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think that was the main aim he had in mind: not so much recapturing the most charged moments (which as snafu says, might prove too much of a giveaway) as iconic moments.


Its what I tried to do with my covers.

Maybe we have conflicting ideas over what makes an iconic moment. What I could see as meeting a criteria could fail someone else's, and vice-versa. What are other Tintinologists' favorite iconic moments?

I have got hundreds of different covers and copies of covers of Tintin albums in my collection; Leaving the albums with original covers to one side, the covers drawn with imitation of original covers, covers similar to original ones, covers inspired from originals, covers chosen from adventures and covers not related with original covers and a little close to adventures.

If to make an evaluation, some of the covers are horrible because of drawings, enough to cause a reader not to like Tintin if he read them before the originals. Some with good, some with bad imitation. A little were drawn with a comphension giving a different sense to readers (with the words of a professional drawer ' friendly drawings ’)

To me, none of those can be thought as an alternative cover. If I make a forced preference (with apology to Herge), A cover of Blue Lotus in my collection with its iconic scene and qualified cover drawing can be comparible to its original. In this cover Tintin is lying on a table tied and eyes wide open, Mitsuhirato near him waiting his man to finish to heat the iron rod for torture, makes the reader quite restless and the idol at the back which makes reader horrified especially with the expression on its face and a sword in his hand completes scene.

To me, none of those can be thought as an alternative cover. If I make a forced preference (with apology to Herge), A cover of Blue Lotus in my collection with its iconic scene and qualified cover drawing can be comparible to its original. In this cover Tintin is lying on a table tied and eyes wide open, Mitsuhirato near him waiting his man to finish to heat the iron rod for torture, makes the reader quite restless and the idol at the back which makes reader horrified especially with the expression on its face and a sword in his hand completes scene.

I do not recall such a torture scene in "The Blue Lotus", although there was a farcical scene that takes place in a Russian torture chamber in "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" where our hero torments the torturers. Was your version the official one in Turkish?

These are my ideas for covers, I had a bash at drawing '...Unicorn' and '...Tibet' but I warn you, I'm no Herge!
Also if I'm not allowed to post links to my pictures, then I apologise for doing so.
(I haven't done Soviets because of the difference in style also I have not done Congo because I only have it in French and quite frankly don't really know what happens!)

Tintin In America - Tintin suspended from the tree about to be hung.
Cigars of the Pharaoh - Tintin examining the Kih-Oskh symbol on the tree with the professor behind about to stab him.
The Blue Lotus - The man whom Mitsuhirato mistakes for Tintin being dragged behind the curtain in the Blue Lotus with the back of Tintin's head poking out of the vase in the foreground.
The Broken Ear - Alcazart shooting his gun in the air after losing a chess game to Tintin
The Black Island - Tintin watching (from a bush in the foreground) the plane drop the sacks, with sillohettes of the crooks in the background
King Ottokar's Sceptre - Again, the back of the character's heads as they open the door to the empty jewel room.
The Crab With the Golden Claws - Tintin and the Captain upon entering the store with all the crab tins.
The Shooting Star - The Street during the Earthquake with the shooting star in the sky.
Secret of The Unicorn - [link removed] - My effort! (although I left Snowy off by mistake!)
Red Rackham's Treasure - The crew serching for the Island, Calculus has cried out and they are all facing him.
The Seven Crystal Balls - The Nightmare of Rascar Capac coming into Tintin's room with a crystal ball.
Prisoners of the Sun - Tintin hiding on the beach while sillohettes of the indians lead Calculus away.
Land of Black Gold - Muller Sneezing as he is about to shoot Tintin.
Destination Moon - Everyone watches in shock and awe in the control room as the first rocket veers off course.
Explorers on the Moon - Tintin taking the first step onto the Moon. Rocket in full view on the cover.
The Calculus Affair - Captain and Tintin hide in the closet as Castafiore and Sponz talk.
The Red Sea Sharks - Tintin and the Captain on the boat, shooting at the plane.
Tintin in Tibet - [link removed] - My effort!
The Castafiore Emerald - Tintin and Castafiore seeing the empty jewel case with looks of shock.
Flight 714 - The interior of the plane, everyone's emotions on show. Captain and Carriedas play battleships, bloke with ginger beard (sorry I forgot his name!) eyes his watch nervously and Tintin looks suspicously out of the window.
Tintin and the Picaros - Calculus dropping the pill into the Picaros food with Tintin looking on the background.

I have thought of these covers in keeping with the idea of having Snowy and Tintin in every one. I might draw some more if I get round to it.
Tom

Edited by moderator Harrock n Roll - Sorry Tom but links to your drawn efforts have been removed. Rules is rules. You are welcome to make another post describing them.

How about Iconic Moment Relevant to the Story Line + Memorable Action Relevant to the Story Line + Landscape when appropriate? Do people agree about that being the criteria for a good cover or alternative cover? Anybody interested in critiquing the criteria or the the proposed alternative covers based on this formula?

The above posts don't seem to work in some cases because they aren't the most iconic of moments. Haddock racing down the hills in "Tintin in Tibet" is funny and memorable, but not what would be considered iconic or quite relevant...

Howabout this:
"The Shooting Star": A close-up of Tintin and Snowy on the seaplane (w/ Snowy on the wing...sorry for the cruelty) above the sea with the "Peary" and the meteorite somewhere in the picture...

"Red Rackham's Treasure": Tintin and his friends facing the island with some of the ship being shown...

Howabout this:
"The Shooting Star": A close-up of Tintin and Snowy on the seaplane (w/ Snowy on the wing...sorry for the cruelty) above the sea with the "Peary" and the meteorite somewhere in the picture...

I think the best part of this story though is the beginning or maybe on the actual island: ie the strange or dreamlike/nightmarish scenes.

Would the scene that I propose, CQ, fulfill the criteria of strange or dreamlike/nightmarish scenes (I think it fits a nightmarish, adrenaline-rush-inducing scene, but that's my two cents...)?

I did use to come up with different covers for the albums....I only have a few of my primitive sketches left though.
I always thought that a comic cover didn't have to represent one scene exactly, taking a bigger image of the book was more important.

Crab with the Golden Claws: [-snip-]
Basically the two camel riders coming upon Tintin and Captain Haddock fainted. It is mysterious - you want to know how they got to that state and whether the people finding them are good or evil..

Shooting Star:
I like this one...It is Tintin in the seaplane, looking upon the meteorite with surprise, while not being aware that the PEARY can be seen below, with a man pointing a gun straight at the plane. Again, that's not exactly as it happened, but it is dramatic.

Secret of the Unicorn:
Basically the scene where Tintin is hiding behind a pillar while the enemies close in on him with a gun. Around them would be all the strange items in the cellar. A person looking at it would see all of these strange things and wonder whether the Unicorn is something in here.

Prisoner's of the Sun:
There's no real reason for this one other than the fact that I think it fits the title better. In case your wondering why there's three guards, it's supposed to be a bunch of angry onlookers, but I think I just got lazy.

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[Post edited by moderator (marsbar) - sorry, no fan works allowed.]