The Shooting Star: American flag vs Sao Rico flag

I was just reading Tintin and the World of Hergé: An illustrated history when I stumbled upon an interesting fact.
In the first edition of The Shooting Star, the flag of the rival company funding The Perry is American; but in the 1954 edition it was changed to the flag of Sao Rico.
I believe this is because when the booked was first published in America, the publishers thought that using that flag would show America as an enemy of Tintin - after all, they do try to sink the ship Tintin is on.

Your thought

Thanks!

Yeah - there're a lot of similar changes that have been done in the other reprints due to "political correctness".
Land of Black Gold, Tintin in Tibet, Congo, Golden Claws...any place that had some geo-political conflict - which is basically everywhere Tintin went...

In this case I don't believe the changes were made at the insistence of the American publisher (even though it states this in some books).
Golden Press, the first US publisher, didn't begin to issue their books until 1959, nor did they actually release The Shooting Star.
I think it was more likely to have been some self-censorship on Hergé and Casterman's part, perhaps in anticipation of finding an American publisher.
In any event The Shooting Star wasn't actually issued in the US until the mid-70s.

I'd agree with Chris (Harrock n Roll). It may also have become evident to Hergé that a tale concerning a pan-European party of scientists (all from Axis or occupied countries) in a race against an American corporation (with shady Jewish overtones) would have provoked adverse commentary in the post-war years.
While the American aspect could be changed easily, the Jewish element remained unmodified as Hergé maintained that it was a genuine mistake.
The link between Jewishness and a fictional Latin-American country is less profound than with the States, so it softens the blow from both sides.

Ed

The Shooting Star was written when Belgium was occupied during WWII, so anything to do with politics had to disappear in favour of pure escapism. A search for a meteorite was supposed to be as far removed from politics as you could get; unfortunately Hergé made the bad guys for the rival expedition being from the United States.
After the Occupation this was changed to a fictitious country.
Also, the scientists for the Aurora expedition were chosen from occupied or neutral countries; this was never changed or modified to include scientists from Allied countries. The latter isn't so bad (in my opinion), but why on earth didn't Hergé think to use a fictitious country for the rival expedition to begin with, instead of making it the United States?
This means we can't read The Shooting Star in its original version because it is too un-PC.

Owing to an omission, you can still see the Stars and Stripes on the Peary on panel 8, page 35.
At least it is in black-and-white, so it is less obvious.