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Nice reporters apart from Tintin

I Look like Haddock
Member
#1 · Posted: 24 Jan 2012 10:41
Can anyone name nice film, tv, book or game reporters than you can't help but like? they can be heroic or just kind.
rose_of_pollux
Member
#2 · Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:38
Carl Kolchak, from Kolchak: the Night Stalker in the 70s. He's not as lucky as Tintin is, that's for certain--he tends to get fired from paper to paper, but he is just as brave and selfless. In the first Night Stalker film, he's working for a paper in Las Vegas when he stumbles upon a story about bizarre disappearances--and it turns out that a vampire named Janos Skorzeny is behind it. Vampire hunting ensues, and for all his troubles, Carl ends up fired because the authorities don't want the story getting around.

In the second film, The Night Strangler, Carl ends up meeting with his old editor from Las Vegas, Tony Vincenzo, in Seattle who is quick to rehire him for the current paper (Tony hadn't been the one to fire him in Las Vegas--someone higher up had done that). And once again, Carl finds himself covering a bizarre mystery which ends up involving a man who can make himself immortal at the expense of others' lives. It's pretty much deja vu; Carl saves the day, but is fired for his troubles--and, this time, Tony is fired along with him.

The TV series itself, Kolchak: the Night Stalker takes place in Chicago, some time after the events after the second film. Tony is now the editor of a wire service paper, and Carl is once again working for him. And, once again, Carl finds himself frequently dealing with monsters of various kinds; in what is truly a thankless job, he sticks his neck out to stop them, no matter what they are--malevolent spirits, witches, even demons and rakshasas.

But what really draws me to this series is the dynamic between Carl and Tony (played by two of my most favorite actors--Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland), particularly from the second film and onwards. They squabble a lot, disagreeing on almost everything (Tony doesn't believe in the supernatural, which drives Carl crazy when he's trying to convince him of all the things he's been seeing and dealing with), but, despite that, you can tell that they genuinely care about each other.

Edit: if anyone is mildly interested by my description, I recommend starting with the episode "Legacy of Terror," as it is the most Tintin-esque, involving an Aztec ritual with a mummy named Nanautzen coming to life (he and Rascar Capac should get together sometime)!
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 26 Jan 2012 00:00
"Nice reporters", sounds like a contradiction in terms when you think about the poor reputation a lot of them have today...

One of the most famous comic-book reporters has got to be Clark Kent/Superman. I don't think anyone could argue that he isn't nice or heroic! I think Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen could also be called "nice". Perhaps Lois is a little reckless at times, but she's always on the side of truth and justice (in the American way). Lois Lane was apparently based on a real life journalist called Nellie Bly, who was famous for an exposé on the poor treatment of people in a mental asylum, on which she wrote a book called Ten Days in a Mad-House. Nellie was also a globe-trotter, having made a record-breaking 72-day trip around the world. So she was something of a real-life female version of Tintin!

Still in comic-books, I've always thought the staff from the Daily Bugle in Spiderman were great entertainment. The one that stuck out for me was Robbie Robertson (no, not the guitarist from The Band) who was, I believe, one of the first sensitively-portrayed black characters from any comic. He was always sticking up for Spiderman, and usually at loggerheads with J. Jonah Jameson who really had it in for Spidey! He was also a good friend to Peter Parker (himself a photo-journalist).

In TV, I think Sarah-Jane Smith gets my vote, played by the late Elisabeth Sladen. By far the best Doctor Who companion (in my opinion), she spanned the two best Doctors (also in my opinion!). A bit like Tintin, she was rarely seen doing any actual investigative journalism (I suppose she never really had time), but she had an unrelenting curiosity that often got her in trouble, which meant she was forever being rescued by the Doctor. Still, it made for great cliff-hangers!
jock123
Moderator
#4 · Posted: 2 Feb 2012 09:32
Joseph Gibson of screenjunkies.com includes Tintin in a list of 7 Movie Journalists Who Risked Life And Limb For The Story; don’t know if they are all good (and at least a couple of them are real, rather than strictly fictional), but it’s food for thought.
mct16
Member
#5 · Posted: 3 Feb 2012 13:24
How about Phil Sheldon, the one-eyed photojournalist from "Marvels" by Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek, the history of the Marvel super-heroes as seen through the eyes (and later, eye) of an ordinary man?

Sheldon is a decent guy and stands up for the super-heroes even when they are facing bad press - from Jonah Jameson - and the public at large. I especially love the scenes where he snarls about Peter Parker being nothing more than a "weasel" due to the way he sells pics of Spider-Man to Jameson.
Sapristi
Member
#6 · Posted: 18 Feb 2012 22:20
How about The BBC's Security correspondent Frank Gardener? If his wikipedia entry is anything to go by, then hes a real-life Tintin, as well as a Tintin fan.

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