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Destination Moon: Was the story planned well in advance?

maximus
Member
#1 · Posted: 16 Dec 2004 11:36
Hi All,
Was Destination Moon planned well in advance by Hergé?

What makes me think this, is that in Cigars of the Pharaoh (page 15, last frame), the Sheik says that he has read Tintin's adventures - and beside him, his aide holds the Destination Moon album - but, chronologically, Destination Moon comes well after Cigars of the Pharaoh.

Is this just a publicity by Hergé or was Destination Moon released in any other language well before Cigars of the Pharaoh...?

Anyone have a possible answer to this?

Cheers,
Maximus
edcharlesadams
Trivia Challenge Score Keeper
#2 · Posted: 16 Dec 2004 11:49
I'm afraid not Maximus, it's what you might call a retrospective anachronism. Cigars of the Pharaoh was the last of the pre-war books to be redrawn and coloured, in 1955. By then, Destination Moon had already been serialised.

In the original 1933 version of Cigars, the sheikh shows Tintin a copy of Tintin in America.
When it was first coloured in 1955, the book was changed to Tintin in the Congo, though for subsequent editions (including the English translation) Hergé changed this to Destination Moon, no doubt as a little in-joke for his readers. Also perhaps as a subliminal advertisement for the new book!

If you want to see the three versions of this frame they're reproduced by way of comparison in Benoît Peeters' Tintin and the World of Hergé.

Ed

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