Tintin Forums

I'm a fan of Tintin and would be grateful for your explanation about this.

Why is there no new, official Tintin book?

As we all know, DC Comics and Marvel Comics keep releasing new books about their characters. So we always have new 'origin' books, new plots. Characters live and die and live again, etc. And the fans seems to be very happy although it means great profit for the publishers.

Why don't we have a similar thing with Tintin?

Thank you

Hi, and welcome to the forums!

The answer to your question has been talked about quite a lot over the years, but generally as part of another discussion, and there may not be a thread dedicated to exactly why not, so it's probably time to have one which tries to capture the situation in its own right.

The reason is that Hergé himself asked that there be no new stories after his death; he felt that while others might be able to produce books as good as - or even better than - the ones he had created, the fact was that Tintin was a part of him, and that any new books wouldn't truly be Tintin without him there to guide them.

His widow, in respect of this wish, has resisted all requests to restart the series.

Initially resistant, she almost gave in, when Casterman asked that she let Hergé's studio complete the last book, Tintin and Alph-Art, from Hergé's notes and sketches, under the supervision of Bob De Moor, who has been assisting Hergé as the story developed.

However, she has since said that when it came time to sign the contract, she could not bring herself to do it, as she was certain that Hergé would not have wanted it.

Instead, the book was left unfinished, and she gradually shut down the studios and let the team go.

As things stand, it's unlikely that that situation will change in the foreseeable future.

However, the possibility of a new authorized book in the distant future (2052) was aired at a public talk in 2013, to be published just before the copyright in existing books expires.
But (as was discussed here), while Tintin will remain in copyright in Europe until 2053, due to differences in the law elsewhere (for example in the United States of America), the series will start entering the public domain in 2025; this may bring about a change in attitude, or revisions to the current "No new books" policy, we just can't tell yet.

Thank you so much. Your reply is perfect. I understand the situation much better now.

Regards,

You are most kind!

I should add that the possibility of a new book for 2052 may have been as much a useful hypothetical conceit as it was any sort of statement of intent.

While they may have already formulated a plan and prepared for the day that a new adventure will appear as an authorized and official addition to the series, it's not necessarily so.

Effectively, while opening up to the idea, it provides a non-specific, generic response, that can be used in reply to any enquiry of, "Will there be a new book?", while still leaving the event far enough in the future that no further details need be made available, and possibly more importantly - and realistically - many of those involved will not have to deal with the actual outcome, as they may be retired or even no longer with us.

I would also like go see new Tintin adventures. Why not write and draw them yourself as fan fiction.? Don't sell them, of course. That would be illegal.

And also illegal to distribute or publish them too, of course, whether printed or online, regardless if whether you're selling them.

If anyone's wanting to make new Tintin-inspired comic strip adventures, I think it'd much better to make up your own original characters – from a creative point of view as well as a legal one. That was, I believe, what Hergé usually encouraged children to move on to doing when thanking them for any Tintin drawings they sent him.
I think it's fine for an author-illustrator's creation to be a finite body of work, limited to whatever they produced in their own lifespan, especially if that was what they wished. Not everything needs to become a never-ending franchise. And personally, I'd far sooner read even the most amateur-level comic from someone who was being original than the slickest piece of fan art.

Is it really illegal to distribute fan-fiction? If some people (not me, I like official product) send out their work to like-minded individuals, are they guilty of a crime?


Are you sure? I dislike fan-fiction because it's mostly Mary Sue drivel, but people can send their "work" to fan-fiction gossip sites without any problems. Of course, these fans like to throw in disclaimers such as "parody", "homage" and "fair use".

Yes. It's publshing, regardless of whether it's hard-copy or online.


And you could steal a car and get away with it, or ride on a train without a ticket and not get caught - that you don't suffer consequences doesn't make a transgression any less a transgression.

You're also making an unwarranted assumption that there are no problems - there are plenty of instances of legal action being taken against all sorts of people and organizations for copyright infringement, both in physical media and on-line; my guess is that they just haven't presented themselves to you.

An earlier iteration of this site under different management recieved legal "cease and desist" notifications for fan fiction - it does happen.


I'd think that one might want a more robust defence for any legal actions than a grab-bag of legalese, "thrown in" by someone...