After my last post on the Tintin exhibit in Madrid, the owner himself left a comment here and was willing to send us scans of the missing page of Tintin in the Picaros. Hergé had finished the entire album when he discovered that he had one extra page. This was the most appropriate page to take out. It must have pained him to get rid of it because, as you are about to see, it took him a lot of work to complete. Thank you so much ”guardiadetroya” for sending us these scans. They are also available in the Spanish book ”El mundo imaginario de Tintin”, which is also on display in Madrid. The page, like any page from a Tintin album, went through multiple stages. If you read ”Tintin and the Alph-Art” you’ll recognize the first few stages. The first thing Hergé did was draw a basic sketch in ink of what happened in the page, along with a few key words in talk balloons.  Personally, I love Hergé’s style of sketching his characters. I especially love the expression the villain makes in the third line down when he raises his eyebrow, deep in thought.

After he had the first draft completed, he completely redrew everything in pencil, this time with more detail. The page shows us how the villain walks in and threatens to destroy Tintin just like he would destroy his glass( sorry, last time I said it was an icecube…it’s just a glass. Ice might have made more sense actually, come to think of it…). But his glass bounces off the floor and smashes the  very whiskers of Kurvi-Tasch off the ruler’s bust (”Pleszky-Gladz” in the original French). The guard laughs uncontrollably and is scolded, but when the villain realizes that he could tell other people that he had broken the mustache off, he gives the guard the position he wants and tells him to punish ”the cleaning lady who broke the bust”. The message gets across.

The page is now cleaned and drawn in black ink. Back in Tintin’s earlier black and white adventures, the process finished here and only needed the words added. The beginning of this page is strikingly similar to when Rastapopoulos threatens to kill Tintin like he would kill a spider…that later gets away with no trouble. When will these villains ever learn?

But of course by now Tintin had to be in color. And so Hergé once again drew the page in fine blue ink (so fine it doesn’t show up in the scan below) and then painted over it. Finally he drew the black lines.  

Finally, after all that work, another one of Hergé’s famous ”ligne claire” style pages is completed. And it never even made it in the album! At least it made it here.

For those of you who don’t speak french, here is a fan made English translation of the page:

Very special thanks to the owner for sending us these scans. Something I found very interesting is that he himself made several of the items on display, for example, the box of cigarettes in my last post from ”The Calculus Affair”. He also made these awesome ”Syldavian” stamps, which are also on display. I collect stamps, and I think this is a very good idea.

I can relate to this because when I was little I made this hideous little Tintin out of paper mache, similar to crafts you might see on Art Attack. Even though his head is massive and one hand is huge next to his other, I still have him. Why? Because he’s part of my collection. Anybody with a little bit of creativity could do stuff like this. Sure, the Tintin shop online is awesome. But there are more options. You don’t need a lot of money to have a cool Tintin collection. If anybody out there feels inspired to create a cool Tintin craft based off of something from the albums, you might just get it posted online.

If any of  you readers live in Spain but can’t make it to the exhibit in Madrid, the owner is interested in moving his collection around. At least I assume just inside of Spain, but I guess that’s up to him. Anyway, if you are interested in seeing it, leave a comment, he’s sure to see it there.

Do any of you readers live anywhere near Madrid? I don’t know why you would, but in case you do, there’s a Tintin treat in store for you in the Gran Via de Hortaleza  Mall, right outside the Mar de Cristal metro stop on the Brown metro line. On display in the mall are a series of collectible Tintin items from the collection of a true Tintinologist. Among the objects on display were a copy of the world’s first edition of Tintin in Tibet, a copy of ”German Research in World War II” seen in the Calculus affair, and copies of Tintin books in every language from Vietnamese to Latin. Since many of you don’t live in Madrid, and I do, I was more than happy to go check out this display and see if anything there was worth a blog post. This post looks long but it really isn’t! It just has a lot of large photos. By the way I would appreciate it if you would look at them, because I was informed half way through taking them that photography was not allowed in the mall. Not to be left with an unfinished post, I evaded guards and risked imprisonment just so you could get a taste of the display.

