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  • Fr. Roderick 9:07 pm on January 13, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    STT005: Cigars of the Pharaoh 

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    We follow in the footsteps of Tintin in an adventure that takes him from Egypt to India on a quest to unravel the mystery of the “Cigars of the Pharaoh”!

    Follow us on Twitter: David Handlos @davidhandlos | Fr. Roderick Vonhögen @fatherroderick | @tintinpodcast

    Links:

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    Music credits: Free background music from JewelBeat.com

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    The Blu-ray collection of the animated Tintin series is only available in Europe right now, and region coded. However, you can find links to the American DVD’s and Blu-rays via the slideshow below.

     

    • JD 5:47 pm on January 16, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Hi guys!

      I love the show. I am really enjoying your analysis and all the great “behind the story” tidbits.

      I do have one request though. Could you possibly put links in the show notes to the images and articles that you reference in the episodes? That would be awesome. Thanks!

      -JD

    • Glenn 11:03 am on January 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Hi guys! Good to hear you again.

      Spot the Model Shot – Frame 1, Page 62

      Before Page 11
      Tintin crosses with the infamous Rastapopoulous.
      Framed for drug smuggling
      incarcerated & escapes
      Discovers a pharaoh’s tomb

      Tintin’s Skill Set
      Tintin’s flying skills come into play again. pgs. 31 & 32.
      Carves a trumpet and learns to talk elephant. 34 & 35

      Observations
      Herge sets up The Blue Lotus as early as frame 4 of page 1. Shanghai, China is clearly routed out.

      Snowy can still understand people – page 29. frame 6

      The Thompson’s do there best work in Cigars pg 29 – 30. They are not so thick.

      Firsts
      Pg. 9, fr. 2 Herge draws nails on Tintin hands and life lines.

      Also on pg. 9 Herge’s famous dream sequences.

      Also on pg. 9 Allan & his friend – I checked Crab with the Golden Claws for the man’s name, but Tom’s name does not appear there. It might in Flight 714, but I don’t have that album to check.

      Tintin called ‘Sinbad’ pg. 13
      Tintin called ‘Sir. Galahad’ pg. 17

      Pg. 13. The appearance of a favorite character of mine. The merchant, Senhor Oliveira da Figueira from Lisbon. We will see him again in Land of Black Gold & Red Sea Sharks.

      Appearance of the madness darts – Rajaijah juice. Pg. 43. More of this to come in Blue Lotus.

      Second appearance
      Rastopopulous (pg. 3, fr.14 ) On page 4 Tintin tells us, that it is not the first time they have met.

      Thomson and Thompson (pg.4, fr. 8). These two was initially first seen in this album, before Herge redrew them into Congo.

      Herge Cameo
      None.

      Fun names
      Sophocles Sarcophagus (one note on this character. At first I thought that he was certainly odd, but I did not suspect madness, till pg.36 ) Tintin is very accepting of this character.

      Kih-Oskh (kiosk)

      The Station name Sethrujamjah (see through Jam Jar)

      Likes
      Frames 9, 10 & 12 of pg.6 – Herge carefully draws it so we think Sarcophagus is still with us, because of the hat, but indeed we discover that it is only the hat, The man’s gone!

      The creepiness at the top of pg. 8 – there is a Sarcophagus for Sophocles, Tintin and even Snowy!

      The way Herge depicts the wind cutting out Sophocles words Pg.11, Fr.5. This happens in other stories. In ‘Land of Black Gold’ it is used well from memory.

      Pg. 16 when Tintin runs on set to save the actress.

      Pg. 28 Fr. 10 is a poignant picture of Snowy crying over Tintin’s grave. “The only thing left for me to do is stay here and die on his grave.”

      Frame 1 of 31, particularly the arab taking the shot and the bullet impacting the ground at Tintin’s feet.

      Loved the supernatural stuff going on through pages 38 – 41 quite freaky.

      The trick with the letter is a stroke of guineas – loved it Pg. 44

      If you carefully look you will see that the background in frames 9 – 11 on page 49 is all one background and the characters in the fore ground move. It’s fab across it!

      Love, love, LOVED, pgs. 53-57. So much mystery & intrigue! But the action has not yet finished, the mysterious super villain is still not revealed and has appeared to have died.

      Dislikes
      Only one thing. That Herge redrew frame 13 on page 15 using Destination Moon and not the original Tintin in America cover. It messed with my mind when I was trying to find the chronological order of the books as a kid.

      Belief Suspension Exploitation
      It should be, but I don’t seem to mind Tintin’s trampoline trick on pg.46, that should NOT have worked. LOL!

