Following on from some of the great discussion in the thread on Endaddine Akass' true identity, I was wondering what people thought of Rastapopulos as a reocurring villain in the books?
As pointed out there, he only makes significant appearances in the Cigars / Blue Lotus, Red Sea Sharks and Flight 714 storylines, but I would imagine a lot of people have the impression that he's Tintin's arch-enemy. Certainly, as a kid, when I used to make plasticine models of the characters (hey, there were no action figures in those days so I had to improvise!) I always seemed to have Rastapopoulos as the baddie in the games I played with them!

Again, from my point of view, my first experience of Old Big Nose was in the film and book of Lake Of Sharks. I did recognise him from Cigars, but at that point I hadn't read any of his other appearances, or twigged that he was the mysterious leader of the drug smugglers. Seems obvious now, but at the age of seven or eight I must have missed it!

Anyhow, in Lake Of Sharks, the way he's set up is very like a James Bond villain, complete with secret underwater base, lots of gadgets and a rather over-complicated plan. Both film and book even play the trick of not revealing his face until finally confronted by Tintin, just like Blofeld in You Only Live Twice. The dialogue too, seemed to suggest to me at the time that the pair had a long past of battles, so I can see why I got the idea that they were arch-enemies!

What makes an arch-enemy, in any case? Bond only came face-to-face with Blofeld three times (plus the cameo in For Your Eyes Only ) in a total of 20 films. Sherlock Holmes only encountered Moriarty once, in The Final Problem, and Doctor Who only met the Daleks in 15 stories out of over 150! One thing which all these characters had, which never came out in Tintin, was the "big" showdown between hero and villain. In Blue Lotus Rastapopoulos is simply arrested, in Red Sea Sharks he has a classic 'supervillain' last-minute escape, but never actually meets Tintin, and in Flight 714 (which Tintin doesn't remember anyway), the villain's ultimate fate is taken out of our heroes' hands, thanks to the aliens.

Bearing that in mind, and with the speculation about the identity of Akass in Alph-Art, if he had turned out to be Rastapopulos, would such a showdown have been in order? There are hints, most notably the rough sketch of an evilly grinning Rastapopoulos unmasking before a shocked Tintin. Rodier certainly though so, though his final confrontation, IMO, is severely mucked up by (a) having Tintin a helpless prisoner for much of it, (b) the reduction of Rastapopoulos to a vengeful psycho, determined to get payback for his past defeats, and (c) the unsatisfactory way he's killed off - Tintin has no part in it, seeing as he's rather occupied at the time. How much better, if he had to be killed, to see Rastapopoulos hanging from a cliff by his fingertips, and Tintin, compassionate to the last, making a last-ditch attempt to save him? Or, turning the thing on its head, a situation where Rastapopulous, for whatever reason, ends up saving Tintin, before disappearing in a puff of "did he or didn't he?" ambiguity?

Edit: Doh! I can't even spell his name right in the thread title! Lightweight fake Tintin fan or what! ;)

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[Admin's note: 'Rastaopoulos'?! Tsk, tsk, you are disgrace, John! ;-) Typo fixed!]

In "Cigars of the Pharoah" Tintin has the altercation with him on the boat, and says..."And it's not the first time we've met" I may be wrong but this is the first time Tintin has met him, isn't it?

What happened prior to this?

That was a comment introduced by the English translators to fit in with the rest of the books, as "Cigars of the Phraoah" was translated quite late in the series, when Rastapopoulos had already been established as a villain.

Could an arch-enemy not merely be a memorable villain ? Rastapopoulos, in my view, is more memorable than someone like Allan - he's concocted better schemes, has a more ridiculous appearance, and is more of a pantomime villain than a true one (Müller, for example - he never dressed up in a pink shirt with a stetson).

I suppose a good example of an arch-enemy would be Colonel Olrik from the "Blake & Mortimer" series. As far as I know (I've only read the "Espadon" books) he appears in all of the albums except one. If someone wrote a new story (André Juillard and Yves Sente at the moment, it would appear), then the villain would probably be Olrik.

