Tintin Forums

Hi all,
I was wondering if someone could possibly provide me with some info on two Tintin books I have...
I picked them up in a second-hand book sale in the late 80's, probably about 1988, I'd say, because I didn't have in my collection (I was 9 at the time).
The volumes are The Red Sea Sharks and Tintin and The Broken Ear.
They're published by Magnet, both are in pretty bad condition now (as they were when I got them), but there are two interesting (well to me anyway!) things about them.
Firstly, they've only 16 other titles pictured on the back.
Missing are: Tintin in America, The Shooting Star, Tintin and The Broken Ear and Tintin and The Picaros (I haven't included The Blue Lotus because this is missing from most of my original paperback editions).

Although they aren't pictured on the back, they're listed at the bottom of the cover: "Also in the series..."

The other interesting thing is that title for Tintin and The Broken Ear is simply The Broken Ear, and the 'box' that this title appears in is smaller, to fit this shorter title.

So like I say, I'm just curious about them: when they are from, and why The Broken Ear is missing the Tintin and... prefix...?

Cheers!

Tintin and The Broken Ear is simply The Broken Ear, and the "box" that this title appears in is smaller to fit this shorter title

Yeah, I thought exactly the same, but looking into it further I found that the editions all say (please someone correct me if I am wrong) just The Broken Ear, and it is the thumbnail picture on the back saying Tintin and the Broken Ear that's in error.
I must have got my copy around the same time and I thought even then, "Wow! A misprint - this will be worth millions in a few years time!" ;-)

I have all the books in the tiny-sized three-in-one format.

My editions were printed in 2003, and the cover of book 2 shows "The Broken Ear" as you say. On the back of my 2004 edition of Alph-Art? Tintin and the Broken Ear.

Very peculiar! It does indeed seem that only the thumbnail says Tintin and... though.

For some reason the cover says The Broken Ear but the spine says Tintin and the Broken Ear.

No reason is given for this - perhaps they wanted to associate it more with the Tintin name...?

Rik

I have a Mammoth paperback copy of The Broken Ear, and there is no Tintin and... on either the spine or front cover, though the thumbnail of the Methuen version on the back cover of the (Mammoth) book does have Tintin and...

I'd say the reason for putting some of the titles into a separate "Also in the series" section, is because they had not been translated into English at that point.

Moderator Note: Good thought, but given the titles involved, it can't be so - Shooting Star was published in English in 1961, for example. Could be a hold-over of old artwork/ printing plates for which books were available in paperback at one time - Shooting Star was not in soft cover until 1978.