      We visit congo again on pg. 51. It is a funny scene, but how Tintin gets a tiger into a straight jacket is quite beyond me.

      Marginally Unnecessary Narrative
      Snowy. “The fuse just went “phut”.

      Questions
      What does Tintin do with all the things he buys on page 13 and where did he get the money?

      Rating
      (Tintin = sensible action/ Snowy = plot

      The closest quote to describe the story can be found on pg 17 “That’s my story. Remarkable isn’t it?”
      Indeed it is! I loved this story. There were still ridiculous moments like we get in the early albums, but over all is a fairly sensible piece, and lots of fun!

      8 Tintins and 6 Snowys

  • Fr. Roderick 10:14 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    STT004: Tintin in America 

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    We follow Tintin’s adventures in Chicago and in the midwest of the United States in our analysis of ‘Tintin in America’!

    Follow us on Twitter: David Handlos @davidhandlos | Fr. Roderick Vonhögen @fatherroderick | @tintinpodcast

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    • Professor Alan 7:32 pm on December 6, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Glad that you are finally getting to stories I am familiar with — the first two were too obscure for me to have read! Definitely ready to follow along — keep up the good work, gentlemen.

    • little_rabbit 12:15 am on December 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Enjoying the podcast so far. I was very excited for this episode as I’ve just rediscovered Tintin because of the movie and managed to recently read the comic albums from the beginning. I was surprised by the black-and-white style of the first two albums (I guess the copies I read were in black-and-white). And then when I got around to ‘Tintin in America’, suddenly everything was in colour and the artwork completely changed to this gorgeous art style. I sort of never noticed it until I got around to read it. Anyway, I rather agreed with you when you mentioned the scene when Tintin climbed outside his apartment several stories high. It is also my favourite image in that album.

      Yes. I hope this podcast continues. I would love to get to the later albums (Crystal Balls/Prisoners and the Moon albums are so far my favourite!). And thank you for making this podcast. Thank you so much.

    • Marianna 5:22 pm on December 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Just picked up a copy of “Tintin in America” that I had requested through my local library. I’m looking forward to reading it after hearing your podcast on that album. It is a 2011 edition that includes a section describing the “real life inspiration” behind the book. Also, the Librarian told me she saw on a recent episode (Release the Brake) of The Amazing Race, a CBS reality TV show, a challenge was about Tintin. I also found a reference to it in tintinologist.org:

      http://www.tintinologist.org/forums/index.php?action=vthread&forum=7&topic=4585

      Just a little fun fact I thought I’d share with you.

    • Glenn 10:08 am on December 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Yes indeed Father, Cigars of Pharaoh’ is my first favorite Tintin Comic Book in the Chronological order.

      I too would love to see Rastapopulous, (Rastapopulous can be sighted in frame 5 of page 57). but I’m afraid we might not get to. :( My understanding is that the next two movies will be The Inca Adventures – Seven Crystal Balls & Prisoners of the Sun and The Blue Lotus mixed somehow into Tintin in Tibet.

      Spot the Model Shot
      This game is where I hunt for the comic frame that matches the picture of the model on the blog.
      This time model picture comes from Page 4, Frame 2.

      Like the first two albums there is lots of action in ‘America’ before Page 11. Tintin’s nabbed on pg. 01, arrested, pg 02, hospitalised, nabbed again, on pg 04, nearly killed (thanks for rescuing him Snowy)! Then Tintin takes down Al Capone, pg 07, chased by cops, threatened on pg 09, and performs a death-defying stunt on pg 10. Likewise Father and Little Rabbit, Tintin on the 37th floor moving from one window to the other is one of my favorite images. Herge perspective here is great too. You really get the sense that Tintin is very high up! This picture thrilled me so much as a boy, that I wanted to find a high building and do the some trick!

      Tintin says on Page 6, Frame 5 “Thanks Snowy! You’ve saved my life … again” :) Now ain’t that the truth. Tintin has saved Snowy only twice so far – once in ‘Congo’ and once in ‘America’. In other great quotes
      Snowy (pg 15) says “…Wouldn’t it be a good idea … if those dummies did the whole job, instead of us?”
      and Snowy (pg. 59) “I won’t ever leave you, Tintin” second time he’s said this in the series. It’s touching.

      In ‘America’ Tintin’s Skill Set List increases – He can drive a train and rock climb ropeless.

      Some observations Tintin calls America the ‘Land of the Automobile’. He has status in the US among the crims. but must also have it among the cops, because they trust him enough to give him a gun.
      In ‘America’ we see more direct discussion between dog and master on page 9 and 60.
      Tintin falls through a trapdoor x2 and confesses that “This time he is done for/finished” x3.
      On page 27 we see Tintin tries a MacGyverism. Later Tintin is called babyface on page 49 – surely a reference to the gangster in Bugsy Malone’s gang.

