Day 7

The Black Island

The Black Island is an exciting and very funny tale of intrigue in which a gang of international forgers leads Tintin to the Scottish town of Kiltoch, where a dreaded beast is rumored to live. Along the way, Tintin is framed and has to dodge the pursuit of his old detective friends Thompson and Thomson. He also meets Dr. Müller, who would return in Land of Black Gold. The Black Island is one of the earlier Tintin adventures, first appearing in Le Petit Vingtieme in 1937 and 1938, but it was revised and redrawn in 1966, which is why it has the more mature look of Hergé’s later work.

24 Days of Tintin Special Merchandise!

Day Six The Black Island Special Package. Expires 8:00 am November 25. Includes a Black Island Collectible statue; Tintin Keychain; and PVC Snowy Figurine. Regularly priced at $163.90, this package is available for $114.73 – 30% off – for a 24-hour period only. Purchase it now.

Product details:
Collectible Statue: PVC statue from The Black Island (L’Ile Noir) sold in a box with scene from the book. Boxed, the statue measures 11 x 6.5 x 8 inches. Tintin Keychain: Let Tintin open doors for you. PVC keychain. Approximately 3″ tall. Snowy Figurine: No Tintin collection is complete without Snowy. PVC figurine measuring approximately 1.5 x 1.5 inches.

The Tintin map was especially created by Chris Tregenza who run’s a Tintin blog on the forthcoming Tintin movie. A full map showing all of Tintin’s 23 journeys is available for purchase from his site.

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE BLACK ISLAND

Brought to you by Tintinology

The Black Island is the Tintin book that has gone through the most revisions. Originally drawn in 1937, a colour version was published in 1943 and it was completely redrawn and modernised for the 1966 version when it was published in English for the first time. Despite this, some aspects of the 1930s story remain, such as Ranko the Gorilla who was inspired by the 1933 film King Kong. Film director Peter Jackson remade King Kong in 2005 and he is currently producing the Tintin movie, directed by Steven Spielberg and due for release in 2011.

Day 6

The Broken Ear

The Broken Ear (French: L’Oreille Cassée) is the sixth adventure. First serialized in Le Petit Vingtième from 1935 to 1937, and first collected in book form in French in 1937, it was later redrawn and colorized in 1943. A fetish that originally belonged to a Native American nation in South America is stolen from the Museum of Ethnography in Brussels. The following day it is back in the museum, along with a note apologizing for the inconvenience caused, saying that the reason for the theft had been a bet. Tintin, who is among the reporters looking into the story, realizes that the replacement is a fake, the distinction being an ear broken on the original but intact on the replacement. He peruses a book from his own library with an image of the fetish, drawn by an explorer: it confirms that one of the ears is damaged. The adventure starts…

24 Days of Tintin Special Merchandise!

Day Six The Broken Ear Special Package. Expires 8:00 am November 24. Includes a Broken Ear Collectible Car; PVC Figurine; softcover book in English; and a Fetish Keychain. Regularly priced at $99.84, this package is available for $69.88 – 30% off – for a 24-hour period only. Purchase it now.

Product details:
Collectible Car: The military truck from The Broken Ear. Soldier as driver and two soldiers and Tintin & Snowy as passengers. Measures 4.7 inches in. Fetish Figurine: Great looking PVC figurine. Book: Softcover Broken Ear album in English. Fetish Keychain: Handsome metal keyring with a leather strap. Packed in a small cotton printed bag. 1.9 inches / 4.8 cm.

The Tintin map was especially created by Chris Tregenza who run’s a Tintin blog on the forthcoming Tintin movie. A full map showing all of Tintin’s 23 journeys is available for purchase from his site.

