The Land of the Soviets: Hergé's Black Sheep
By Frédéric Flower
Have you noticed that to mark the 70th anniversary of Tintin's first mission abroad, bar the Casterman's reprint of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, there is almost no sign of other commemoration merchandise or souvenir produced?
Even the reprinting of Hergé's first book is not widely publicised. Why is this so, why all the hush hush?
One needs to trace back to Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, the creator of Tintin. He was ashamed of his maiden piece, which had been harshly criticised by the media and public for sometime. His work was commented as being racist, anti-soviet and overtly right-winged. Hergé defended himself by blaming it all on his young age (22 years old at the time) and inexperience.
So embarrassed by the criticism, Hergé had Tintin in the Land of the Soviets withdrawn from circulation in the 1930s, and had since always made it clear that in his life time and after his death, the book must be kept out of circulation as much as possible. His wish has been respected by his second wife, Fanny Rodwell, who owns the body (Moulinsart SA) that grants Tintin licensing rights. Consequently, not only the number of Tintin's first adventure is kept down to a minimum, even Tintin merchandise have always been deliberately produced in limited quantities only.
But it is not all bad news for the Tintin collectors, special limited edition (3000) t-shirts have been produced and distributed world-wide to mark Tintin's 70th birthday. Packaged in a neat blue box, the t-shirts are expected to be in hot demand.