It’s free, and consists of about 10 glass boxes with collector’s items in them running along a hallway on the ground floor. The first one I saw covered Tintin in the movies, and had a few copies of the movie books based off the two live action films. 

Above: a frame from the stop motion film ”The Crab with the Golden Claws”, the movie book for ”Tintin and the Golden Fleece” and the first Spanish hardcover ”Tintin and the Lake of Sharks” album version.

There was a bit m0re related to Tintin in the media.

From left to right: a copy of ”Destination adventure”, 2 DVD’s from the 90′s series,  a copy of ”Tintin and the blue oranges” on DVD, an advertisement for the film, and the movie book in french.

A large amount of the collection was related to Tintin trivia, which I love. Did you know that there was an extra page from ”Tintin in the Picaros” that was never published?  Hergé apparently didn’t like it and never included it in the album. The entire page is a conversation between two main villains from the book, and a comical sequence where the mustache of an important bust is broken off by a piece of ice. I guess Hergé decided, and rightly so, that leaving this in would stress credibility…The display had a copy of the missing page in every stage from draft to final product. I have zoomed in only on the final page.

The display also showed a copy of a ”fake” page completed by two of Hergé’s coworkers, Bob de Moor and Jacques Martin. Four years after ”The Castafiore Emerald” Hergé hadn’t even started a new album. The public wanted something new, and so did the newspapers. So while Hergé was on holiday in Sicily, the two created a fake page with Haddock and Tintin in an airplane, telling the papers ”a new album is on it’s way!”. It was only supposed to be a gag, but it gave Hergé some grief when he had to apologize to the world and reveal that the page wasn’t real. How could Hergé just smash the world’s hopes and leave them with nothing? He was suddenly forced into making a new album, Flight 714.  Fans have since added color to the page:

Hergé used a real book as a model for ”German Research in World War II” from The Calculus Affair. To settle further doubts to the lazy question ”Was Tintin a Nazi?”, Hergé wouldn’t even include the swastika from the cover in his album.

On the bottom right are the cigarettes from ”The Calculus Affair”. Bottom left is the book seen in The Calculus Affair. This book directly inspired the sound weapon, and almost definitely inspired the paint job for the moon rocket. In the back is a very collectible copy of the first edition of ”Tintin in Tibet”

I could hardly believe my eyes at the end of the display when I saw this board game, which I just posted about recently but with my ”Mille Bornes” post but had never seen in my life. Such a coincidence is almost characteristic of  one of Hergé’s albums!

But what really blew me away was the fact that behind a nice statue of Tintin and Snowy running was the very ”Travels of a Boy Reporter” Tintin map Chris Tregenza has worked so hard on, hanging up on the glass! The last thing I had expected to find at the display was anything related to this site. Apparently the owner of this great collection is a fan of this site. Well, if you are reading this, Tintinology hopes you will continue to follow this blog for years to come. And Chris, you can rest happy that your map has become popular among Spanish tintinologists and is deemed as a valuable part of one’s Tintin collection. Do check it out if you haven’t seen it already.

Source: http://www.naufrageur.com/a-bob-planche_bidon.htm

Not sure if this is news, but it’s pretty cool. The awesome Tintin movie posters and still my favorite stills of Tintin to date are available on Amazon at 6.29 dollars a piece. Supposedly they used to cost 24.99 each but are on sale…not sure if I believe that…

Whatever the case may be the fact is they cost about 4.30 in euros or  3.90 in pounds, and I thought I’d post the link for any other collectors who might want one.

