cigars of the beeper:
Is Spalding truly a villain, and is he actually bad?
In an interview with the Sunday Times in 1968, Herge is quoted as saying that Spalding was "an English public school man, obviously the black sheep of his family" which would imply a villain with no redeeming qualities.
My own view is that Spalding came from a good family and background - he may have been to Eton, Harrow, Oxford or Cambridge - which would explain his formal manner, stiff-upper lip and nice fashionable clothes. Can you blame Haddock for mistaking him for Carreidas when they first meet?
However, Spalding may have misspent his youth in some way and been cast out of his family, hence the term "black sheep". In need of money he would have had no choice but to work for Carreidas and put up with his insults and bossing around - which, as we see, did not improved his loyalty.
Thus, Rastapopoulos' offer of money, the opportunity for revenge on Carreidas and getting back at his family would have been very tempting.
cigars of the beeper:
I suppose, though, that Rastapopoulos made it impossible to refuse by threatening him with death or disgrace
cigars of the beeper:
Like he had planned to do with Dr. Krollspell, he had probably decided to eliminate Spalding when the job was done as well
When injected with the truth serum, Rastapopoulos states that he intended from the start to dispose of Spalding and all the other men who had participated in the kidnapping of Carreidas instead of paying them the large sums he had offered them. He makes no references to threats made towards his associates, simply empty promises.
cigars of the beeper:
What happened to Spalding?
I believe that the aliens dropped all the villains off in different parts of the world, but that Krollspell was the only one who had been found up to the point when the reporter mentions him while interviewing Tintin and co.
In the rough outlines he drew for his uncompleted "Tintin and Alph-Art", Herge indicates that Rastapopoulos is still on Earth, masquerading as a cult leader. If that is the case then Spalding may also have been found at some stage, also suffering from amnesia, and probably returned to his family. They, being upper-class toffs who were keen to avoid scandal, would have dumped him into some expensive mental clinic, where he would have been well taken care of for the rest of his life, no questions asked and good riddance.