Tintin: The Complete Companion (2001)

I found Mr. Farr's analysis of the [Ottokar Scepter] outstandig. Without going too much in depth as each album created by [[Herge]] is reviewed, the Author touches the essential of Herge's style whose graphic fictions incorporate keen elements of reality, personal, political, industrial or commercial subtly blended in the stories of his main characters. The photos from [[Herge]]'s personal files are revealing of this method. ( )

The title pretty much says it all. This is a look at the series of comics created by Georges Remi, aka Hergé, filled with background information and photos for each volume in the series. Check it out, Tintin fans.
--J. ( )

About two and a half years ago, returning from a holiday visit to my boyhood home, I brought with me a stack of battered graphic novels that had spent the last decade collecting dust in the basement of my parents' home. I'd read each of the Tintin novels probably twenty or more times during my adolescence, and though some were dry and sometimes incomprehensible (particularly those heavily soaked with political intrigue), each offered an exciting storyline with fast-paced action and sharp, clear characters. Clearly there was something compelling in them that transcended both their European origin and the two and a half decades that had passed since the last of Herge's novels was completed (and that had rendered the topics of some of the novels obsolete).

Back home, I sat down and re-read each Tintin adventure from start to finish, and if anything I found them more captivating as an adult than I had as a child. I was better able to appreciate Herge's knack for political satire, his witty punnery, his attention to detail and historical and linguistic accuracy, his mastery of character, plot, and often deceptively complicated slapstick humor.

Farr's thoroughly researched and insightful work offers a unique look at Herge as an artist and author, and adds depth to the appreciation of the Tintin adventures. Farr traces Tintin to his earliest days in the Catholic Belgian children's weekly, Le Petit Vingtieme, following him from there to Tintin Magazine and beyond, placing each successive novel in the context of Herge's life and explaining how the world in which Herge worked served to influence each novel as it was born.

This book is well-written, well-designed, and well-edited; it's a must-read for any Tintinophile! ( )

As an example of its kind (comics background an development of Tintin chracter) the book does sufficiently well. Concerning of Herges life and some more criticised aspects of Tintin (said racism and some other criticisms) Farr doesn´t really want to open any locks (of the Pandoras box). He just notes the certain typical characteristics in early books, doesn´t mention anything in the later works and goes on polishing Herge´s masterfullness.
Otherways, theses lots of intresting facts about Tintin and most of that from Herges own archives (the fotographes, the newspapers interviews and other sources). Sometimes the book gets a little frustrating by its structure (telling from each separate adventure by its own chapter), too much is devoted for retelling the plot of Tintin albums. But all in all, Tintin reader has a satisfying companion in this book. ( )

A welcome book for english-speaking Tintin fans around the world. Each of the 24 adventures is discussed in some detail, and the text is accompanied by several wonderful illustrations. Perhaps the most fascinating of these are the ones that show a panel in the comic side-by-side with the photograph that it was drawn from. This book is one to enjoy after reading the Tintin adventures themselves!