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tintin-Secret-Unicorn-Poster/dp/B0054K7626/ref=pd_sbs_hg_2

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tintin-Secret-Unicorn-Poster/dp/B0052EKA7W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1308727873&sr=8-5

I would add this as an update to my last post, but that thing’s long enough as it is. Here’s the picture I mentioned that I couldn’t find:

They all appear to be the same size as the set with the plastic tube, so the only benefit of buying this set as far as I can see is that it comes with the seaplane. Here’s one more interesting picture of what these might look like in stores:

You can see bigger versions of all the pictures from my last post here

For years I’ve been wondering about what a line of proper Tintin action figures would be like, that kids could actually play with. Finally, that dream has come true. Here are the first released pictures:

The one we all want: Tintin and Snowy (thankfully packaged together in the same box!!! I was worried they would try to charge full price for Snowy…). These great toys will come with accessories, and as you can see Tintin will have quite a few: The Unicorn (of course), binoculars, a torch, a bone and even a notepad…poor Tintin, looks like it doesn’t come with a pencil. I guess kids will have to just imagine that. Note the lack of gun.

What bugs me is the pose that Tintin’s in, or rather his apparent inability for him to ever get out of it…It looks like his arms move, but that’s about it. His legs don’t look like they’ll move, so kids are stuck with a Tintin that can’t even walk. To make up for this lack of movement, Plastoy decided to move Tintin’s jacket back. I’ll assume it’s the wind that’s blowing it back, since Tintin doesn’t look like he’s running. What this really looks like is an attempt to make a Tintin toy with a similar pose to the running Tintin on the box, but that can still stand up. While Tintin himself looks great, the resulting figure is kind of weird. If I were a kid it would drive me nuts that the figure barely has any joints (all in all there may be about 2 parts of his body that can move. The average Star Wars clone trooper figure for sale at the store has about 16 parts of his body that can move). I mean really, can Tintin even hold those binoculars up to his face?

So I’m not really sure whether it’s an action figure trying to be a collector’s figurine, or a collector’s figurine trying to be an action figure. Looking on the bright side, if you are a fan of both, this may just be the best of both worlds. You can at least play with this, and any kid with a great imagination will overlook the joints and just have a great time with Tintin and Snowy (who nobody expected to have joints anyway and looks pretty cute in my opinion) just like he would with one of those Burger King toys that have no joints at all. The difference is that those come free in a kids meal, and these will cost the price of a toy. However, it should be well worth it for Tintin fans.

To be fair though, I did some research on Plastoy, and they are a french toy company that specializes in collectible figurines based off of comic book characters (they have lots of Asterix and Smurfs). And all these don’t move at all and appear to just be for your shelf. They’ve also worked on the plastic figures of Tintin that don’t move at all sold by Moulinsart,so they were a logical choice for these. What we see above is a step up for them.  On to the next photo.

You’re kidding me! It’s every Tintin collectors dream! All the main characters in one set!  These look smaller and resemble those little tubes of dinosaurs or cowboys and Indians you can buy at a dollar store…but this is so much cooler. Unlike the last set, I don’t see anybody complaining about a lack of joints when they play with this any more then they would complain that you can’t move the arms on an army man. This would also make a great display with all those guys lined up on your Tintin shelf (you do have a Tintin shelf, right?) I am soooooo getting this. The only guy we don’t exactly know the name of is the guy to the right of Tintin who yelled at Allan in the trailer. Many think he’s a descendant of Red Rackham who will substitute the Bird Brothers and be played by Daniel Craig. On the official website Tintin is described as having to face Rackham, but he can’t do that unless a Rackham exists in his time. So it’s a good guess.

On the subject of Red Rackham, he now apparently wears a red Zorro mask. Interesting…

While I don’t know about other sets, it looks like this may only cost  about 12 euros because Plastoy has many other tubes of figures like this one for that price. That would be awesome! cheapest Tintin figures ever!

Cool teeny tiny Tintin key chain. The big deal in this picture is, unfortunately, too small to make out. Notice that in all the previous images, and indeed even in the top right hand corner of this one, that same image we saw on the Meccano boxes still has Tintin’s face erased! At this point I have no idea why. What’s weird is that Tintin’s face ISN’T erased at the bottom left hand corner of the image. But again, the picture is too small to make out the details.

