Tintin Forums

Some of the Tintin adventures I particularly like r 'the land of black gold','King Ottokar sceptre', 'Tintin and the Picaros', 'the blue lotus' and last but not the least the heavily emotional
'Tintin in Tibet'.I really love the way in which Herge has portrayed a perhaps more world weary and matured Tintin in 'Tintin and the Picaros'.Infact in many of the stories like 'Tintin in Tibet' Tintin literally pulls the story ahead and where his character is much more powerful than the rest of the cast.'The Blue lotus' shows the perfection of Herge's research. I really wish, after reading this book over and over again, that Herge would have been our research analysis teacher. The characters of 'the Blue lotus' literally comes to life becoz of his hardwork. I also admire Herge's idea of trying to induct some information about Syldavia in 'King Ottokar sceptre'which takes the reader on a new journey to a new world. However,I also sharply criticize Herge's work in many stories like 'The Castafiore emerald','The Black island'and'Flight 714'.
I dont for once what was the use of having Tintin in 'The Castafiore emerald'where Tintin was important only in the beginning where he had quite a serious role to play. It seems as if Tintin disappeared like a ghost thruout the story and when it comes 2 finishing the story Tintin was just used by Herge since Captain Haddock cant end it.Secondly, the story is liable for criticism for its very weak plots and subplots.Thirdly, I feel that Herge is insulting his own character justbecoz he is disgusted of writing Tintin.

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The Tintinologist Team

You didn't complain about the reasons for not liking 'The Black Island' and 'Flight 714'. Sure Haddock took over from Tintin in 'The Castafiore Emerald', but is that such a bad thing? Haddock is often a more interesting character than Tintin, more dimensional, more flawed. Tintin has his moments but I don't think just because Haddock often gets the limelight, that it means the other adventures aren't good.

Even when it comes to'the Black island' Tintin has been portrayed as such a bland,boring and expressionless character.I mean come on, when your a novelist/catoonist your central character should not have only the positive characteristics of a hero but he should be a mixture of both good as well as bad.As a script writing student, I feel that the character of Tintin was better portrayed in the Ellipse-Nelvana series than by Herge. Of course, this is only with regards to some of the stories.'Flight 714' one of the second last stories completed by Herge, has various flaws like serious loopholes in the plot, too many sub-plots,a punctured attempt to bring humour in the story and the absolute tomfoolery of the central character who should be able to move the story ahead.Infact I dont know what was Tintin doing in that story and what the hell was he thinking?Of course , nevertheless, if you notice,Tintin definitely looks more matured, in terms of physicality
compared to the other books.Another positive point that I would like to add is the fact that Herge wrote this story like an open-ended text thus allowing the reader to interpret the ending of the story. Even when it comes to 'the Black island' the story can be criticized for its weak plot.Infact,I did not know where was the story heading, for once, and the ending of the story is too abrupt.For once, I really thought whether this was the same Herge who wrote masterpieces like'The Land Of Black Gold''The Blue Lotus'and 'Seven Crystal Balls'and 'Prisoners of the Sun'.

I actually like 'The Castafiore Emrald'. Its I think one of Herge's genius storyline where he takes something not so trivial and makes an interesting plot out of it. We all anticipate in the beginning that there are people behind the Castafiore's jewels and Tintin is going to go on an another chase adventure. But I like how he spends more time around Marlinspike. I mean what other adventures you get to spend so much time around Marlinspike. Also, Haddock is the best comic relief. I am pretty sure a lot of people like Haddock more than Tintin. Tintin is a role model but Haddock is simply pure entertaining.

SakuraT5
Even when it comes to'the Black island' Tintin has been portrayed as such a bland,boring and expressionless character.I mean come on, when your a novelist/catoonist your central character should not have only the positive characteristics of a hero but he should be a mixture of both good as well as bad.
I don't follow your line of thought at all - you say what a cartoonist should and shouldn't do, but it flies in the face of the fact that the series has been a great success for decades, so Herge must have been doing something right. Clearly if Tintin was as badly created as you suggest, the books wouldn' be held in the esteem they are today.
Personally I'd make my analysis descriptive, not prescriptive: look at what the author did, and try and se what he did that was successful.