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE BROKEN EAR

Brought to you by Tintinology

This Broken Ear statue is real, except that it has a broken hand and foot rather than a broken ear. The statue dates back to around 1400 and was created by the Chimu culture of present day Peru. It is housed in the Musee Du Cinquantenaire in Brussels and is one of several objects from the museum that Herge used in his comics. The Chimu were ultimately conquered by the Incas not long before they themselves were conquered by the Spanish. The real statue:

Day 5

The Blue Lotus

Picking up where he left off in the Egyptian adventure Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin travels to China in The Blue Lotus, a tale which is generally considered Hergé’s first masterpiece. It’s also Tintin’s only foray into actual history, specifically the Sino-Japanese conflicts of the early 1930′s. The political tensions combined with the chilling threats of drugs give the story an especially high and realistic sense of danger. Hergé’s interest in China was spurred by a friendship with a young Chinese student named Chang Chong-chen, a relationship that Tintin mirrors with a Chinese boy also named Chang Chong-chen. Hergé paints a vivid picture of China and takes the opportunity to denounce ethnic prejudices (though ironically his artistic depiction of the Japanese businessman Mitsuhirato is quite grotesque). Years later, Tintin’s relationship with Chang would become the basis of Tintin in Tibet. At our stores, we often point out that Hergé was especially harsh in his critique of the British colonial attitude toward China.

24 Days of Tintin Special Merchandise!

Day Five The Blue Lotus Special Package. Expires 8:00 am November 23. Includes a Blue Lotus Puzzle; a hardcover Blue Lotus book (the original unedited version in English – note the changes in the illustration style); and a Blue Lotus figurine. Regularly priced at $93.40, this package is available for $65.38 – 30% off – for a 24-hour period only. Purchase it now.

Product details:
Figurine: Tintin and Snowy find a unique hiding place. Approximately 2.56 in / 65 mm in height. Hardcover book: Picking up where he left off in the Egyptian adventure Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin travels to China in The Blue Lotus, a tale which is generally considered Hergé’s first masterpiece. It’s also Tintin’s only foray into actual history, specifically the Sino-Japanese conflicts of the early 1930s. In this facsimile edition, it appears as it was originally published. Puzzle: Blue Lotus puzzle. Great fun for the family or for the children on a rainy Saturday. 100 pieces and 26.77 x 30 in / 68 x 75 cm.

The Tintin map was especially created by Chris Tregenza who run’s a Tintin blog on the forthcoming Tintin movie. A full map showing all of Tintin’s 23 journeys is available for purchase from his site.

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE BLUE LOTUS

Brought to you by Tintinology & TintinBlog

Zhang Chongren, the real life inspiration behind Tintin’s friend Chang Chong-Chen, studied fine art in Belgium where he met Hergé. Returning to China he became a respected artist and lecturer but during the cultural revolution he was reduced to a street sweeper. After Mao’s death and the restrictions of the revolution were lifted, he became the head of the Fine Arts Academy in Shanghai. He died in 1998 aged 91. His daughter, known as Madame Chang, is an employee of Moulinsart and an important figure in Belgium. We were lucky to briefly host Madame Chang when she visited one of our stores (Northampton, MA) in 2008.

l-r: Sydne (co-owner), Madame Chang, Colette (manager), and Mary-Anne (one of our Tintin contacts).

Day 4

Cigars of the Pharoah

Cigars of the Pharaoh is one of Tintin’s earliest adventures. He and Snowy are on a cruise to Egypt when they happen to meet Professor Sophocles Sarcophagus (the first of Tintin’s absent-minded professors) and join his expedition. But they become embroiled in a complicated scheme involving a fakir, cigars marked with an unusual brand, and Rajijah, the poison of madness. Most significantly, Tintin meets the detectives Thompson and Thomson as well as the movie mogul Rastapopolous. While Cigars of the Pharaoh is a self-contained story, some of the mysteries are resolved in The Blue Lotus. Hergé wrote Cigars in 1932 then revised it in 1955, which is why the art has the more polished look of later stories.

24 Days of Tintin Special Merchandise!

Day Four Cigars of the Pharaoh Special Package. Expires 8:00 am November 22. Includes a collectible Tintin and Snowy statue; a two-level metal Pencil Case; a Cigars journal; and a hardcover Cigars of the Pharaoh book (the original unedited version in English – note the changes in the illustration style). Regularly priced at $92.35, this package is available for $64.65 – 30% off – for a 24-hour period only. Purchase it now.

