Soheil sent me three separate McDonald’s toys, all still in their plastic bags. The Thom(p)sons with a pencil and a ”briefcase” that folds out to write on, Captain Haddock with a frame that can hold puzzle pieces that make people’s faces, and Haddock’s spyglass with the Unicorn on the side. I felt just like a little kid again opening these and putting all the parts together! He even went so far as to send a few things not from McDonald’s, Red Rackham from the Moulinsart figurine collection! I was so glad to see that Soheil as I have a number of the figures in that series and it goes wonderfully with them on my shelf. The three new characters from McDonalds are just about the same size to stand next to them as well, and go together quite nicely. And finally, he even sent me two postcards, a very appropriate ”Secret of the Unicorn” album cover postcard, and a cool one made from a panel in Tintin in Tibet. I also have a collection of postcards framed on my wall, and these will go great with them!!! I’ve never seen the Tintin in Tibet postcard before for sale…

Thank you so much Soheil, I really was very, very excited when I opened this. It’s one of the best ”late Christmas presents” I’ve ever had. I love them all.

Here’s a picture of them all together. I had to upload the pic to another site (I’ve unfortunately uploaded more pics than wordpress can hold), and then copy and paste it into this one. I’m doing this on Google Chrome, so I hope other browsers can see it OK. Let me know if it’s not so.

Again, thank you Soheil! It’s great to see Tintinologists from all over the world comment on this blog and help each other out.

Like an excellent lawyer in Belgium at the moment arguing that the book is simply showing stereotypes from the time of Hergé, ”L’Observatore Romano” also holds to the obvious fact that ”Tintin in the Congo” is simply a reflection of its time, the fruit of a man who had never seen what Belgium was really doing there and only had false stereotypes to go on. We know how much effort Hergé put into researching his future albums, so it would be unfair to characterize hardly any of his other albums based on this one album. Furthermore, the African people, while certainly shown as unintelligent and naive people, are not even portrayed as villains in the story, but rather the gangsters Tintin deals with there. Tintin has nothing against these people and neither did Hergé. There is really nothing in the book that would lead anybody except the most sensitive of Congolese person to truly be offended by the book, and then that guy would probably just see how his people were drawn on the front and find some other comic to read (or take Moulinsart to court…). As the Vatican put it, ”The comic book was published in the 1930s, and for that reason expresses the values of the era – but can it really perturb young Britons of today, raised as they are on the Internet, video games and fish and chips?”

The Vatican praises Tintin’s character, calling him ”an angel” helping widows and orphans…Tintin is said to be driven by ”a sacred moral imperative – to save the innocent and conquer evil….Tintin is a Western knight of modern times, an unstained heart in an invulnerable body.” It’s great to see people still defending Tintin in the press. ”Le Soir” was a Catholic newspaper when Tintin was around, yet another reason that the Vatican would be pleased with kids reading Tintin. I myself am not catholic, but I certainly support kids reading about Tintin’s heroic virtues rather than all of the junk out there for them to read.

Interestingly enough, while the Vatican sings Tintin’s praises, one zealous worker in Lebanon tried to cover up Spielberg’s name from a Tintin poster. Circuit Empire, in charge of cinemas in Lebanon, commented that ”He knew that Spielberg was blacklisted and he took it upon himself to black out his name,” pointing out that this was not some movement of several men but just one worker. The name was quickly uncovered and the posters are still seen today. Of course this was nothing against Tintin, but it’s funny to watch how different countries react to big American films like this and how it affects Tintin’s release. I found it interesting they also commented that technically according to the strict laws in Lebanon Tintin should be banned, but due to the popular black market selling films the law would be impossible to implement and people are allowed to see it on the big screens.  There’s a unique piece of Tintin trivia you can remember and tell other Tintin friends in the future…

Sources: http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/246045/20111109/vatican-banning-tintin-book-politically-correct-lunacy.htm

               http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10765314

According to regular readers Sam and Proman, these have been out for a while and originally appeared on Tintin.com. Somehow I had missed then when they first came out and despite having looked twice, I still cannot find their original appearance.

Note: The photos below are copyright to someone, probably the production company behind The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn or Moulinsart.

One of Hergé’s most important assistants through the 1950s and 60s (notably on the South Sea Sharks and Tintin in Tibet) and one of the pillars of Tintin Magazine, he acrimoniously struck out on his own in 1972 to concentrate on his own comics, which in some ways owed more to the other great master of Belgian adventure comics of the time, E. P. Jacobs.

Source and Copyright: MetaBunker Jacques Martin RIP

Enjoying success in his own right after his creation Alix sprang from the pages of the Tintin magazines to become its own brand, Strasbourg-born Martin plundered Imperial Rome, Egypt and the Napoleonic era for the backdrops to his stories.

