Crystal Balls: "Le Soir" publishes original strip version in an album

Le Soir, the Belgian newspaper have announced that as part of their 125th anniversary celebrations, they are to release the original version of Le 7 Boules de Cristal/ The Seven Crystal Balls, collecting the 154 black-and-white strips into an album for the first time, under the title Le Mystères des 7 Boules de Cristal.

Originally published in the paper, they will reproduce the story in full, and include additional information about the context in which it was published, and looking at the changes made between this version and the re-writing and re-drawing which happend as the story was re-formatted for colour.

This is an exciting development, and follows similar treatment given to the strips for Unicorn and Red Rackham.

It will be on sale from tomorrow, and will cost 14€, or 12€ if you present a coupon which will be in today's (Friday 14th December 2012) paper.

Well, that's wonderful! Now I have something to ask for for Christmas ;)

I've always wondered if they would ever publish these strips, especially since the story, as published in the newspaper, effectively ended in mid-adventure with no conclusive ending and with a scene with Tintin and Alcazar meeting in the street while reading their newspapers and Alcazar identifying the driver of the kidnappers' car as Fernando Ramirez - scenes that contrast dramatically with those in the city port in the book.

I wonder if they will next publish the strip version of "Shooting Star" - which would be a bit of a gamble given the fact that it includes a scene with a pair of seedy-looking Jews with a rather twisted logic as to the benefits of the end of the world! Now that would take a very brave publisher...

Moderator Warning!: Be very careful in how you phrase these things, please; it’s one thing to say that the book is controversial due to issues seen as anti-semitic, and that republication causes problems - it’s getting close to flame baiting to resort to lurid description of the problem, and describing the question of re-publishing such images as “brave”, which could easily be mis-construed.
As it is, such discussion isn’t relevant to the topic at hand, so the subject of the original Shooting Star will end here, please.

The Tintinologist Team

I picked this up the other week and I'm really liking it. As jock said above, it's the same format as the previous releases of the "Le Soir" versions of Unicorn and Red Rackham. The original strips are presented on the right-hand page – on a background colour of just slightly off white, which gives it a nice vintage feel – and the left-hand page of each spread marks any relevant changes and comments on the images or text.

I always marvel at how beautifully Tintin works black and white – for me the colour is mostly superfluous, the bare bones of Hergé's work is in the lines and shapes. Also, in black and white he is more economical, when necessary leaving out some background details (which are in the later book) enabling the reader to focus more on what is happening in the foreground, especially in the text-heavy panels. Hergé understood how to make things less complicated when working in black and white, so that the composition was always balanced.

Then there are the extra panels/sequences and details about the changes made – it's funny when you think you know everything about a book you've been reading for 30 odd years, then you discover dozens of new things!

Suffice to say, the book comes heartily recommended, and proves that there's always something new to find out about Tintin.

This book is not listed at amazon. Any suggestions how to get it? tia

Tintin Boutique sells it here using an English login and buying option. You can also use US Dollars or Pound Sterling.

I bought my copy through Tintin Boutique, the link mct16 gave. The postage to the UK was quite high (11 euros) but it was sent via Fed Ex and arrived very quickly, just two days after I'd ordered it. The pound is almost parity with the euro at the moment which makes it a little more expensive.

The other thing I noticed is that the order page mentions "The original version of Red Rackham's Treasure", but it's just a careless error on behalf of the Boutique.

I think I remember you saying in another thread that this and Seven Crystal Balls were indeed your favorites of the adventures, correct?

I will probably not purchase this (it only comes in French right?), but if could you provide some examples as to why it's so good , then, hey, I may yet be convinced to do so!

To find new things after having read the stories for so many years must be a real treat... Please can you give some further info?

There are some extra scenes which did not make it to the book edition. For example, when fakir Ragdalam asks Madame Yamilah some questions about Haddock which turn out to be very embarrassing for the Captain; or when at Professor Tarragon's, Tintin has just parked the car and there are gunshots. This time the police really have seen an intruder in the area which adds further tension to the evening.