Tintin without Haddock
Oct. 11th, 2011 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitA few days ago I finished The Broken Ear, the first of the pre-Haddock Tintin comics I've read. Looping back to it after reading Tintin and the Picaros really highlights how much Hergé's art and storytelling matured over the years.
I tried not to hold The Broken Ear's Haddocklessness against it, but the story still felt a little bit lacking. And Tintin's life--early to bed, early to rise and do calisthenics with Milou--seemed lonely in comparison to what he'll have later. Not that Tintin seemed lonely. It's more like he's in an invisible box (only, um, without the implied mime) and never really contacts other people except in the most glancing fashion.
Before starting the album I was nervous lest my story On a Darkling Plain might have done Alcazar an injustice. Having read The Broken Ear, I can say that Alcazar really does look like a dictator in the making. Okay, he's nice to Tintin at first (and yes,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
halotolerant, it does seem like he fancies Tintin, what with the whole "I'll make you a colonel" thing and the "let's hide in my office all day playing chess *ahem*" thing), but he also readily agrees to start a war with Nuevo Rico in exchange for 35% of the oil company's profits (10% for his personal use). Not to mention being ready to shoot Tintin on the flimsiest of evidence, and indeed to shoot anyone who displeases him. I'm surprised now that Tintin apparently remembers him with affection when they meet again.
The plot thread about the oil and armaments' companies' manipulations was probably the most compelling aspect of the comic. I wouldn't say Hergé has a social conscience yet, but you can see the place where it's going to grow. (Less pleasingly, there's Tintin in blackface, which, ick.)
On a completely other note, I notice that Tintin at this point doesn't seem to be a teetotaller; he got drunk with the colonel (one of Tapioca's men) readily enough. Perhaps he decided never to touch alcohol after the next morning's hangover.
Overall, it's fun but not nearly as interesting as the comics with Haddock. I don't think that's just my shippiness speaking (although I don't deny a shippy motive). The comics really do gain depth and maturity as Tintin starts having lasting connections with other people.
I tried not to hold The Broken Ear's Haddocklessness against it, but the story still felt a little bit lacking. And Tintin's life--early to bed, early to rise and do calisthenics with Milou--seemed lonely in comparison to what he'll have later. Not that Tintin seemed lonely. It's more like he's in an invisible box (only, um, without the implied mime) and never really contacts other people except in the most glancing fashion.
Before starting the album I was nervous lest my story On a Darkling Plain might have done Alcazar an injustice. Having read The Broken Ear, I can say that Alcazar really does look like a dictator in the making. Okay, he's nice to Tintin at first (and yes,
halotolerant, it does seem like he fancies Tintin, what with the whole "I'll make you a colonel" thing and the "let's hide in my office all day playing chess *ahem*" thing), but he also readily agrees to start a war with Nuevo Rico in exchange for 35% of the oil company's profits (10% for his personal use). Not to mention being ready to shoot Tintin on the flimsiest of evidence, and indeed to shoot anyone who displeases him. I'm surprised now that Tintin apparently remembers him with affection when they meet again.The plot thread about the oil and armaments' companies' manipulations was probably the most compelling aspect of the comic. I wouldn't say Hergé has a social conscience yet, but you can see the place where it's going to grow. (Less pleasingly, there's Tintin in blackface, which, ick.)
On a completely other note, I notice that Tintin at this point doesn't seem to be a teetotaller; he got drunk with the colonel (one of Tapioca's men) readily enough. Perhaps he decided never to touch alcohol after the next morning's hangover.
Overall, it's fun but not nearly as interesting as the comics with Haddock. I don't think that's just my shippiness speaking (although I don't deny a shippy motive). The comics really do gain depth and maturity as Tintin starts having lasting connections with other people.
