The Crab with the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Unicorn

I was triggered to (re)read this by the Tintin movie; the movie draws from several stories, some of which are here. Three stories. The Crab with the Golden Claws - Tintin meets Captain Haddock and they clear up a drug ring. The movie used a lot of this - Karabudjan, Tintin's capture and escape on the ship, the hijacking of the plane and the desert crash - plus one of the secondary villains here shows up in the movie as ditto. Like most Tintin stories, a lot of lucky coincidences, slapstick (mostly but not entirely from Thompson and Thomson), and puns. Fun. The Shooting Star - a very odd story about a giant meteor that falls in the Arctic; Tintin and a bunch of scientists head out on Haddock's ship to investigate, and it turns into a show more race with a corrupt financier backing the other side. The meteor eventually goes under, nearly drowning Tintin, but a chunk of its unique substance is retained, so it's a complete win. The science is so warped in this one that it strikes me as a bit dreamlike...but still fun. I wish we'd gotten to see more of the pilot, though. Nothing (or nothing major) from here in the movie. The Secret of the Unicorn - this story provides the basic plot structure of the movie. The model ship bought in the market, the secret, the duplicate ships - Sakharine is present, though he's not really a villain in the story. Haddock is also quite different, since he and Tintin are old friends - in fact, in the story, Tintin is buying the ship as a present for him. Haddock also knows the story of his ancestor, without benefit of a desert dry-out. And unsurprisingly, the movie's depiction of the ship battle was much more impressive, as well as more drawn-out (the number of stamping-outs of fuses got rather ridiculous, though it was very Tintin style). A good story, though it doesn't really have an ending - Tintin and Haddock get all three papers and discover that they need to go hunt the treasure, and the story ends. So two good and one odd but good story. show less

It obviously took Herge some time to find his legs with the Tintin series. Tintin one and two (Tintin in the Land of the Soviets & Tintin in the Congo) were so racially insensitive that they have rarely been reprinted, and weren't even included in this collection.

Tintin in America, the first story in this volume, isn't quite that bad, but it is a fairly lackluster Tintin story, with a simple, repetitive plot, and a lack of depth when compared to the the other two stories in this volume, Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus. The latter two are amazing stories, with plenty of laughs, great social commentary, and actual character development. The Blue Lotus is a continuation of the story started in Cigars of the Pharaoh, which only show more adds to the depth and complexity of the story, and is, quite frankly, rather epic. show less

i still love the clean art & the straight-ahead adventure stories in tintin books. things i don't like: almost complete lack of female characters, and problematic portrayals of alcoholism and non-white races. a question to others: how much of a pass do you give a work like this that was written in a different era? i suppose it might depend on the context... even though i enjoyed these when i was young, and enjoyed re-reading these as an adult, i don't know if i'd feel comfortable recommending this for a child today.

I only read this because my nephew asked me to. It has a lot of action, hence he likes it. It's simplistic, contrived, and amazingly bigoted. Granted, it's expressing views common at the time of it's publication; I get that. However, they're still reprehensible views.

I suspect my nephew is hoping I'll get excited about the series, and want to read it to him. Generally, I love reading to him. I don't think I can read Tintin without turning it into a session of deconstructing prejudice.

Tintin is fabulous fun, fast moving adventure with sudden laughs and great details. The art is crisp and gives notable added details. Totally a winner!

The first story with the character Captain Haddock (Honorary President for the Society of Sober Sailors). I find his angry insults absolutely fascinating and hilarious. Fun stories, with adventure, and the good guys always win.

This volume contains three of the weaker Tintin stories, most notable of which is The Shooting Star, which is quite frankly pretty silly. Although Captain Haddock first joins the party in The Crab with the Golden Claws, there is little else to recommend these stories over some of the really classic Tintin adventures, such as Tintin in Tibet or Land of Black Gold. In many ways, the present volume is appropriate for Tintin completists only.