      The French exploited the Congolese. Herge now shows the exploitation going on in America. It happened in New Zealand too. Sadly the Maori said of the missionaries in NZ. “While they made us look up to God in heaven, they took the land from under our feet.”

      I picked up some things in ‘America’ that we see again in Herge’s comics. Frame 10 of Page 36 Herge will use this sort of story telling in later Captain Haddock/Alcohol scenes. This sort of device is excellent for portraying the elasp of time. One example I can think of right now is in “The Red Sea Sharks” Page 23, Frames 14 – 17. The sequence on page 50 is a concept Herge will use again (to even better effect) on pages 55 and 56 of ‘Cigars’, and to the same affect on page 51 of ‘The Black Island ‘. Other similarities between ‘America’ and ‘Island’ are as follows…
      1. The set pieces for the third to last showdown – the castley stone work.
      2. The assembling of the villains to hunt Tintin down.

      My favourite Character other than Snowy and Tintin in ‘America’ has to be the American detective Mike MacAdam. I would have loved to see him make appearances in further Tintin adventures.

      Firsts I noticed
      Tintin is labeled insane (pg. 7). This happens again in “Cigars of Pharaoh” Page 44. We see an Abdullah-like car (pg. 16) and on pg 46, the hat Tintin wears in “Broken Ear” and Tintin is called Sherlock Holmes (pg. 56)

      Herge Cameo
      I admit this is pushing it, but the man far left in frame 6 of Page 44 looks Herge-like.

      30′s American Lingo
      Page 03, Frame 06 “…fixed.”
      Page 03, Frame 07 “…spill the Beans.”
      Page 05, Frame 09 “…bambino…”
      Page 05, Frame 10 “…little kid with big ideas…”
      Page 05, Frame 12 “…little squirt…”
      Page 07, Frame 03 “…tough guy…”
      Page 07, Frame 11 “…hoods.”
      Page 08, Frame 01 “…paddy-wagon?”
      Page 14, Frame 08 “…listen fella…”
      Page 36, Frame 07 “…I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!”
      Page 45, Frame 04 “…no siree…”

      Fun Names
      The grounds of Blackfeet - pg. 19
      Paleface-with-eyes-of-the-Moon - pg. 19
      Chief Keen-eyed-Mole - pg. 22
      Browsing-Bison - pg. 22
      Bull’s-Eye - pg. 23
      Lame-Duck - pg. 27

      Final Likes

      The image on Page 20, Frame 03 I’ve always liked. Reminds me a little of Lucky Luke.

      Another very nice frame is number 10 of page 23 – Smiles lining up Tintin with his gun.

      The first three frames of page 13 – Tintin thrown into the harbor. A great homage to Film noir!

      The sequence on pg 18. Tintin trying his hand at the lasso and tripping up his own horse.

      The last 4 frames on page 29 is a fantastic parody of a white man’s invasion.

      Terrific comedy throughout pages 31 & 32. Tintin was doing so well There had only been one vehicle accident till page 33!

      Page 44 I Loved the frame break between picture boxes 7 and 8 – Herge draws a door knob either side, so it looks like the frame break is a door.

      Adore Herge’s drawing of the sausage dog in frame 12, of page 45.

      Frames 11 – 14 of Pg. 47 Tintin’s stair case climb is creatively drawn. The other creative thing I noticed of Herge’s work is that in many cases throughout ‘America’ the bottom line of the frame was the floor of the picture. In 7 of the 11 frames on Page 55 Herge does this. Other times the bottom line of the frame is the flat surface of a desk ie Frame 3 of Page 55.

      Dislikes
      I have an eye for detail and what annoyed me in this comic was that Tintin’s rolled up long sleeve yellow shirt mysteriously changes into a yellow short-sleeved shirt – pages 46 into 47.

      Belief Suspension Exploitation
      pg 1. Where the heck did he get the saw from and how could the driver have not heard the sound of sawing. Likewise where did Bobby Smiles get his pan from (pg. 25 and 26 )?

      pg. 48 the stick leaning up against the wall was far too convenient.

      Our hosts have before talked about unnecessary narration in Tintin. It still happens in ‘America’…

      Valid Narrative
      Tintin pg. 18 Tells us that Smiley is escaping.

      Marginally Unnecessary Narrative
      Snowy pg. 5 “No one’s noticed me.”