But even though Jock123 stated the fact that Tintin is very popular then why do many critics critcize the character for blandness and stereotyping.If Tintin would have been popular, why is it that many people in many countries do not know about Tintin?

SakuraT5
why do many critics critcize the character for blandness and stereotyping.
I don't know; as I said, I was speaking for myself, not for "many critics". If you have a case to make for it being true, then feel free, but I don't see it myself and therefore can't mount a defence of that position. It's also difficult to evaluate the position you are taking when you don't cite any of these many critics... There are also those who have written in favour of the books - from The Times Literary Supplement in the Fifties to Michael Farr in the present year with his character studies; what of them?

If Tintin would have been popular, why is it that many people in many countries do not know about Tintin?
Well Tintin is popular, to my way of thinking - the volume of books sold, the longevity of the series, the merchandising, the stage, screen and radio adaptations, the fact that Hollywood is making movies, I'd say that these are signs of popularity, no?
You can't really address issues of popularity in terms of the number of people who don't have or know something. I mean the vast majority of the world's population aren't on the internet (aren't even on the 'phone!), but the internet is popular, isn't it? What level are you setting anyway? Tintin's known by millions and millions of people, probably more than the majority of sports and film stars would ever hope to have follow them.
So what exactly is your point? You are posting on a Tintin fan forum that the books aren't well written, that their hero isn't well defined, that you have a better idea than Herge as to how the books should be plotted, and that the series isn't well known; I'm all for a discussion of opinions, but until you actually quantify what the levels of success should be, and why the books should be better, then it is hard to see where this is going.

I am not really sure as to how to respond to a forum like "Critical Review of Adventures of Tintin", but I tend to feel a little strongly about it. So let me just try.....

Popularity is relative, and even in today's fast-changing times, Tintin manages to retain its charm. Given my limited knowledge of English and Hindi literature, I would mention that while Agatha Christie, Sidney Sheldon, Enid Blyton or P G Wodehouse are equally widely read contemporaries of Herge in English, Tintin has been much more widely translated--partly because it is easier to translate comic books than other books (because of the "flavour" of the language) and mostly because of the far-reaching appeal of Tintin. I would not be able to comment on Herge's popularity in other languages. Very few publishers would take up an expensive job of translation and printing in a new language unless there was a market.

I was born in 1980 and in a city in India where only one bookshop in the entire city used to bring 2-3 titles every year, yet, atleast 20% of my class of 60 students in school was totally hooked.

Regarding "Critical Review", you seem to be a little heavy in your dislike for "The Castafiore Emerald', "Flight 714" and "Picaros". Over and over again, these three titles cause huge controversy and strong emotions on the pages of this website.

You see, when you are doing a critical review, it may be worthwhile to review a book in isolation, but what are you comparing it to? Why is The Castafiore Emerald boring? If it is because Tintin is not the central character, who says he has to be? If it is spent entirely in the close confines of Marlinspike, what about Destination Moon? Since most of us have read a good number of Tintin books, it would be unfair to judge them in isolation.

What I mean is that one should see the PROCESS, the TRANSFORMATION in the books from start to end. I might not like "Tintin in the Congo", but if the Congo hadn't happenned, there would not be a masterpiece like....(OK take your pick here, we all have our favourites).

Being an architect totally disconnected to the world of literary jargon or Critical Reviews, all I can say is that I love all of them because it is interesting to note the change, the transformation through the book. I don't sit and analyse each story after reading it (I have 24 out of 25 titles and the Lake of Sharks movie). I just bask in the glow of the moments of each book after reading them.