Source and Copyright: The Independent Alix creator, Tintin artist Jacques Martin dies aged 88

Alix was a historic comic set around the time of the Roman Empire, travelling the known world at the time. He also created the comic Lefranc in 1952 and collaborated on the medieval architect comic Jhen in 1978, the French revolutionary officer Arno in 1984, Athenian Orion in 1990, Egyptian Keos in 1992, and Loïs in 2004, set in the court of Louis the sun king of France. Alix has continued publication to this date, though due to failing eyesight, Martin delegated artistic duties from Rafeal Morales from 1998.

Source and Copyright: Bleeding Cool Alix Creator Jacques Martin Dies, 88

Some maintain that Moulinsart keeps an iron grip on the rights it has acquired; on the contrary, we are the first to respect the freedom of expression. We have never prevented anyone from writing a book about Tintin, or any other aspect of Hergé’s life and work. We have total respect for authors!

If the author of a book about Tintin wants to illustrate it with pictures or photos taken from the work or life of Hergé, then it is only normal that we ask to read the manuscript first. This is also simply a basic freedom.

If a book is lacking quality or is intentionally negative, it is quite normal for us to feel that we shouldn’t allow the reproduction of frames taken from Hergé’s books, or drawings the author realised: if we were to allow the use of such images, we would give the impression of supporting the work in question….

Every year, hundreds of requests to use one or a number of pictures by Hergé are authorised, … In 2009, less than 10 requests were turned down: … We clearly inform those who would like to use one of Hergé’s drawings about certain rules which they are expected to honour.
(c) Moulinsart

Moulinsart are misrepresenting the law here.

Fair Dealing allows producers of books and other works to incorporate copyright images WITHOUT THE OWNERS PERMISSION. An author does not need seek permission from Moulinsart. An author does not need to send Moulinsart a copy of their work to get it approved. All an author needs to do is ensure that the use of copyright material is limited to a reasonable amount and acknowledge the copyright holder’s ownership.

This does not mean that anyone can grab a picture of Tintin and use it to sell their product. Fair Dealing only applies to reporting and critical analysis. I can use the copyrighted text above without asking permission only because I am analysing what they have said. This legal right places no restrictions on the quality of my work. This article could be rubbish or completely hostile to Moulinsart and I would still enjoy the legal protection of Fair Dealing as long as I limited the text I quote to a reasonable amount.

It is the question of “What is reasonable?” that Bob Garcia appears to have run foul of.

There is no defined legal limits as to how much can be used under Fair Dealing. It could by 10% or it could be 90% depending on the circumstance. Reproducing 100 words from a 200 word article is different from reproducing 100 words from a 100,000 word book.

The use of copyrighted materials also has to be relevant. I can quote the article above because it is relevant to the subject but I could not scatter this article with images of Tintin because they would not be relevant.

What is reasonable is a highly subjective issue and this is where authors and publishers get into trouble.

In the Bob Garcia case, it appears that he was right on the border between acceptable and unacceptable usage. When Moulinsart first sued, Mr Garcia won the initial case based on the idea of Fair Dealing. However Mounlinsart appealed and won.

No one is saying that Moulinsart should not protect their intellectual property rights. No one is saying that everyone should be able to use Tintin images to sell their products. What people are saying is that bankrupting a Tintin fan like Bob Garcia for producing a pamphlet in good faith is heavy handed and mean spirited.

Source: Tintin.com Copyright: the latest from Moulinsart.

Bob Garcia published two short books about Tintin that included copyrighted images that Mr Garcia used under the concept of Fair Dealing / Use. Moulinsart sued and initially lost, the judge upheld Garcia’s claim that the use of these copyrighted works was acceptable academic practice. However, Moulinsart appealed, Garcia lost and was presented with a £35,000 bill.

Unable to pay the bill and facing bankruptcy, Bob Garcia hoped to make some accommodation with Moulinsart and at first it look promising with Moulinsart making a statement on the situation. “We had the intention to find a solution. It is now discussed between lawyers”. According to Garcia, Moulinsart’s lawyers have never made any attempt at contact.

Since then the bills have continued to pile up for Mr Garcia. Just before Christmas he received a bill for €8000 from his lawyers.

To get a taste of Bob’s work, watch this short video of him being interviewed about the book. It is worth watching even if you don’t speak French, just to see the sort of images that Moulinsart think are a breach of copyright.

Show your support for Bob by joining his Facebook group.

In 2006, a worldwide protest was created by the publication of a series of cartoons of Muhammad appeared in Danish newspapers. According to the protestors, such images were sacrilege and affront to muslims everywhere. So strong were the Islamist feelings that Danish flags were burnt, embassies attacked and over 100 people died in violent confrontations with the police.

Photo (c) sgrah, CC Some Rights Reserved

The Truth

The real story is much more complicated than that.

The protests were the result of a concerted effort to generate outrage that took several months to bear fruit. This included the creation of new cartoons by the agitators that were far more offensive than the original images. The irony of muslims deliberately creating offensive images to incite muslims over offensive images appears to be lost on the extreme elements of the muslim world.

