Tintin Forums

Not so far as I know, no - I believe that the online version is the standard, "no frills", edition, and that's the only colour Soviets available in English. I don't really keep up with the e-book versions, however, so it may be worthwhile you taking a look at the app - if you find it there, do let us know!

Thanks for the reply jock123. I'd already tried the app, but unfortunately I can't download it because it's only available for iPhone and iPad, neither of which I have.

Not having an English translation for the colourised book isn't itself a major problem, as it's obviously already been translated in b&w (although it's strange they've translated the colourised America and the corresponding monograph but not Soviets or Congo), but it's a shame we miss out on Goddin's preface, which is unique to the limited edition.

That's what I thought, until literally just now! But taking a look on the Google Play store for Android (what I have), it now seems that there is a version for that too. Who knew?
Not much use if you have a Windows 'phone, I suppose, but may be of use to you!


Yes, I quite agree - I've got the French version, but a decent physical release in English would be most welcome!

I do indeed have a Windows phone.

I've started translating it on Google translate, which'll take some time as I'll only be able to do so much at a sitting before I get fed up! But I've done the back cover blurb and the text on the back of the print, as well as the first couple of paragraphs of the preface. I'll let you know if I ever finish!

LeLotusBleu
Well, it didn't take as long as I expected. Google Translate is surprisingly good (mostly) at handling idioms and differentiating the various senses of words and phrases. Charmingly, it even translates Milou as Snowy!

I'm assuming I can't share it here for copyright reasons (please correct me if I'm wrong), so I'll just point out two particularly interesting sections.

It begins by telling the story of Palle Huld, who won a Danish newspaper competition with a prize to tour the world, reporting his adventures as "special correspondent", and who is likely an inspiration for Tintin.

Goddin also deals with the debate over why Hergé never redrew and coloured this book, by effectively saying all the theories are correct. He says Hergé originally didn't want to because he thought the story and art were poor, and the plates were damaged. Later, he planned to completely revise the story and redraw it in colour, but never found the time.

Then he changed his mind and wanted it reprinted in its original form as an archival piece, but Casterman refused. Eventually, though, he was influential enough to convince them. He states all this as fact rather than speculation, so he seems sure that's the truth of the matter.

I still find this as tenuous, a coincidence at best. Hergé had already created a boy-scout who toured the world - Totor - before Huld's journey was even thought of, so if anything, did Totor inspire Huld's passage?

This I am totally on board with - the documentation trail which he has laid out for the history of Soviets in (or out of) print makes so many points which, up until he made his case, have been mired in speculation, wrong assumptions and legend. It's what good research (and good Tintinology!) is all about!

It's also the kind of thing which makes me hold the Huld story up to the light, and find it wanting: if there was truth to it, it would seem likely that something would have been found to back it up, and so far, it hasn't so much as a marginal note in a diary to support it... But as always, never say never!

I didn't know Totor toured the world. But would he have been known in Denmark?

He traveled to America to see his uncle, Padd Hatt (fell off a boat, rode a dolphin, hit a submarine, and made it to the U.S.A. underwater... Then his troubles really began!).

Would Huld have been known in Brussels...?

It's impossible to say one way or the other, but we know that Hergé was creating a publishing Totor from July of 1926, and Huld didn't start his travels until March 1928, so Totor definitely went on his adventures first.
Abbé Wallez wanted Hergé to put Totor in Le Petit Vingtième, but Hergé demurred, and revised the character as Tintin.

Huld's aventure might have had some effect, or chimed with Wallez and Hergé as being like Totor, but we have nothing to say they even knew of him, let alone heard of him, so for me it's going too far to say it was any sort of major influence, especially when - were Huld to be truly the inspiration - wouldn't it just have been more likely, more essential to their "influence", that they would have left the character as Totor the boy-scout?

There are coincidences in the narratives of the two characters, but I don't find any of it compelling. I mean, the story of Totor begins with him being sent off on a liner by a large crowd of cheering scouts.
The story of Huld (over a year later) ends with him apparently greeted by a large crowd of cheering scouts in Copenhagen - was that influenced by Hergé?

And it does seem to me far more likely, if anything, that word of Tintin made it's way to Denmark, and Huld heard that the character was based on a scout (Totor) who had gone on a wild adventure, and mistakenly believed it was him.

I should have added that Goddin says, according to the testimony of Germaine Kieckens, Wallez suggested the character of a globe-trotting journalist.


Goddin says he was so famous it would have been impossible for them not to have heard of him. Even if he wasn't an influence, it seems a bit much to suggest they hadn't.


Not if they wanted a "special correspondent", reporting on his travels.


While it's equally possible, there's no more evidence for that either. The Palle Huld story is an interesting idea, but we'll probably never know for sure.

That just reduces, not increases the argument for Huld having influence on the orgin of Tintin...
If there was no interest fron Hergé or Wallez in making the putative character a scout, what exactly is Huld supposed to have influenced...?


I agree entirely! It's not possible to make a concrete connection in either direction, but I think until anything tangible turns up (and I'm not ruling that out!), the weight of what we do know makes Huld less- rather than more-likely a factor in Tintin's conception.