Tintin Forums

Hi,

Just a topic which has come to my attention recently.

It's pretty much acknowledged that the 'The Blue Lotus' is regarded as Herge's first masterpiece.
Whenever the adventure is discussed critics refer it to being his first great Tintin adventure etc etc..

My question is what are the others which would be held in this esteem?
I'm sure we would agree that all the subsequent adventures are not masterpieces per se.
When you regard 'Shooting Star' vs 'Unicorn' or 'Black Gold' vs 'Tibet' there is no debate over which are the superior albums.

It just got me thinking that which are generally the other stories which would be ranked as the 'masterpieces' in the adventures of Tintin?

I guess there would be quite a varying degree of answers depending on if you have a particular fondness for an album.

Let the debate begin!

Rodney :)

As you say, that depends very much on your personal preferences. After practicing a bit with the first few albums, Hergé kept a very high standard for the rest of his career. Blue Lotus (albeit not my personal favourite) is certainly the first masterpiece and the one that lifted Tintin into higher level. Broken Ear is maybe a bit indifferent, but from Black Island onwards it's possible to make a case with good arguments for any album. Maybe (definitely, if you ask me) Black Gold pales in comparison to Tibet, but in the wider context of comic books (and especially compared to contemporaries), it's arguably a masterpiece.

That said, I think the absolute masterpieces are: Tibet, Calculus Affair and the double albums. Classic Tintin on every page, not even one average frame anywhere.