We seem to expect Rastapopoulos as being Akass because he's the only one - well, almost only one - capable of putting together an outfit like that (also his conk leads us to think of ol' Roberto).

I recently noticed that in the Children's Digest magazine version of Flight 714 the pre-story blurb refers to him as "Papa" Ratapopolous - obviously a misreading of his own self-introduction in that book but it adds a nice touch of the Mafioso about him! And odd that he has that Italian accent in the Lake of Sharks movie. Could there some connections with "the mob"? After all, he first appears in America - see the Tintin in America: Rastapopoulos in the dinner scene? thread - he's the King of Cosmos Pictures, quite clearly an American company (it's the same in the French) and, lets face it, Roberto is not a common Greek name.

Certainly, as a kid, when I used to make plasticine models of the characters (hey, there were no action figures in those days so I had to improvise!)

My sis and I used to make models of Space 1999 (quite tricky) and Babapapa (a lot easier) until my mum complained about the squashed bits in the carpet - sigh, happy days...

And odd that he has that Italian accent in the Lake of Sharks movie. Could there some connections with "the mob"? After all, he first appears in America - see the Tintin in America: Rastapopoulos in the dinner scene? thread - he's the King of Cosmos Pictures, quite clearly an American company (it's the same in the French) and, lets face it, Roberto is not a common Greek name.

Actually, "Roberto" is not a Greek name at all, it is Italian. "Rastapopoulos" sounds more like a Greek surname if anything, though it would be very rare to meet any Greek person with such a surname. Rastapopoulos is usually referred to as an Italian-Greek villain and he obviously has a Greek father (thus a Greek surname) and an Italian mother (thus an Italian first name). It is very strange really because apart from naming his business "Cosmos pictures" (Cosmos being Greek for "world") there is nothing else about him to suggest that he is Greek. He never uses any Greek words and his favourite expression when he is angry seems to be "Diavolo" (which means "devil" in Italian). In fact he uses this expression in other Tintin books as well and so his Italian accent was not new in the Lake of Sharks movie. His false name in The Red Sea Sharks (Marquis di Gorgonzola) is Italian too. I am not quite sure what his connection with the US is. His appearence as a rich businessman there in Tintin In America, his dressing in Flight 714 etc indicate that he does live there at times so maybe his descent is partly American as well.


it adds a nice touch of the Mafioso about him

Yes, I like him as a Mafia type villain as well !

Either Harry Thompson or Benoît Peeters (or both?) referred to him unhesitatingly in their books as a "Greek-American," but there are some interesting points raised in this thread about possible Italian descent.

I shall thereby proclaim, then, that Mr. Rastapopoulos is an Italian national and naturalized American of Greek descent. :)

Indeed, I have also seen Rastapopoulos referred to as a "Greek-American" tycoon but he does seem to be more Italian.

I shall thereby proclaim, then, that Mr. Rastapopoulos is an Italian national and naturalized American of Greek descent

So that would make him an Italo-Greco American ! It sounds more like it.

It is interesting that this appears to be exactly the same case for the other well-known tycoon in the Tintin universe, Lazlo Carreidas: Greek surname and Italian first name, so he apparently has a Greek father and an Italian mother as well. Herge probably had a point here.

Greeks are often magnates of big companies, a fact that Herge couldn't ignore. Italians are often stereotyped on stuff regarding the Mafia. But I don't think that Herge was being racist in any way. I think that mixing the power magnate and the dangerous Mafia man made Rastapopulos a difficult enemy for Tintin, so it could be believable that this guy could reemerge in so many different places and appear to come on top...

Oh no, no, I was certainly not implying that Herge was being a racist here (sorry if that's what it sounded like). I was merely wondering whether Herge had a point in making Carreidas so much alike Rastapopoulos as they seem to have a lot in common when it comes to their personalities. The rivalry between them in Flight 714 is one of my favourite scenes in Tintin books.

He could have an Italian father and a Greek mother (or vice-versa). In addition he may also have an American citizenship, just a thought.