The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of
comic strips created by the
Belgian artist Georges Rémi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name of
Hergé. The series first appeared in French in
Le Petit Vingtième, a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper
Le Vingtième Siècle on 10 January 1929. The success of the series saw the serialised strips collected into a series of twenty-four albums, spun into a successful
magazine and adapted for film and theatre. The series is one of the most popular
European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date.
[1]Set during a largely realistic 20th century, the hero of the series is
Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful
fox terrier dog
Snowy (Milou in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash, cynical and grumpy
Captain Haddock, the highly intelligent but hearing-impaired
Professor Calculus (Professeur Tournesol) and other supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives
Thomson and Thompson (Dupont et Dupond). Hergé himself features in several of the comics as a background character, as do his assistants in some instances.
The comic strip series has long been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature
ligne claire style. Engaging, well-researched
plots straddle a variety of genres:
swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy,
mysteries,
political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature
slapstick humour, accompanied in later albums by sophisticated
satire, and political and cultural commentary.
On April 7, 2011, I had the opportunity to visit the museum Tintin in Louvain La Neuve, Belgium. It is a very pleasant trip. We can explore Tintin through the comic pages in a comical display with an integrated explanation via electronic guide. On several occasions, visitors are invited to interact through a quiz about Tintin and Herge. Complete story can be read here in the Indonesian language
