tintin_forever:
I was trying to make a list of which of Hergé's Tintin books he created first in black and white
I think this list of
publication dates, which I put together a few years ago, is a handy checklist and will give a good overview of the books.
To summarise...
There were 9 black and white books 1930 to 1941, which were: Tintin in the Land of the Soviets; Tintin in the Congo; Tintin in America; Cigars of the Pharaoh; The Blue Lotus; The Broken Ear; The Black Island; King Ottokar's Sceptre and The Crab with the Golden Claws. All of these books, apart from Land of the Soviets, were later released in a colour version. Some were redrawn completely, others partially, and some were simply re-jigged and coloured.
Land of Black Gold was first serialised in black and white in
Le petit Vingtième, but the story wasn't completed due to the closure of the parent newspaper in 1940. There are two colour versions; the first complete version was serialised in colour in a modified form in Tintin magazine. Then it was slightly modified again for the colour book in 1950. Later, the British publishers Methuen wanted to release the book but thought that the British troops in the Mandate of Palestine might confuse readers, so Hergé redrew it. It was released in 1971 and is the colour version which is available now.
Similarly, The Black Island received two colour versions; the first a straightforward colouring of the black and white version, and the second a redrawn version.
Further to that, The Shooting Star, The Secret of the Unicorn, Red Rackham's Treasure and The Seven Crystal Balls were all originally serialised in black and white in
Le Soir newspaper between 1941 and 1944. All the remaining stories were serialised first in Tintin magazine in colour and were later published in colour books.