The whole concept of banning images of Muhammad is itself relatively new and limited only to certain parts of the muslim faith. The image below show a young Muhammad meeting the monk Bahira. The image dates from around 1315 AD.

Tintin Meets Muhammad

In the May 17, 1977 edition of the Nouveau Tintin, the French language Tintin magazine ran an piece on the life of Muhammad. This sort of historical article was common in the Tintin magazine because Herge had very strong ideas about educating and informing the children who read his publication.

The article covered all of Muhammad’s life and he was repeatedly shown. His early life had simple illustrations but his later life is depicted as a full comic strip. In the sample page below, Muhammad is in the red turban, being wounded by an arrow.

Image (c) Nouveau Tintin magazine

For more on this, visit the Mohammed Image Archive

Trouble started when Moulinsart sued Bob Garcia over five short books he published about Tintin. In two of the books, he reproduced images owned by Moulinsart believing he was covered by the doctrine of fair use. At the initial trial Mr Garcia won but lost on appeal and is now facing bankruptcy over a €40,000 bill for damages.

Bob Garcia’s own blog contains no mention of a boycott. It does have some quotes that are alleged to have been made by Moulinsart to journalists about “Moulinsart [being a] victim of harassment by Bob Garcia” which is certainly an interesting spin on the situation.

Both the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail have run stories on the case. For two major UK papers to cover a French story about copyright infringement is a demonstration of the power of Tintin’s name and the size of the potential PR disaster the Moulinsart are facing.

Help! (Or Should That Be Aider!)

My French is shockingly bad and I rely mostly on Google Translate to read non-English news coverage. If any of my readers are following this case (and other Tintin news) in the French or Belgium media, could you please keep me updated with any interesting links or developments.

I’m particularly interested in finding the Facebook group set-up in support of Mr Garcia. If you can track it down, please let me know. UPDATE: Thanks to @muziejus for tracking down the Support Bob Garcia Facebook group.

If you have any links or news you want to share, please just comment to this or any other post on the site, or email me: Chris [at] TintinMovie [dot] org.

Sources: Tintin fans threaten boycott of film after aficionado sued over pamphlets of comic hero, Tintin film boycott threat over row with Hergé widow’s British husband, Video of Bob Garcia in 2007 being interviewed on French TV about his books.

UPDATE: Some coverage on US web sites: Spielberg’s ‘TINTIN’ Euro Release Stirs Legal Debacle

As head of Moulinsart and husband to Herge’s second wife Fanny, he holds in his hands one of the biggest, most iconic and most loved characters of the 20th Century. A man in this position has to make some hard decisions and will inevitably step on some toes but Nick Rodwell does seem to have a special gift when it comes to annoying people. Not many publishers are on the receiving end of a 200 pages of a book criticising nearly everything they have done.

Stéphane Steeman, Belgian humourist, radio presenter, writer, Herge collector and longtime president of The Friends of Herge has self-published a new book L’escalade. It is not all about Nick Rodwell but about The Friends of Herge and how the actions of Moulinsart destoryed his love for Herge’s works.

… censorship, bans, subpoenas, legal threats, blackmail and so forth, out of decency of our members I never mentioned the name of Mr. Rodwell in our reviews, I never criticized Moulinsart … And yet, I’m in a squad that Mr. Rodwell was nicknamed “The Black List”

It is hard to tell from the sources if this book is born out of personal bitterness against Nick Rodwell and Moulinsart or a genuine, well rounded criticism of the man and the company. Mr Rodwell’s behaviour has certainly been far from the standards set by Tintin and the company’s legitimate desire to protect its copyright has at times appeared self-defeating.

Boycott Moulinsart!

One of the company’s ongoing legal battles is against Bob García. As we reported earlier, Mr Garcia published five Tintin related books. Two of these books used a handful of images that are owned by Moulinsart that the author believed were usable under the idea of Fair Use. At the initial trial, the judge found in favour of Bob Garcia however Moulinsart won on appeal and are now forcing Mr Garcia into bankruptcy to collect damages. Some fans are now trying to organise a boycott of Herge products on behalf of Mr Garcia.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this particular case, it is certainly doing the image of Moulinsart and Nick Rodwell no good at all.

Sources: Stéphane Steeman consacre un livre à Nick Rodwell, son pire ennemi, Los fans de Tintin amenazan con boicotear la película de Spielberg, L’ESCALADE, de Stéphane Steeman

As everything is in French and I’m relying on a Google Translation, I cannot sure of the facts of the case. What appears to have happened is that Bob Garcia, writer and Jazz Musician, published some work that included images of copyright images of Tintin. Moulinsart sued and initially lost but won on appeal.

Without seeing the work concerned, it is impossible to see whether this action is justified. But the Nick Rodwell and the company have a track record of heavily enforcing their copyright and trying to go beyond what they are legally entitled to (see Bad Press for Moulinsart, Moulinsart Washing Dirty Laundry in Public, Fan Site Killed by Legal Threats and Moulinsart Versus Art).

Source: Moulinsart l’a tué, presque