The Black Island

The Black Island
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.

Originally created by Jesper Jühne. Revised and maintained by Irene Mar.
Contributors and sources: Aaron Remick, ET = Etienne Chevalier, Chikahiro Masami, Wim Goosen, BP = Tintin and the world of Hergé by Benoît Peeters. London: Methuen, 1989; TT = Tintinologisk Tidsskrift [http://www.akira.ruc.dk/~rsj/tintin/]; DT = Discover Tintin [defunct site].

Last modified: 31 Jul 2008
Latest changes: Title in other languages section updated.

Original French title

L'ile Noire

Publication history

First published in Le Petit Vingtième between 15 April 1937 and 16 June 1938.
Published in book form in 1938 (black and white, 124 pages).
Colourised version appeared in 1943.
Redrawn version appeared in 1965.

UK edition:

1990
Series: The Adventures of Tintin
Originally published (UK): London : Methuen, 1966
Publisher: London : Mammoth, 1990
Physical Desc.: 61 p
ISBN: 0749704691

Related link: First publication dates of The Adventures of Tintin

Plot

Off the coast of northern Scotland lies the Black Island, its ruined castle a grim warning to intruders. Those who set foot on the rocky shores are never seen again. No one will dare to venture there from Kiltoch. The dark secret must be uncovered, and it is Tintin, the boy reporter, who makes the attempt. A chain of mysterious events leads first to a house in Sussex, then to Scotland. Tintin is up against the unscrupulous Dr. Müller, but after many desperate adventures he and Snowy, with the help of the Thomsons, bring a cunning adversary to book. [A. Remick]

Related articles

History of the Black Island

Trivia

  1. Cameo: page 61, frames 10-11: Christopher Willoughby-Drupe of the "Paris-Flash" (from The Castafiore Emerald).
  2. Cameo: page 61, frame 12: Marco Rizotto of the "Paris-Flash" (from The Castafiore Emerald). [TT]
  3. Marco Rizotto and Christopher Willoughby-Drupe do not appear in the black and white edition or the first colour edition of The Black Island. They were added in the second French colour edition of "The Black Island" (published after the Castafiore Emerald where they first appeared).
  4. In the 1943 version Snowy drinks Johnnie Walker, not Loch Lomond.
  5. Thomson is very clever with his cane. In frame 4 on page 6, the grip is pointed towards the ground, but in the next frame, the grip is pointed towards the sky. [DT]
  6. On page 21 (frame 4), Fred the Fireman collides with his wife, and his helmet hits her on the right side of her face. Why, then, is she rubbing her left cheek in the next frame? [DT]
  7. Wronzoff is not quite unconscious, because his legs change position between page 52 (frame 10) and page 53 (frame 1). [ET]

Title in other languages

  1. Afrikaans - Die swart eiland
  2. Arabic - Tantan fi al-jazirah al-sawda
  3. Asturian - La Islla Prieta
  4. Basque - Uharte beltza
  5. Bengali - Krishnadwiper Rahasya
  6. Chinese - China: 黑岛 (Heidao) Hong Kong and Taiwan: 黑島 (Heidao)
  7. Danish - Den sorte ø
  8. Dutch - De zwarte rotsen
  9. Esperanto - La nigra insulo
  10. Farsi/Persian - Jazirihyi siyah
  11. Finnish - Mustan saaren salaisuus
  12. French - L'ile Noire
  13. Galician - La isla negra
  14. Gallo - Sus l'ile naire
  15. German - Die schwarze Insel
  16. Greek - To mávro nisí
  17. Hebrew - Ha'ee Ha'shachor
  18. Icelandic - Svaðilför í Surtsey
  19. Italian - L'isola nera
  20. Japanese - 黒い島のひみつ Kuroi shima no himitsu
  21. Latin - De insula negra
  22. Lëtzburgesch - d'Schwaarz insel
  23. Oostends
  24. Portuguese - A ilha negra
  25. Rhaeto-Romansch - L'insla naira
  26. Romani/Romany
  27. Romanian
  28. Sinhalese - Kalu Divaina
  29. Slovenian - Crni Otok
  30. Serbian
  31. Spanish - La isla negra
  32. Swedish - Den svarta ön
  33. Turkish - Kara ada
  34. Vietnamese - Bí mât dáo den

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