around the world. While grown-ups enjoy the well-researched plots, humorous dialogue and the fine, detailed art-work, children will never tire of the elements of mystery, adventure, science-fiction and fun packed into every book.
Tintin was the creation of Belgian artist Georges Remi, better known as Herge (that’s how R.G., his initials, are pronounced in French). He created other comic characters too, but none has stood the test of time like Tintin. Herge did a great deal of background work for each of his stories. The 24th story in the series, Tintin and Alph-art, was unfinished when he died in 1983. It was published posthumously.
Light of Truth Award
In 2006, the Dalai Lama honoured the character of Tintin and Herge with the Light of Truth Award. ‘Tintin in Tibet’ probably introduced the amazing landscape and culture of Tibet to the world. Unique tribute, indeed, to an artist and his creation.
The Tintin Museum
The Herge Museum, in the little Belgian town of Louvain-La-Neuve, is a museum devoted to the globetrotting comic character Tintin and his creator, Georges Remi. Made of glass and steel, it has been built to look like a stranded ocean-liner.
The museum has over eight thematic galleries. It has scale models of cartoon inventions like Professor Calculus’s red and white moon rocket. One of the galleries contains over 30,000 cuttings from magazines and newspapers that Georges Remi had collected over the years along with photographs of speeding cars, royal palaces and African witch doctors, that he used for reference and inspiration. The museum also displays the other comic characters that he created.