New release: Tintin in the Congo - English colour version

The long-awaited English colour version of Tintin in the Congo could be with us as soon as September.

Amazon.co.uk is giving a release date of September 1st to a book that appears from the description to be the colour edition in English.

Notice it will have 64 pages, and the publisher is given as Egmont.

It seems that the publishers are wary of the book's content too: the description states: "All copies of the book will be displayed with a belly-band advertising its content." - which I suppose is the bande dessinée equivalent of a "Parental Advisory" sticker. I'm sensing that there may be some controversy ahead if the press decides to make an issue out of it.

Amazon.fr gives the publication date as September 5th. As we know by now these dates are extremely flexible, however Egmont have proved themselves fairly good at sticking to them as near as possible. It's likely that English-speakers may be able to own - at last - the complete set of modern colour editions by the end of the year.

UPDATE: What looks like a rough initial design of the front cover can be found here.

Ed

Brilliant. All I can say is it's about time, fifty-nine years after it was originally drawn (in colour).

We've waited long enough for this, fingers crossed that it isn't going to turn into another Last Gasp fiasco. I'd like to think that Mr Hyslop has been brought back for this final book, but I know it's not going to happen.

How well will it sell? How likely will it be easily be available at relatively low prices? I feel that the story will unfortunately be sold at rare books shops because people will immediately turn their backs on the racist views in the book. Unfortunately, some of us might still have to wait for the day we can get those "Tintin in the Congo" books...

The new edition of Alph-Art appears to have been selling reasonably well, and you could arguably expect that to have a narrower appeal than a polished, finished album.

I expect it to be about as readily available as the Egmont Soviets and Alph-Art are now. That is, unless any high street stores refuse to stock it and the others follow suit (some have a tendency to pull books from the shelves at the first complaint). I envisage a bit of controversy but I doubt it will reach the heights of the Satanic Verses episode. I think we'll have to wait for the wording of the 'disclaimer' to see what Egmont are doing to address the issue.

Ed

snafu
How likely will it be easily be available at relatively low prices? I feel that the story will unfortunately be sold at rare books shops because people will immediately turn their backs on the racist views in the book.

As it will be available for order on-line, what does the availability in the shops have to do with it? There is nothing to suggest that on-line retailers will sell it at anything other than a standard price. And perhaps turning backs on racist views is the more noble course…

Will definitely be getting this. can't see a paperback copy on Amazon so looks like it won't be joining the other officially recognised albums.

I'm guessing the extra two pages will probably be some sort of apology

Rik

Wow ! Fantastic news - like the cover design too, although it would have been nice if it had conformed slightly with the French Congo's lettering ...

jockosjungle
can't see a paperback copy on Amazon so looks like it won't be joining the other officially recognised albums

Because one isn't listed doesn't mean there won't be one ; most books go through a hardback print run first, and if they sell reasonably well, a paperback edition is released. I imagine, once the whole series is available, there'll probably be a reprinting of all twenty-four books with numbers on the spines, like the new French editions. A shrewd marketing ploy that'll encourage fans to get every single book to complete the collection.

I agree with tintinuk about the lettering of the cover, but I don't suppose we can hope to see any part of it hand-lettered. One thought I have about the interior is that Egmont uses the older colour separation plates than the new ones ; the washed out, dull colours of the newest Casterman editions make parts of Red Rackham's Treasure look psychadelic.

Incidentally, the two extra pages listed are actually the endpapers, so that it has 64 pages that can be divided into 16 A3-sized sheets. It doesn't matter with paperbacks, since they're generally glue-bound, but hardbacks are stitched and so need a page count that's a multiple of four.

I wonder if there'll be any publicity for the book - or rather, any positive, official publicity by Egmont, as opposed to the negative reactions of radio talk-shows and newspapers ?

Also, Egmont have confirmed that it will be released in September, so hopefully it won't be another Last Gasp scenario !

I wonder if there'll be any publicity for the book - or rather, any positive, official publicity by Egmont, as opposed to the negative reactions of radio talk-shows and newspapers ?

Probably just the usual excuse to bring out the same old arguments but this time with more reasoning as they're actually releasing the book.

Rik

Just a minor update, but Amazon.co.uk now gives the publication date as September 5th, in common with most other booksellers. Looks like this is the date to watch!

Ed