Tintin Forums

It has been brought up that Tintin fans in the UK are a minority.
At first I disagreed, but on reflection I suppose we are.
I was sickended and saddened the other day when I visited my local Ottakar's (a bookshop named after the Tintin album) and found the Tintin section had been replaced by the repulsive Shrek.
Shrek whatnots adorned the shelves when Tintin stuff had been.
I found the Tintin had been moved to a dark corner of the shop.
However a few days later the Tintin stuff was back!!!
Are we a minority in the UK? And why?
Are there fans my age (24) because of the resurgence in the Eighties and the Ellipse-Nelvana cartoon series?
Maybe the Speilberg movies will recruit new blood?
Do we want a new spotlight? Do most of us like the elitism of Tintinology?
With more popularity will more un-translated non-fiction Tintin books be published?

I feel there may be bad points with the Speilberg movie, with him it's bound to be cheesy...
Will this tarnish the Tintinolgist's reputation?
It's a bit like with my friend who's a Lord of the Rings nut.
He enjoyed the movies but when talking about Tolkein's work was accused of bandwagon-jumping, even though he had been a fan since a child.

So, back on track, would you say Tintin is on a popularity downslide in the UK, and do we as adult collectors enjoy this as it will make our collections go up in price?
Maybe because the Tintin series is a bit obscure in the UK, is the reason why I affiliated with it in the first place?
A foreign book, bizarre characters, old fashioned cars - a world stuck in the past.
Maybe some people love it, others hate it.
I'm sure Tintin books will always be around in the UK, they are in every library surely, they must outsell fads, so why is there a 'minority' report?

It's diffcult to call Tintin “popular” (which by some definition is a transient state). I tend to think of it more as an evergreen, something that sells steady amounts over long years. Tintin is definitely in the mainstream within the UK whilst never being really popular.

You have to remember that “comic-books” are not, and have never been, taken that seriously within the UK. (You only have to compare with on the continent to see the vast difference in the respect shown towards them.) This is really because we don't have the same tradition with comic book art as with Belgium - sure we've produced some great comics over the years but these aren't regared as literature.

I think part of the respect Tintin has within the UK is because they were published by Methuen, a very respected publisher whose Children's literature included greats like Winnie the pooh and Wind in the Willows. That helped with Tintin being taken seriously here and brought it to the attention of the critics and a more refined readership. I presume that's also exactly what Casterman and Hergé wanted, not wishing to see the books cheaply made, poorly translated or serialised in any old comic.

Overall I would say that it's the quality, not quantity, of the readership that counts ;)

I think that helped with Tintin being taken seriously here and brought it to the attention of the critics and a more refined readership. I think that's also exactly what Casterman and Hergé wanted, not wishing to see the books cheaply made, poorly translated or serialised in any old comic.

I suppose we should be glad really, its great how the series hasnt been ruined by this. For example the Asterix books have been messed around with over the years. I remember a disgusting range of covers a couple of years ago that reduced the origianl cover to a small square and a bright primary cover for the rest of it. WHY?

I suppose Tintin has been adopted by us Brits, and almost feel like hes on one our own (I.M.O), mainly due to the excellent translation that anglised the series. I suppose Micheal and Leslie are just as much our hero's as Herge himself!

I wonder if we Tintin fans in the UK still are a minority?
More or less every kid I went to school with had heard of Tintin, maybe because the popular 90's cartoon series was something we all grew up with.
In addition to a certain Covent Garden shop and a few other book stores in the UK, HMV now stocks many of the paperback books, and they are always availbale at most libraries.
Most DVD stores you go to stock the Movies box set and the Ellipse-Nelvana series.