Tintin Forums

It would be lovely to see a finished album of "Alph-Art", but will it ever happen?

I have never read the released book, but I've read what it's about and plan to get it soon. I know it's made up of sketches and bits of plot, with none of the 'finished frames' we so love.

I would love to see what the artist Yves Rodier did with the story, but I understand it's against the rules to discuss non-official stuff. Is it allowed, I wonder, to ask anyone who has read it to e-mail me and tell me what it's like?

In the meantime, do we think this final Tintin story should ever be completed? It could be done in the style of Herge, to finish the series. It's criminal that Tintin is left on a loose thread.

Si.
(si_hunt99@yahoo.com)

Well the Rodier Alph-Art is quite good, as fan-art goes, but it's just not the same as Hergé, who just had that magic in his story telling.
But I think they should release it; Mounlinsart could set up a fan-art "division", and publish it - think of the cash it would make them.
You can actually buy it legally in Canada I hear.

Moderator Note: No, it cannot be bought legally in Canada: even if there were some loophole in the Canadian copyright system which doesn't offer the same protection as elsewhere to the works of Hergé (which seems unlikely), Rodier himself has never published the work for sale - it was pirated and printed and sold by others.
The Tintinologist Team

I think the recent version of Alph-art is nicely presented. Its concise and has a really nice graphic designy feel to it. Not too mention the album is a rare look into how Herge worked. Could you really ask for anything better?

I have mixed feelings. I want to read the rest of Herge's story, but since he's dead it wouldn't have his true vision. It should probably be left as is.

For comments relating to Yves Rodier's Alph-art - check out existing thread: "Tintin and Alph-art: Yves Rodier version".

I don't think that it should be finishe 'cause in a book I read It said that in an interview Herge said he did not want People to continue tintin after his death

I think they should finish it. I understand why they wish to respect Herge's wishes, but in about 50 years time the estate will lose control of the rights and there will be legal, unofficial versions - might as well put some money and effort into an official completed Alph-Art now and complete the series.

As a writer myself, I've experienced great aggravation when somebody else amended my work without my knowing. Regardless of how much better it may have become, I would prefer my work to be finished by me, and me alone.

J.K. Rowling chose to finish off one of the main Harry Potter cast just to prevent people writing after she had stopped.

I seriously think all writers would appreciate our work to be left as it is.

As a writer myself, I've experienced great aggravation when somebody else amended my work without my knowing.

I work as a journalist, and one of the things that you get used to very, very quickly is that the copy you submit and what appears on the printed page are not necessarily the same.
It'll be edited, cut for length and edited again to make sure that the text runs smoothly around the picture boxes and pull-out quotes, so perhaps I have a different perspective, but the more I think about it, the more I come to realise that many writers' works are the product of an editing process.
Even if you were writing a book, the editor would suggest amendments and provide you with feedback, and sometimes that's a vital part of the process. You need someone who is objective, and who can say 'this works very well, but this bit here... maybe that's not so good.'

All of which is a convoluted way of saying that Hergé has provided the raw materials for one final story, so it might not be a bad thing for another artist to edit it into a finished format. And as stuart says, copyright is not forever.

The point here is: editing without your knowledge and approval, and expecting you to acknowledge it.

Maybe it is common when you are relatively fresh and new, but when you are a veteran, and the person who did the editing is your junior, and the editing has been done without much taste, not to mention changing and misunderstanding your original style and intention - trust me, you won't appreciate it.

I speak with 15 years of writing experiences behind me, sadly.

I've written three books now and each one of them has been through an editorial process -- but I'm also an editor myself and my first priority is always the reader rather than the author.
This is a prickly area since any writer is putting their ego on the line when they publish.
I've had some writers thank me because my changes have clarified and strengthened their work, but a small minority can get upset.
Yet it shows when an author is famous enough to bypass the editorial process. Rowling is a case in point. Her first books were diligently edited; her most recent books have not been edited at all and boy does it show.
As Jonson said of Shakespeare, "he never blotted out line ... would he had blotted a thousand."

That said, bringing in another writer to finish off Hergé's work is not the same thing at all. I would just rather have an officially-sanctioned and carefully worked on finished Alph-Art instead of the pirates which will in time become legal to publish. I think it is inevitable that Alph-Art will be finished, probably more than once, whether it is when copyrights finally expire, or when the Hergé estate passes into the hands of someone less interested in maintaining the quality of the franchise.