Tintin Forums

Hey everyone,
What were your first impressions of the Captain?
Seeing as how I didn’t read the series in order I have always loved Haddock but when he was initially introduced in ‘The crab with the golden claws’ I was amazed to find that I lost my obsession with him and got rather angry, of course I got over that quickly…
Love Ronni

I liked the way he was introduced. The way he was a part of the villains (but not really), and the way it was just the whiskey that was making him act crazy, but then by the next book when he had Tintin's influence, and when he was a captain again he was a lot more bolder.

my first impression - what a dude!

I first saw Captain Haddock in "Red Rackham's Treasure". I noticed that he never closed his mouth (I noticed an unusual exception where he didn't do this at the beginning of "The Red Sea Sharks"). He was either having a big smile or was very angry. At that time, I didn't have the vocabulary to explain all the intense energy as well (I was seven then), but today I could best describe my initial description of Haddock as being "volatile"...

My introduction to Haddock came in "Destination Moon." I was still a definitely a youngster, and since my previous knowledge of Tintin had been limited to just the reporter and his dog, I found the later story to be a little formidable to fully enter, at first. I thought to myself, "Who's this big noisy guy bossing everyone around while Tintin just reads the telegram?" This was back when I took everything far too seriously. Now I just take things too seriously ;-)

The first story I ever read was The Castafiore Emerald and yes... I fell under his spell. I too admit to being shocked and a little dismayed when I read his real debut, but once that was over, admired Herge for having developed him so much for those unpromising beginnings, and loved him all the more as a character.

loved him from the beginning - I think I first read the Castafiore Emerald at age 6 or 7 and thought he was hilarious, and soon his vocabulary became my own (much to my mother's dismay). When I read the older Tintins I was like, where's Haddock? There was just something missing...

I am not sure if my first contact with the amazing captain was thru the book Crab with golden claws or the LP record of Calculus affair (which in Sweden had the most brilliant actor as the captain, I mean absolutely fantastic at voicing the special Haddockiana)

My first impression was something between awe and not really believing my eyes/ears. Wow, this guy i great, and at the same time, hey is this one for real, what a wierd character, oops better watch out with that bottle, here he goes again.

Something like that I guess was my first meeting with my nowdays favorite and most loved character from the Tintin universe.

I think my first book featuring Haddock was "Destination Moon" when I was about 12. He had many great moments in that one and I was just like: "Wow, this guy rocks!" From that moment on he was my all time favorite character from the Tintinverse.