From the funny shaped Tintin's head in "Crab with..." and "Broken Ear" to the perfect drawing by the time the Moon series came about, there is change. There might be some loose storylines like the " the Crabs..." but one can't deny the brilliant fast-moving storyline of "The Calculus Affair" that could rival any James Bond thriller. From the endearing characters (even villains) who re-appear with regularity to the Haddock and Calculus "incidents" that occassionally take up a page or two (my favourites are acting the goat and the sticking plaster episodes). Just pick your moment and enjoy them, there is no perfect storyteller, no perfect artiste, no perfect plot, they all have a style.

That the author of "Tintin in the Congo" with a strong colonial bias could write a book like the "The Blue Lotus" which talked of the faulty Occidental impressions of the Orientals soon after, is itself an example of how much Herge grew as an author within 3-4 books.

As far as "The Castafiore Emerald" is concerned, I am sure even a seperate forum is not enough... I think its a masterpiece, an absolutely brilliant book that redefines adventures and brings so much refined satire, humour and action within the small confines of a country home in a splendid way. It reminds me of P G Wodehouse, but I am sure he would love it if he read it!

Whew!!!

SakuraT5
As a script writing student...

Aha! Sakura, I'd been reading your posts on this and other threads with some bafflement. I couldn't work out why you believed there were "basic rules" of creative writing, or why you were laying down the law so authoritively about what a writer/cartoonist should or shouldn't do when, as far as I could tell from your prose, you're not exactly an expert writer yourself. But now everything is clear; you've been attending a script writing course!

Maybe whoever's teaching you this stuff on your course tells you they know everything there is to know about story construction, and I'm sure you can find many very good films, books and comic books that follow the "rules" of central character development that you've been learning. But these rules can be over-used, and used inappropriately. Today's Hollywood writers seem to view any adventure story as simply one big psychoanalylist's couch, and they seem incapable of making even a Winnie the Pooh film without having Piglet or Tigger needing to find themselves or discover their inner Tiger cub.

Similarly, your "rules" just don't apply well to Tintin. If you want to enjoy Tintin more than you currently do, I think you need to read the books with a different mindset. There's more than one way to tell a story and more than one way to use a central character - infinite ways, I would have thought. There are no rules and, as far as I know, Hergé never went on any script writing courses to learn any, drawing instead on his own intuition, talent and hard mental work.

Possibly, Tintin's character draws on older traditions of story construction - myths and folk tales, in which an archetypal and simply good boy hero passes through adventures encountering all sorts of more complex and flawed characters but remains relatively unchanged himself. Whatever Hergé's reasoning for making Tintin the way he is, it seems to work for millions of readers, as Jock points out.

I'm not saying your dislike of Tintin's character is invalid as a personal point of view. We're all entitled to our preferences and, according to at least one biography, Hergé himself grew tired of Tintin's moral perfection, which may explain why he makes him a little more flawed and world-weary in Picaros. But it seems unreasonable of you to expect Hergé's plot constructions to fit some narrow set of rules which you've learnt as gospel from a script writing teacher. Some great works of works of fiction do have plots that are driven by the psychological development of the central character. But some equally great works don't, and the Tintin books are among these.

I think there are possibly more people who have become succesful fiction writers by studying Tintin books than by attending script writing courses. So instead of just using what you've learnt on your script writing course to criticize Tintin books, maybe you should sometmes turn it around and use what you can learn from Tintin books to question (or at least expand) what you're being taught on your course.

It's okay to have different opinions of things, but something like Tintin is critic-proof. I know when things get so popular, they can get immune to critism (Harry Potter crap), but Tintin is totally flawless. If there is anything found wrong with the Tintin books, it has nothing to do with the work itself, it has to do with the closed-minded, personal taste of the critic. The Tintin books are a perfect example of its medium. There is screenwriting for all different mediums. If you need to write a good comic book, there is nothing that tops Tintin. This is why it's critic-proof. If you can show something of the same comic book medium that tops Tintin, then it can be honestly critisized.

Even "Tintin and the Lake of Sharks" created-from-the-movie book is better than tons of comics of the same medium.