Comics: The Adventures of Tintin
When I was a kid, my uncle (who is only six years older than I) used to have a collection of The Adventures of Tin-tin. Whenever we would visit my granparents, I'd make a beeline for his comic book stash and spend hours getting lost in the world of Tintin.
Created in the 1920s by the Belgian artist Hergé, the series chronicles the adventures of a young reporter named Tintin, his dog Snowy (known as Milou in the French version) and his various friends, including Captain Haddock, detectives Thompson and Thompson, Professor Calculus, to name a few. Tintin and his friend more often than not, stumble across conspiracies and intrigues that would span countries, resulting in a mad mayhem of detective work and travel.
Born Georges Remi, Hergé is actually a play on his initials in reverse. While in school, he joined the Boy Scouts and had his first work published in the school's Scout paper. Tintin was said to be based on an earlier Hergé character named Totor, who was incidentally, a Boy Scout.
Hergé subsequent comic works were influenced heavily by scouting, and the travel experiences he made with the scout association.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tintin because of all his adventures, taking me to all these countries that I could only hear of in school (and back then, they weren't that interesting to hear about). Granted, Hergé's political and social views may have colored his works, and have become a source of scandal, but in subsequent editions, have been edited by the artist. Still that didn't stop me from pretending to be a part of Tintin's adventures.
One of the things that made Tintin a favorite read was not also of the stories, but also for Hergé's artwork. Dubbed as ligne claire, his style is the use of "clear, strong lines which have the same thickness and importance, rather than than being used to emphasize certain objects or be used for shading (Wikipedia, ligne claire). Think of cell art. That's why the animated version didn't have much difference from the comics. Oddly though, I don't recall drawing Tintin as a kid.
Hergé also created Jo, Zette and Jocko, which was quite like a commissioned work for him. Of this comic, I've only read Mr. Pump's Legacy and Destination New York (both of which I probably have lying around the house).
Tintin comics are quite expensive, running about P300+ per book. Also available are the compilation sets, which combines three stories per book. My favorite is The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure, which shows how Captain Haddock got Marlinspike Hall.
Links:
The Official Adventures of Tintin Website
Wikipedia: The Adventures of Tintin
Photo credits:
NMM