Poor Snowy got left out of this set, but this time we get Captain Haddock instead. Unlike the last weaponless Tintin, this time around both characters have weapons. It looks like this set is amimed at slightly older kids. Just a reminder: Tintin DID use guns in the series when he had to. For example, read ”The Red Sea Sharks” when Tintin yells out ”If only I had a gun! Give me a gun!” and then shoots an airplane out of the sky with a massive machine gun. Of course, if he hadn’t he would have been killed so of course he used the gun. By the way, Tintin’s face is erased again in the bottom left corner. I add this to my group of unsolved Tintin movie mysteries, along with the mystery of the missing Haddock arms we had with the sticker books a while back…

Finally, what kid wouldn’t love to have this awesome motorcycle, which happens to be another paint job of the cycle from ”King Ottokar’s Sceptre”? Maybe it has something to do with the video game scene we saw? But hold on…please tell me the wheels turn…yeah they probably do…and that the bi-pod can be lifted up so kids can drive it around… not so sure about that one…it may just be another cool collector’s item.

If you go back to that picture of the key chain there’s a picture of a box-second image on the right-in those little circles on the bottom. I don’t have an image of that one, so I’ll just have to wait for it.

To wrap this up, every one of these figures looks great and will be great to collect. But I hope another toy company releases a line of action figures designed a bit more for children, that can do a little bit more. Also, while more may be coming, for now at least we have only seen Tintin and Haddock as large figures. I hope all those characters in the little tube set get made bigger. It wouldn’t surprise me if this were to happen, since Plastoy isn’t a very well known toy company around the world and it’s possible another company gets to make these characters for the kids in countries like the USA.

Awesome find, Steven! And thank’s Archibald for finding these pictures.

Sources: http://cinema.jeuxactu.com/news-cinema-tintin-bientot-dans-votre-salon-15223.htm http://www.amazon.co.uk/plastoy-Toys-Games/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A468292%2Ck%3APlastoy&page=1 http://home.base.be/luc.jansen/

The book I mentioned in the last post is already available for pre-order on Weta’s website. now after all that talk about the special e-book, why should we buy the hardcover book?  Because if you’re one of the first to order it online from their site, you’ll get an awesome version of Tintin’s wallet with…the three parchments that form the Unicorn’s map printed on semi transparent paper!!!!!!!!

Wow! That’s awesome! From their website:

While stocks last, copies of The Art of The Adventures of Tintin purchased directly from Weta will include the three “parchment scrolls” (printed on semi-transparent paper) that together form the map to Red Rackham’s Treasure. These come inserted in a folder made of 300 gsm paper printed in the likeness of Tintin’s wallet.

This exclusive gift will only be available with books purchased directly from Weta’s website, at The Weta Cave or at shows and events we attend.

The available stock is limited, so order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

It’s interesting that the 3 parchments are exactly the same as the one’s from the book. There are still coordinates and ”the eagle’s cross” is still there. So maybe we can still count on a good amount of Red Rackham’s treasure in the film? The whole book could actually be condensed to 2, maybe 3 scenes if necessary, so maybe it’s possible. We’ll just have to see. I can’t wait!

By the way, I’m not sure why, but I like the look of the book more in this photo than in the last one I posted. You can pre-order it here:

http://www.wetanz.com/the-art-of-the-adventures-of-tintin/

Nobody can read a Tintin album without marveling at the beauty of Hergé’s style. Every album is more than just a comic book: it’s a work of art. And aren’t you glad Weta kept that in mind? How many movies based on a comic book are made with the specific intention of staying true to the original artwork from the book? And what’s more, how many times do fans of such a movie get a book that explains how the animators pulled it off?

That’s what Weta and Harpercollins will give us, and I must admit this one has me more excited then the sticker books…from voxy.co.nz:

From early concept illustrations to final shots from the film and everything in between, this book gives fans a rare glimpse of the creativity that goes into making a film like this a reality. The book even includes special pieces of artwork produced exclusively for this book.

The Art of The Adventures of Tintin features forewords from Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Oscar winners Joe Letteri and Richard Taylor also share their insights into the film-making experience in their introductions for this outstanding book.

