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Recommendations Wanted: Books like Tintin?

skut_estonia
Member
#1 · Posted: 17 Dec 2012 16:51
Hi,

I'm new to the forum but looking for some xmas present help! My kids have every Tintin book and are just Tintin nuts in general. They dream about more books existing. Jo and Zette, Quick and Flupke, they have sought them all out…

They have some Bob de Moor books we bought in Belgium but nothing in English.

Any suggestions? I've searched for similar threads on here, and found the Julius Chancer series. What they really want is something that looks a bit more like Hergé that that.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Mikael Uhlin
Member
#2 · Posted: 17 Dec 2012 20:15
Balthazar
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 17 Dec 2012 20:35
Hi skut_estonia.

Have you and your kids tried the Blake and Mortimer books, published in English these days by Cinebooks?

They were created by one of Hergé's other main collaborators, EP Jacobs. (Hergé gave Jacobs cameo appearances in some books; for instance he's the mummified Egyptologist "Jacobini" on the cover of Cigars of the Pharaoh.) Jacobs worked quite closely with Hergé on The Seven Crystal Balls, and his Blake and Mortimer books sometimes share that eerie noirish tone, as well as a lot of archaeology. They're wordier than the Tintin books - many people would say over-written! - and intentionally lack the humour of the Tintin books, and have their own style (probably not any more close to Hergé's than the Garen Ewing Julius Chancer books you mention) but they're sort of in the same Belgian clear-line school as Tintin, with loads of beautifully drawn detail, period cars and cityscapes, etc, and action.

After Jacobs' death, the series was eventually continued by various artist-writer teams. Personally, I think most of these newer books are pretty good, some of them better than Jacobs' weaker ones (though many fans will think that opinion sacrilege!)

Cineworld have been publishing them somewhat out of order, launching their editions with what's generally regarded as Jacobs' best book, The Yellow M. That might be a good one to try first, or maybe the Pyramid two-parter (which precedes The Yellow M narratively) if your kids are particularly into Egyptology.

I sympathise with your kids. I used to dream about finding more Tintin books too ( always waking up before getting to read them properly!) Mind, when I was young there were still some Tintin books (and the Jo and Zette books) yet to be translated, so occasionally on a visit to a bookshop, the dream came true!
skut_estonia
Member
#4 · Posted: 30 Dec 2012 00:33
Thank you so much for the replies and suggestions. You wouldn't believe how picky my lot are about what they read!

They're not fluent in French enought to read some of the untranslated Bob de Moors I'd found them, but those were their favourites to look at... Spirou etc. is too cartoony for them ... and they've never got into the EP Jacobs style either.

Much as I've tried to interest them in Jacobs, I think they like the action and expressions of Hergé's artwork.

This Christmas, their favourite find came from a friend's recommendation: Daisy and the Goldbug Variation, by new artists/ writers, Armitage & Green, which I found it on Amazon. Is this known about on here?

They also liked (although couldn't understand!) some second-hand January Jones books by Lodewijk (in Dutch). Does anyone know about an English translation of them? They have nothing to do with the actress of the same name.

Thank you for all the help!

--
Moderator Note: You will find here a thread about the January Jones character.
The Happy Tintinologist Team
gorfdota
Member
#5 · Posted: 1 Nov 2013 16:49
There's an awful amount of travel to exotic locations involved in Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt. The politics are rather dissimilar though, and the pace is rather slower. The Corto Maltese comics are definitely not for children though; not so much because of the sex or the violence, but because they are too poetic and dreamy for kids. Too grown up in other words
Rocky
Member
#6 · Posted: 4 Nov 2013 11:12
Hi skut_estonia, it's not yet available to buy but I'm sure your children would enjoy the adventures of Jonny Crossbones - Dead Man at Devil's Cove, by US artist Les McClaine. Many years in the making and not yet finished as he can only work on it in his spare time, but you can see how good it is from the pages that are online at the Jonny Crossbones website.

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