On the 10 January 1929, the first in the series of The Adventures of Tintin was published in a Belgian newspaper. That makes Tintin 80 years old. Yes, Tintin, the chipper young journalist and adventurer who got himself in all sorts of intrigue and nasty scrapes has been at it for that long. So too has his ever faithful Snowy, the brave little fox terrier, as also Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and the detectives Thomson and Thompson.
Created by Georges Remi, using the pen name Hergé, he executed a beautifully simplistic but expertly drafted style that had a full understanding of the language of sequential art. The stories themselves, though extensive in all manner of genre and spanning the world and a bit beyond, were a tad formulaic, but this was made up for by intricate detail of history, archaeology, science, culture and politics. Indeed, they had a sophistication you just don't see in usual children comics (though Carl Barks' Scrooge McDuck comics were also an exception).
Hergé created new adventures for Tintin and Snowy right up to his death in 1983 at the age of 75, leaving the last book, the twenty-fourth adventure, almost, but not quite finished. Throughout that time Hergé was influenced by every manner of world change, especially during World War II and the immediate aftermath. Hergé's own life was an adventure in itself and his experiences are woven within Tintin's exploits.
Hergé's career as a graphic novelist was not all-smooth sailing. His political views were scrutinized and criticised from both sides. Tintin was also attacked in later years for racial stereotyping. This
resulted in some bannings, forced changes, some
voluntary changes and some or all of the volumes being moved to adult sections of bookshops. Most recently there's been a debate over Tintin's sexual orientation. Why not, I guess?
But regardless of the ups and down, Tintin has become an institution of reprints, retrospectives, apropriations, tributes, stage, film and TV adaptations. It has been merchandised, even industrialised, but
somehow it
had not lost its integrity, despite some of those controversies previously referred to
having some legitimacy, though now largely forgiven in historical contexts. And though the images of Tintin have become iconic, it never presented itself for more than it was, that being the adventures of that enthusiastic mystery solver Tintin.
The Adventures of Tintin deserves to be around today as big as its heritage clearly is.
Hergé deserves this legacy.
We deserve it too.
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