This is the best write-up of the Herge Museum I’ve seen.

Walking out room 2 I stepped into the light from the dark receptacle of the mind. On a walkway between the two rooms I stood looking through the enormous glass expanse, stunned suspended, silent watching the oak trees shift gently in the breeze, movement on the floor below, ahead a door and gently shifting colours. I’m still not sure of how to describe it to you, was I in a comic book panel or trespassing in the mind of a man or was it a little of both. I don’t know but it was a grand moment in time.

From: Musee Hergé, monument to a comic book master.

I thought I was being obsessive by mapping out Tintin’s travels but no matter how much of a Tintin fan you are, there is always a bigger fan waiting round the next corner.

Les autos de Tintin is an English & French web site detailing all the cars that appear in the Tintin albums.

It is an impressive piece of work that identifies the real cars Herge used as models. A few remain unidentified so you may be able to help out. You can view the range of cars by chronological order and also interesting changes between different versions of the albums.

This fantastic reworking of the Herge Museum comes from the famous Dutch Tintin blog of Popokabaka, arguably one of the biggest tintin collectors in Europe. He writes daily about fraud on tintin auctions and his weird life as a collector. Having no Dutch I’m using Google Translator to read the blog.

Many thanks to Raymond for bringing this to my attentions.

Have you ever wondered what the Thing from the Fantastic 4 would look like if Herge had drawn him? No, nor had I but writer Paul Tobin and artist Dustin Weaver did.

This image comes from a two page special in the Fantastic Four Giant-Size Adventures #1 which comes out June 24. You can see the complete image on Dustin’s blog and a couple of additional images on Paul’s blog.

A couple of re-imaginings of Tintin.

Tintin Versus Predator

Tintin Versus Predator

Tintin (not) doing the Batusi

Not Batusi – Tintin and Snowy by Jeff Lemire

There is a short piece of bad journalism by Oliver Kamm on the Times website entitled: Was Tintin a Nazi? This regurgitates the reoccurring question of Herge’s wartime action but it is clear that Kamm failed to do any research on the subject. He also dismisses Tintin as ‘a dreary hack work’ and as having ‘no jokes, no learning and no real interest’.

Such a lazy piece of writing needs to be challenged and I wrote a long comment putting Herge’s wartime record in context and answering Kamm’s criticisms. However the Times website would not accept the comment for some reason, so I’ve reproduced here.

The obvious point being, Tintin is a fictional character and Nazism did not appear in his fictional world so no, Tintin is not a nazi.

If you mean, was Herge’ a nazi, the answer is still definitely not.

After the invasion of Belgium, Herge’ lost his job with Le Petit Vingtième when it was shutdown by the Nazi. He was also visited by the Gestapo who expressed a dislike for some of his earlier work, notably King Ottokar’s Sceptre.

Herge found work at Le Soir which, like all newspapers, was controlled by the Nazis. During this time he wrote some of the most fantastical Tintin adventures, deliberately avoiding anything political. After the war Herge was arrested several times as a collaborator, as were just about everyone else who worked for Le Soir. Eventually, Raymond Leblanc, a prominent resistant fighter supported Herge and he was able to resume work on Tintin’s adventures.

To accuse a man, who cannot answer back, of being a Nazi when the people at the time, including those who risked their lives fighting the Nazis, cleared his name is just cheap and lazy journalism.

Maybe, he continued to work at Le Soir out of naivety. Belgium had been invaded by the Germans during his childhood and perhaps he thought this occupation would be no different. Maybe he was simply frighten and tried to keep out of trouble. We can never know but the idea he worked for the newspaper because he was a Nazi is ludicrous.

As to your personal preference of Asterix, that is your choice, but only an ignorant person would claim that Tintin has no jokes, learning or interest.

The nature of the jokes in Asterix and Tintin are very different. Rather than clever word play, Tintin relies on visual gags, slapstick and on the simply ludicrous settings.

Learning? How about number of different cultures Herge depicted with reasonable accuracy (given the time of writing and the resources he had available). Or what about the cutting edge science Herge included in the books (submersibles in Red Rackham’s treasure, swingwing aircraft in Flight 714). These seem mundane now but Herge was writing about what was cutting edge technology at the time.

No Interest? What about the author’s mental state and his work, notably Tintin in Tibet. How about his huge personal journey from right wing puppet (Tintin in the Land of the Soviets) to being recognized by the Dali Llama for his work promoting peace and racial harmony? Or even how his work responded to the German occupation?

Humour – Yes, Learning – Yes, Interest – Yes.

Tintin’s 80 year success is because he and Herge have these attributes in buckets.

The are questions about Herge’s wartime service and about his political views but sloppy journalism designed to grab headlines does nothing to answer them.

Source: Was Tintin a Nazi?

Ubisoft, the French video game company, has announced a deal with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg to produce video game tie-ins for The Secret of the Unicorn (and presumably, Red Rackham’s Treasure).

Despite being one of the top ten game companies in the world, Ubisoft are not known for their film related games. Though they do produce a number of franchise related games such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Formula 1 racing games and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Probably their biggest, original title of recent years has been Assassin Creed, a free roaming adventure game in a rich graphical environment.

Film tie-ins do not generally make good games through there have been a few exceptions. It all depends on intent. Will the game makers just try cash-in and reproduce the movie or will they use the movie as a starting point but try to create something new? Hopefully they will do better than previous attempts at a Tintin video game.

Ubisoft Press release:

PARAMOUNT DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT AND UBISOFT® ANNOUNCE DEVELOPMENT OF “TINTIN” MOVIE VIDEO GAME

Ubisoft® Acquires License to Create Video Game for Groundbreaking Film Adaptation of Hergé’s Beloved Hero Tintin

SAN FRANCISCO – June 1, 2009 – Today Paramount Digital Entertainment and Ubisoft announced the development of a video game based on the upcoming film “Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.” The video game is expected to launch simultaneously with the highly anticipated film adaptation of one of the world’s most well-known and beloved literary series. “Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” will be released in the U.S. on December 23, 2011 and internationally in late October and early November 2011.

The film, distributed by Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment, utilizes state-of-the-art, next-generation performance capture. Ubisoft’s Montpellier studio will work with director and producer Steven Spielberg, producers Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, to develop a unique and thrilling game that is closely tied to the upcoming motion picture.

“We look forward to working with Ubisoft and the filmmakers to create exciting new interactive adventures for Tintin,” said Thomas Lesinski, President, Paramount Digital Entertainment. “The upcoming video game will reintroduce Tintin to a whole new generation of gamers.”

“We’re incredibly excited to have the opportunity to work on the Tintin game,” said Christian Salomon, Vice President of Worldwide Licensing at Ubisoft. “We’re honored to bring one of the world’s most iconic comic characters to life in this new title.”

It is being reported that the Tintin movie, Secret of the Unicorn will be released in the US on December 23rd 2011. However in will be released in Europe two months earlier in October or early November 2011. This makes sense as Tintin is already much larger in Europe than the states. The (hopefully) large audiences in Europe will help generate a wave of hype for Tintin in the US and help overcome US hostility to a very European hero.

Source: “Tintin” Set For Xmas 2011 Release