Product details:
Statue: Tintin and Snowy cross the desert. A handsome desktop collectible. 8 cm in height. Pencil case: Metal box with two levels so you can sort your pens, pencils, and erasers. Measures: 19 x 7 x 3.5 cm / 7.5 x 2.75 x 1.2 inches. Journal: Cigars of the Pharoah notebook. Image reproduced from original cover art. Spiral bound and ruled. Measures 4.25 x 5.75 inches. Hardcover book: his story was written in 1932, but in the ‘50s was shortened and rewritten. In this facsimile edition, it appears as it did 70 years ago. This is where Tintin meets Thompson and Thomson. In English.

The Tintin map was especially created by Chris Tregenza who run’s a Tintin blog on the forthcoming Tintin movie. A full map showing all of Tintin’s 23 journeys is available for purchase from his site.

FUN FACTS ABOUT CIGARS OF THE PHAROAH

Brought to you by Tintinology & TintinBlog

When Tintin and Snowy are cast adrift in sarcophagi during Cigars of the Pharaoh they are rescued by a passing arms dealer. That man was based on Henry de Monfreid, a french drug smuggler who became famous after the publication of the autobiographic Hashish: A Smuggler’s Tale and Secrets of the Red Sea. Monfreid first went to the Red Sea in 1911 with the intent of trading in coffee but spent the next thirty years smuggling guns, hashish and diving for pearls.

Henry de Monfreid in the Red Sea.

Day 3

Tintin in America

In 1931, Hergé wanted to create a tale of the oppression of Native Americans, but his boss preferred a story about the Chicago crime syndicates. The result, Tintin in America, is a compelling blend of adventure and social critique, with gangster Bobby Smiles fleeing to Redskincity, a town near an “Indian” camp. Its anti-American thrust made Tintin in America unpublishable without major edits in the U.S. It remains a fascinating study of injustice and further cemented Tintin as a hero of the oppressed.

24 Days of Tintin Special Merchandise!

Day Three Special Package. Expires 8:00 am November 21. Includes a Bobby Smiles Collectible Car; a Plush Barking Snowy; and a Hardcover Tintin in America book (the original unedited version in English). Regularly priced at $119.88, this package is available for $83.93 – 30% off – for a 24-hour period only. Purchase it now.

Product details:
The Bobby Smiles’ Race Car is a metal collectible car from Tintin in America. Scale 1/43. Comes in handsome display case. Barking Snowy! Press his belly and Snowy lets out a cute bark. Great for a set of keys or hanging from a bag. Tintin in America – Original Reproduction (Hardcover). In its original, uncensored black-and-white illustrated form. In English.

The Tintin map was especially created by Chris Tregenza who run’s a Tintin blog on the forthcoming Tintin movie. A full map showing all of Tintin’s 23 journeys is available for purchase from his site.

FUN FACTS ABOUT TINTIN IN AMERICA

Brought to you by Tintinology & TintinBlog

Bobby Smiles’ car is a Bugatti Type 37, a modified version of the Type 35 race car made between 1924 and 1927. The 35′s were a rare and special make. Only 400 were produced and they were the most successful Bugatti cars, winning hundreds of races and the 1926 Grand Prix championship. Its top speed was 90 mph.

The Bugatti Type 35′s were the cars that put Bugatti on the map in the 1920s. Indeed, they were the most successful race cars of the decade. But the 35 was unusual for its time; few were driven on an everyday basis and so Bugatti created a second car for private owners, the Type 37.

Although the new Type 37′s Grand Prix body resembled that of the Type 35, it was given smaller brake drums, wire wheels and a more slender radiator. It was also given a smaller engine: a four-cylinder, 12-valve engine based on an earlier design that was shifted via a four-speed transmission. After some eighteen months the engine became available in both supercharged and unsupercharged form.

Nimble and relatively cheap to maintain in racing trim (the car sold for about half the price of the Type 35), the Type 37 was a popular and successful racing car in hill climbs and other amateur events through the second half of the 1920s.

Via.