How come it's Snowy who always saves the day?! (Tintin Comics in General)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Tintin Comics in General
Date:	29/09/08 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great storytelling and timeless adventure

Disadvantages: Content a little unsuitable for the younger kids, expensive to get them all

As a child, I loved reading, and one of the most interesting things I found were the Tintin and Asterix books. The appeal for a kid reading these is that there is visual stimulation with the pictures as well as just a good story, and this is something which these two characters have had the monopoly on, perhaps Tintin moreso than Asterix in this country.

The author of Tintin, Georges Remi, decided to use a pen-name, Herge, which features his reverse initials, RG, pronounced in French. The author was a Belgian, and wrote the Tintin books from 1929 until his death in the 1980s. His books covered a variety of political topics, telling of the reporter Tintin, a young Belgian boy, and his dog, Snowy the terrier, as he travels the world combatting crooks, kidnappers, smugglers, even mad scientists and murderers. There are many recurring characters in the books, mainly his best friend Captain Haddock, the old drunken sea captain with a penchant for a little tipple; the strange and eccentric genius, Professor Calculus; and the awful English detective twins the Thompsons.

Tintins travels took him far and wide across the globe, with the author paying careful attention to the content so as to make it geographically and politically applicable, both in the storytelling and in the drawings. Tintin's familiar ginger hair with the upturned quiff at the front is unmistakable the world over, as are the extravagant adventures he gets himself into. The stories are told in 'cartoon' format, as you would expect comics to appear, and they are available in either hardback or paperback.

Herge wrote 22 official Tintin books in all before he died, covering such tales as Destination Moon, were Tintin and Captain Haddock join a project to the moon, The Calculus Affair, where their good friend Calculus is kidnapped at the height of the Cold War, and The Castifiore Emerald, which features Madam Bianca, who is another of Tintin's recurring friends.

The books are wonderfully told, and I find that my son loves them as much as I do. Because of the time of their creation, the majority hold no time for political correctness, so beware of this when reading them to your child as they may contain content which many feel is inappropriate for kids. However, with careful explaining and vetting of some parts, this is not a problem. Indeed, it is only for the younger children that this applies. Otherwise, they are just fun adventures. I find my son loves them, in particular Destination Moon and its sequel, Explorers On The Moon. We own 5 or 6 of the books, so every now and then when we are nearf the library, we pop in and go and have a look at some that my 4 year old hasn't seen before.

The Tintin books are timeless adventure cartoon books for kids. They retail at £6.99 per book. Rarer books or copies vary in price, and there are also bumper editions featuring more than 1 story. It is worth trawling the occasional charity shop if you want all of them, or having a scour online perhaps on ebay, ebid, amazon or play to see if they have second hand copies for cheap, as it is quite expensive to collect all 22 at £6.99 each!

Summary: Excellent and timeless adventuring fun for all