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Is the First Album you Read Your Favourite One?

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celalli
Member
#1 · Posted: 8 May 2005 10:51
Is it a general rule: first one is always best?
I read first Black Island, after that I read the other adventures. Of course majority were very good, too but I couldn’t find same delight of Black Island.
My favorite adventure is Black Island, my first book.

When you begin to read an artist’s books or albums, If the first book you read has a qualified content, your expectations for the next books or albums of the same artist increasing naturally. Expactations can sometimes go so high that the other albums can’t be perfect for you even if they are perfect. So your first album remaining at the top. (I know there are exceptions.Is it further than exception?)


Orson Welles in 1940 when he was 25, made made his first movie ‘The Citizen Cane’. Still the critics says it is in top 10. Welles made movies until 1983. Only Citizen Cane (his first movie) is widely known.

Tarantino’s other films couldn’t have reached the level of Reservoir Dogs, could they? Despite its success Kill Bill was generally success of advertisement.

Yes, Black Island is not Herge’s first, but because of it being my first adventure, according to my reference Black Island is Herge’s first.

I do not know how close it to the subject but you meet a lot of people in your life but could you forget your first love?

If you write comment, can you also mention which one is your favorite adventure?(first adventure you read?)
GurraJG
Member
#2 · Posted: 8 May 2005 11:17
I guess it depends on when you read it. The first album I can recall reading was The Crab with the Golden Claws, and I found it to be very good, and it was my favorite for quite a while. But then I lost interest in Tintin (oh my god!!), only to find it again last year, when Tintin turned 75. When I then read the albums over again, I found King Ottokars Sceptre to be very good, and it turned into my favorite album. However, I didn't enjoy Crab as much, because I though Haddock was a bit to pathetic. However, I just re-read The Calculus Affair some days ago, when the new translation came out, and I found it to be excellent. In some ways, I feel that it is my favorite album.

I guess that what I'm trying to say is that as you re-read the albums when you get older, you start liking different things about them then when you were younger, and your views on the best albums change. I can't speak for everybody, but that's the way I feel. I also guess that it also depends on which album you read first.

-Gustav
Karaboudjan
Member
#3 · Posted: 8 May 2005 14:00
Red Rackhan's Treasure and Castafiore Emerald were the first two I read. And yes, Emerald, despite its consistently underrated nature, remains my favourite in the series.
jockosjungle
Member
#4 · Posted: 8 May 2005 16:06
I'd say Emarald was over- rather than under-rated, as it is often described as one of the better albums.

But I'd agree that you have a special bond with the first book you read (Red Rackham's Treasure for me), similar to liking the Doctor Who you grew up with, or thinking the current crop of children's TV is poor in comparison to your childhood.

However some of your examples that you give about firsts are a bit exaggerated.
Of his movies, Orson Welles made Citizen Kane first, and it is undoubtedly his best work, then made a lot of dross for the best part of 50 years, rather than that people think it is best because they saw it first. It is very similar to musicians who often have a good debut album in them and then fade away.

Hergé is an exception in that he produced quality throughout his career, and also that because his books don't really follow a set order readers don't have to start with the first one, as you do with, say, Harry Potter).

In my opinion there are very few people who have had such a career in any medium as few greats really produce high quality output for such a long period.

Your point however is valid about the first one you read.

But what is more valid is perhaps that people who read a good Tintin adventure are more inclined to continue reading and looking for more Hergé books. Perhaps however if they started reading a lesser one that they'd enjoyed less, they might never become fans.

Rik
snafu
Member
#5 · Posted: 8 May 2005 16:43
My first two Tintin books were "Red Rackham's Treasure" and the "Red Sea Sharks". I continously liked the first one but sort of had to rediscover the second one. So in terms of whether or not my first books were my favorite, my answer is both yes and no!

I sort of think that, at least for me, my first impressions count the most. If I hadn't liked "Red Rackham's Treasure" (but why wouldn't I like it?!), I would not have caught the Tintin-fever. Would the importance of first impressions hold true for others?
celalli
Member
#6 · Posted: 8 May 2005 18:29
Thanks for the replies for First adventure- Favorite adventure
and
Thank you Rik.

You are very right.
When writing about the topic I was aware of the subjectivity of my hypothesis, and perhaps the paradoxy, if it can be so called.

As an engineer more than ten years I liked to live generally near to 2*2=4. Accepting Statistics as a branch of positive Science and if there is not conspiracy, my effort was to place it on a logical base that nearly 50 percent of the fans favorite books being their first book on sorroundings and on net I knew. Because of that I had wanted the fans to write to forum of whose first book and favorite book intersect.

I thought about the term exaggeration you mentioned. I think you are right.

And as Snafu said first impression count most perhaps. And if your first impression is very good about an album you continue to read the others, if not you leave the rest. Being to continue means you liked it very much, with a high probability it will become your favorite.
jockosjungle
Member
#7 · Posted: 8 May 2005 19:02
Also people are quite likely to read a Tintin book on a friends recommendation and they are liable to suggest one of the best ones, hence many people have Red Racks Treasure as their first.

Rik
Richard
UK Correspondent
#8 · Posted: 8 May 2005 19:23
I suppose everyone has a soft spot for their first album - as far as I can remember, mine was King Ottokar's Sceptre, and I still think it's superb. I'd easily rank it as one of the highlights of the series. However, my favourite of all the books, Tintin in Tibet, was one of the last ones I read ! So perhaps I'm the exception that proves the rule. :op

Hmm ... if "first one is always best", then would anyone have preferred it the other way round ? Or, to put it better, would anyone prefer to have read one of the average albums first, and then worked up to the best, or the other way round ?
MoonRocket
Member
#9 · Posted: 8 May 2005 20:27
The first Tintin book I read was Explorers on the Moon, and that one is definitely my favorite. Soon after I read Tintin in America, and though it seems to be highly criticized, that is also one of my favorites, as well.
jockosjungle
Member
#10 · Posted: 8 May 2005 21:09
Well the first one I owned was Seven Crystal Balls which my Mum got me because I enjoyed watching the Belvision repeats in the early 80's, but it wasn't the first one I read as I was only young and it had too much writing for me.

I asked Mum to get me Red Rackham's Treasure when we were on holiday in Edinburgh and it was the first one I read.

I read them all when I was quite young and missed the point of a lot of them and hence I only really established my favourites in 1999 when the release of Soviets got me interested in Tintinology properly.

I liked Rackham because it had a shark submarine and was about hunting for pirate treasure and although I like the more subtle points and story of other adventures better I still find the shark sub and hunting for pirate treasure to be enjoyable.

would anyone prefer to have read one of the average albums first, and then worked up to the best

I don't think I would Richard, as Rackham was a real page turner for me.
If I had read one of the more average albums maybe I wouldn't have got hooked, but then again I don't rate any of the books as ones I wouldn't want to keep reading.
I am glad though that I didn't start reading them from Book 1, as the simplistic Soviets may not have captivated me as a child.

On another point I imagine that like me quite a few of us had our first introduction to Tintin via the television and this too could have somewhat changed our opinions.
The Black Island Belvision always holds some sway with me as I remember vividly the episode where Tintin was going to be pushed off the cliff as one of my earliest memories.
Mum went and hired the video for me as I kept asking her if Tintin would be OK.

Rik

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