Michael Farr (1953–)

Michael Farr is perhaps the ultimate English-language Tintinologist. This book - although, like any equivalent "complete companion" will leave individual fans clamoring for more on their favoured issues - is startlingly well-written, lovingly researched and put-together. Each album gets a chapter (combined, in the case of the two-parters) which details its conception, creation and reception, alongside details about Herge's life, and the political and social context in which the story was show more written.

Particularly notable, for me, were his thoughts on the translations to English, and where jokes are lost or effectively rewritten for a different audience. (Sometimes the changes are completely arbitrary, other times you can see the logic.) It's also fascinating to see how - even though almost all the volumes have avoided becoming tied to their political contexts - Herge's life was one of constant upheaval, and Tintin himself faced numerous threats over the years thanks to wars and the transmogrification of Europe during his 50+ years on the job.

As I said at the start, any fan will take issue with any "complete companion". For me, I occasionally felt that Farr's personal opinions intruded too much; no one is expected to like all 24 albums, and you can see my reviews of them as proof of this, but the criticisms were unevenly weighted, in my opinion. Beyond this, the book exhaustively chronicles the making-of, and the artistic merit of, the series. There is certainly room for the next generation of Tintinologists to add their own voices to the fray (and for this we should be thankful) but Farr is a great place to start for oh so many reasons. show less

A smashing book, no other word for it! An author who seems to have spent most of his talent for excellent prose and vivid description on creating works on his favorite cartoon character (Tintin) suddenly reveals his talent in producing a wonderful travel, history and political masterwork!?

Well researched account of the emergence of the constrained, oppressed, bullied and depressed Eastern block though its velvet revolutions from communists rule, Farr (aided no doubt by his able journalist show more wife Anna) offers the reader a very readable - nay, consumable- book about Mittel-Europe, second to none. Thrilling, chilling and very personal.

I am able to recommend this work after an enjoyable, fist read, to any history buff, any reader of European history and any travel aficionado without hesitation. I have already ordered his next on Berlin,

I can offer no opinion on his extensive works on cartoons. show less

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, show more 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! show less

The concept behind this officially-sanctioned book is mouth-watering. Hergé Foundation/Moulinsart gave Michael Farr free reign of Hergé's archives, allowing him to show the reference images and sketches that sat behind the final Tintin artwork. A real behind-the-scenes experience for fans!

Unfortunately, the actual book fails to live up to this possibility.

A large part of the problem is the formatting of the book...

...which divi-
des the book
into three col-
umns per page,
with text of-
ten show more broken up
with hypens ac-
ross multiple
lines.

But the problems are larger than formatting. Michael Farr's text is, for the most part lifeless, uninspired and uninformative. There is a confusing blend of information about the events of Hergé's life, with the storyline of the comics, and oddly-chosen photographs and illustrations. The overall effect is muddled and unsatisfying. A missed opportunity.

For the record, Harry Thompson's Tintin: Hergé and His Creation is the best analytical book I have read on Tintin, to this date. Somehow, without illustrations or access to official archives, Thompson's book manages to be more informative that Farr's account. Though slim and concise, Thompson's book is my recommended Tintin companion, along with the 2003 documentary Tintin and I. show less