Moulinsart, the official organisation that looks after the world of Tintin, has contributed an introductory chapter on the comic’s creator Georges Remi, aka Hergé, and has kindly provided examples of his inspirational artwork for reproduction in the book.

We can also expect some fascinating interviews with the guys at Weta.

Chris Guise, the author of The Art of The Adventures of Tintin, provides a unique perspective on the film, both as a lifelong Tintin fan and as the lead conceptual designer on the film. Guise interviewed many of his colleagues about the production of the movie and lets them tell their stories and inspiration behind their work in their own words.

That’s a must-have for any Tintin movie fan if I ever saw one…or in this case read about one. When can we actually get a look at it?

The Art of The Adventures of Tintin will be published by HarperCollins Publishers in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously on 13 October in two exciting formats: a visually dynamic 200-page hardcover book and a ground-breaking digital e-book. The e-book will include wonderful additional imagery, special audio commentary from the film makers, character animations and extra content.

Whoa! Special commentaries and characters animations? Awesome! But hold on, back up a second. Did that say it would launch the book in October everywhere from America to New Zealand? The movie doesn’t even come out in these places until 2 months later! That’s awesome news! I suppose they just realized that since it’s available as an e-book they might as well let fans world-wide buy it at the same time. Still, it would be awesome if more Tintin movie merchandise becomes available in the US and other countries that don’t get the movie until December that early. The US will know who Tintin is!

One more thing: here’s a picture of the book’s cover. To be completely honest, I don’t like it much. It doesn’t look very natural, and and in my opinion we’ve seen Tintin look better. A lot may be the fault of the lighting or the bright colors. I’m not really sure. It actually has grown a little on me since I started writing this paragraph when I gave it a third and fourth look. I’m not sure what to think of it. But resting on the fact that I know from other shots that Tintin looks incredible, I’m sure that everything inside the book will be well worth it.

Sources: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/5176211/Jackson-writes-foreward-for-Tintin-book http://www.voxy.co.nz/entertainment/weta-and-harpercollins-publishers-announce-release-new-tintin-book/5/92848

Good find Proman and ”Tintin Fan”! I can honestly say I found out about this at the same time you did, but only because I’m becoming obsessed with news and Google ”Tintin news” every 30 minutes…

It looks like John Williams didn’t compose this music we all kind of assumed was his. It still would surprise me that even the main theme they seem to be playing in the pause menu in that last video isn’t from the film, but we just don’t know if any of Williams stuff is in the game. The following is from http://www.myspace.com/starpoporchestra:

- Tintin and Rayman Origins d’Ubisoft pour le salon du jeu video E3 de Los Angeles – Musique de Christophe Héral (Jeux Vidéos)

Here’s an interview on gamespot with Jacques Exertier, the creative director for the upcoming Tintin game. In traditional fashion these professionals are excellent at sticking entirely to info we already knew or gathered from the trailer or other spots online, so not much of what you’ll find in the video will strike you as real news. But it’s worth a watch. Note the soundtrack in the background. However faded, there’s definitely more John Williams music in this video. Also, we get to see a blurred version of the starting menu…oh joy….

It’s interesting he mentions that they have to ”add characters”. Calculus and the bird brothers would be logical choices to add to the game…so we’re back to square one on whether or not they’ll be in the movie. Anyway, we are pretty sure they’ll be in the game.

I have heard several references online to this presentation that people at E3 saw that showed parts of the Tintin game. As far as I can tell it is nowhere to be found online. If anybody finds it, please let me know! I’d love to see it and post it here. I actually say one video of a guy playing Assassins Creed Revelations recording on his camera and he must have been close to the Tintin screen because I could hear the soundtrack in the background! I don’t know what kind of access people had to the game, but I’d sure love to see whatever they were allowed to see if they’ve seen more than I have.

Fans of the Tintin animated series will appreciate this funny version of the Tintin trailer with all the new footage substituted by scenes from the cartoon. It was especially funny for me personally because I’ve seen the trailer easily 19 or 20 times by now…and counting.