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Red Sea Sharks: What does "Coke en Stock" mean?

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Harrock n roll
Moderator
#11 · Posted: 16 Jun 2004 17:07
Hergé could have called it "Land of Black Gold, part 2" or "Sea of Black Gold" - the "black gold" in this case referring to the traffick in black slaves.

Years ago, before I read this book, I used to ponder over the covers on the back of the books I had, and thought that the "sharks" referred to some kind of gang that Tintin was involved in or going to bust. Thinking about it now I think the title is a bit vague, but who cares? Great book!
kirthiboy
Member
#12 · Posted: 13 Oct 2004 22:30
Well, the covers always used to make me curious more than the titles. When I saw "The Blue Lotus" on the back of my "Red Sea Sharks", I thought Tintin fights a dragon in China. I was too young at that time. :p
finlay
Member
#13 · Posted: 14 Oct 2004 20:04
I always thought that a Lotus was a kind of dragon; it took me a while to realise that there were no dragons and not really much explicitly blue things, and that that was just the name of the opium den. I also didn't know what opium was, though I had the sense that it was illegal.

The Red Sea Sharks is my oldest book; it's falling apart and had to be stitched up, and my mum's name, written by her (or perhaps my grandma) when she was a young girl, is inside the front cover. And the back cover is also missing.
Richard
UK Correspondent
#14 · Posted: 14 Oct 2004 21:08
The one title that I guessed completely wrongly about was the Jo, Zette and Jocko book, "The Secret Ray". I was expecting it to be about some sort of stingray or fish - sort of like Harry Edwood's "Voice of the Lagoon".
Jyrki21
Member
#15 · Posted: 15 Oct 2004 01:36
I always thought that a Lotus was a kind of dragon; it took me a while to realise that there were no dragons and not really much explicitly blue things, and that that was just the name of the opium den. I also didn't know what opium was, though I had the sense that it was illegal.

Heh... I too learned of the existence of opium through first The Crab with the Golden Claws and then The Blue Lotus and Cigars of the Pharaoh in that order. (Good old Hergé, taught me what the street couldn't!) And likewise, I hadn't a clue what it actually was or what it looked like.

That's one of those elements which dates the earlier part of the series, I suppose...
Opium trafficking was a serious international problem in the 1930s, even if it barely registers on the radar anymore. Of course, it was just a month and a bit ago that a motorcycle driver in Vietnam offered me some, so I suppose it's still around!

(And yes, immediately after the offer - which we turned down, thank you very much - I turned to my travelling companions and said, "Opium? What is this, the 1920s?")
theone
Member
#16 · Posted: 15 Oct 2004 03:51
I knew what opium was but was surprised to see it in the first Tintin book I read - Blue Lotus. I always ahd thought of Tintin as just a cartoon but after reading the opium bit I was surprised - and then read more books and found out Hergé included many references to things like that.

The Red Sea Sharks is directly mentioned in the book. Although there are no actual sharks, at one point someone calls the "bad guys" I think, sharks, or maybe the other way around. But they do call them sharks and that's where the name comes from.
kirthiboy
Member
#17 · Posted: 15 Oct 2004 10:17
The Red Sea Sharks pretty much means the gangsters of the red sea or similar in lines. Since you see the same reference in the lake of sharks. Though the comic title that looks wierd to me is "The Calculus Affair". It sounds as if Calculus has an affair =p

I think "The Seven Crystal Balls" is the most suitable title given in comparison to all Tintin Albums. It has so much information relevant to the story yet keeps a mystery to the new reader.
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#18 · Posted: 15 Oct 2004 13:46
theone said
The Red Sea sharks is directly mentioned in the book.

The only direct reference to sharks that I can see in this book is aboard the Ramona (page 42) when Allan says "don't forget we're in the Red Sea, and there's no shortage of sharks... you get me?", and of course a real shark saves the day by swallowing the limpet mine.

Also, Rastapopoulos' escape vessel does bear some resemblance to a shark. When they next meet again in Flight 714 he says "you thought Rastapopoulos was eaten by the Red Sea sharks, eh?"
theone
Member
#19 · Posted: 16 Oct 2004 00:27
I could've sworn I remembered Haddock yelling something along the line of "those dirty sharks" or something like that....but I guess I'm wrong.

My favourite title was The Calculus Affair. And it couldn't mean the Calculus Affair beacuse if it was just "Calculus Affair" it might be suspicious (because Affair means Something done or to be done; business."), but the title is intriguing and sound dramatic - and that title drawing is really great. The best cover and title put together in all Tintin books, in my opinion. The worst title, aside from those Tintin in Congo and Tintin in America ones, is probably Explorers on The Moon. It didn't seem very mysterious to me.
mondrian
Member
#20 · Posted: 17 Aug 2005 21:05
I think the original French title pretty much explains itself on the page 48 during the conversation between captain and the villain. That's the code word the slave traders are using.

I think it's one of the best titles, because it's so ordinary, it's actually very mysterious.

Instead of telling us something about the story or the scenery, it really doesn't reveal anything to the reader. Very similar to what theone said about The Calculus Affair, except for one extra point: after reading the book it reminds the reader about the theme of the book, the horrendous practice of slave trade that should be abolished at last.

Unfortunately the Finnish title translates into English as The Adventure in the Red Sea, which is probably appealing to an 8-year old but appears quite boring after you've read the series through dozens of times.

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