Tintin Forums

I recall reading somewhere that Land of Black Gold was first published before the war but was stopped in mid-adventure with Tintin caught in the sandstorm.

It appears that the impending war, which is a major background feature of the present edition, was never mentioned in the original. When the head of the petrol company briefs Tintin over the exploding oil he simply raises the economic rather than the military issues involved.

Also, while in the desert, Tintin resorts to dowsing rather than luck to find water (dowsing being later something more closely linked to Professor Calculus).

Can anyone confirm these scenes?

Thanks.

Land of Black Gold was indeed started before WWII. Herge was forced to stop writing by the Nazi censures due to it's military and propoganda theme. This explains why Captain Haddock only appears briefly at the beginning and end of the story. Herge originally started the book before Haddock had been introduced, he came back to the book once the war was over. Haddock was, by then, an established character, so Herge had to devise a sub-plot to explain The Captains absence. I would imagine that Herge's history with the boy scout movement would explain why Tintin dowses for water in the book.

Yes and it was easier to explain Haddock was mobilizied for war without a background explanation. Like the above poster said he could be bookended into the story and it would still make sense.

Will there ever be an English edition of the original volume?

Who knows. Tintin is becoming more and more fashionable, so maybe even unfinished edition would sell. There's loads of material left in the vaults of Moulinsart that hasn't been published recently, maybe not since their original appearance in the Tintin magazine or Le Petit Vingtieme, so I'd guess anyone craving for "complete" collection can expect regular visits to bookstore in the near future.

It's worth thinking though what would be the best format for releasing original (unfinished) version of Black Gold. Alph-Art works fine as it is (both versions), but I'm not quite sure if that would be the best option with Black Gold. Maybe something similar to the way records are re-released as "deluxe" editions, including the original album and then extra songs like single b-sides, early demos, live versions etc etc added to the end. So the deluxe edition of Black Gold would contain first the finished album and then the original start for the story added as extra pages.

Personally I'd like to see these sort of "extras" compiled into a book of their own, containing this, extra pages from Prisoners of the Sun, christmas cards, covers from Tintin-magazine, sketches, maybe some posters & adds Hergé drew early in his career etc etc.

Yes, a deluxe edition would be Great! I tried to look for the early edition without success. One of the original 'scenes' cut are shown in "Tintin and The World of Hergé", by Benoit Peeters (page 90).

Tintin is kidnapped with sleeping gas because he looks similar to a guy called Finkelstein, maybe a spy...It has nothing to do with the sheik at first, but it seems the car of the kidnappers gets blocked by the sheik's men. Is that what happens?