Tintin Forums

The first two and last Tintin books have never been released in english at least, in paperback, only hardback. As Congo was a limited print run, I can see why, but what about the other two. Does anyone know?

As Congo was a limited print run

Do you mean the first black-and-white facsimile printing (Sundancer 1991), the second (Last Gasp 2002), or the recent colour edition (Egmont 2005)? Of these I think only the Sundancer printing can be described as 'limited', but essentially the same book is now available from Last Gasp. The black-and-white Congo is very unlikely to come out in paperback - the point of a facsimile after all is to reproduce the original edition, which was hardback - and it has now been replaced in the modern Tintin canon by the colour version.

As for the three versions of the stories now published by Egmont, there's no real reason for them not to be printed in paperback at some point in the future. Egmont's version of Soviets is not really presented as a facsimile edition, and it has been this way since 1999. The 2004 Alph-Art hasn't been out for long; possibly after the initial rush to get it the sales figures have been too sedate to warrant a paperback as yet. Alternatively it could well be that Egmont regards these three stories as 'exceptional' to the series.

Ed

Do you mean the first black-and-white facsimile printing (Sundancer 1991), the second (Last Gasp 2002), or the recent colour edition (Egmont 2005)?

I meant the recent colour editions as the black and whites almost definately won't come out in paperback.

SingingGandalf
the black and whites almost definately won't come out in paperback

It would seem you’ve answered your own question then, at least in regard to Soviets… ;-)

Actually with all these titles I’d say wait and see is the only answer - never say never; now that Egmont have a complete uniform edition in hard-back, and the text is being updated, they may choose the opportunity to put them out again in soft covers.

Casterman have issued paperback editions of some of the Dutch facsimilies, so it's not unheard of, although I don't think there has been enough demand to warrant any English paperbacks.

As for the colour ones, publishers often like to exploit the hardback edition first before they bring out a paperback. It could be just a matter of time.