      Unnecessary Narrative
      Snowy pg. 06 “Did you see that…? Knocked him out stone cold.”
      Tintin pg. 25 Telling us when the tunnel goes up and down when we can plainly see it.

      Grossly Unnecessary Narrative
      Tintin pg. 24 We can work out how Tintin survived the fall, because we just witnessed it happen to Snowy, yet Tintin insists on explaining it.

      Questions
      1. Do we ever see Tintin in his grey waist coat again? I don’t recall another time.
      2. Is the bell boy on page 9 a forerunner of the Belgian/french character ‘Spirou?’
      3. Is ‘Tintin in America’ the last time out hero gets a rousing horde of worshipers?

      Rating
      (In my rating system ‘Tintins’ represent sensible action and ‘Snowys’ represents plot.)
      Tintin in America reminded me a lot of a Jackie Chan movie. Loose plot. Madcap action. Which is fine in moderation. And we see that Herge’s stories are about to get even better!
      But for Tintin in America the score is – Four Tintins and a three Snowys.

      Blessings guys – Again thanks for the great podcast.
      Glenn

    • Marianna 12:00 am on December 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      FYI – Available On iTunes: Gameloft – The Adventures of Tintin™ – The Game
      I hope the link works.
      http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-adventures-tintin-the/id474794047?mt=8&wdId=32800

    • Nancy Brown 6:24 pm on December 31, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Finally saw the movie here a few days ago–fantastic, loved it, need to see it again.

    • Hussain 6:05 pm on January 12, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      When are you podcasting the next adventures?? its been sometime since i downloaded Tintin in America and than nothing after that.

      • Fr. Roderick 8:39 pm on January 13, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        We take a lot of time to research each album, so that’s why you haven’t seen a new show yet. However, stay tuned!

  • Fr. Roderick 11:11 pm on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    STT003: Tintin in the Congo 

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    Who is behind the assassination attempts on Tintin during his stay in the Congo? How does the album reflect the view on Africa and its population in the thirties? We analyze the story and the context of ‘Tintin in the Congo’.

    Follow us on Twitter: David Handlos @davidhandlos | Fr. Roderick Vonhögen @fatherroderick | @tintinpodcast

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    Music credits: Free background music from JewelBeat.com

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    • Professor Alan 11:59 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Really loving the show, Father. My family and I are looking forward to the movie, as well.

      I agree with your excitement about the involvement of Jackson and Speilberg in the movie, but what sold it for me was when I heard that the script was being penned by Steven Moffat (Dr. Who, Sherlock, and others) and Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim, Shaun of the Dead, and others).

      I think these two deserve as much credit for the success of the movie as do the 2 bigger names. There is only so much that a producer and director can do with a poor script.

    • Glenn 9:57 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Hello Father Roderick and David, I love the Tintin model photo – straight from frame 12 of page 11 (I wonder why the car is black on the cover and not yellow like in the book?)!

      In Herge’s Defence
      Regarding the content in ‘Congo’ . Tintin is simply falling in line with the fad that was prevalent of the day – large game hunting, and as you say Father, game hunting was a sign of manliness. Hunting elephants for tusks was a very big thing then and not illegal – it was a real money-spinner. Personally I would have been rather pathetic as a hunter. I wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger.

      The animals truly get a beating in the adventure. On page 37 I felt very sorry for the leopard, and for the elephant, page 42. I would like to think that the buffalo

      Another sign of the times, is of course the way the white men treated our darker fellow man – not well, to say the least. This mindset does not escape Tintin either.

      (Of Coco Slave Boy)

      “You wait here.” (page 12)
      “Coco, you put up the tent.” (page 15)
      “You cook this antelope for us.” (page 18)

      Tintin is never polite to the boy, but having said that, and I will defend Tintin a little bit. He protects and provides food for the child. He never beats him and he addresses Coco by name, If I was in Coco’s position I would prefer serving Tintin. And it appears Coco does too. Coco is afraid of angry people, see page 21, Frame 1, but overcomes his timidness and saves Tintin on page 25. Way to go Coco!

      I noted: Though Tintin is not polite to Coco or the poor people whose train his superior car knocked over, he is very polite and respectful to African royalty (page 21)

      Before Page 11
      This is really The Adventures of Snowy – and I LOVED every bit of it :) but it’s not solely for fun it is so we can be introduced to the villain (Tom) of the piece. But what a character that parrot is!

      Snowy Wonder-dog
      On page 15 Snowy again is the one who remembers that Tom is the bad guy.
      Snowy’s intuition is spot on as usual. Page 32 and 42.

      In these earlier volumes Snowy saves Tintin more than Tintin saves Snowy. The mighty wee dog is at it again on pg 45 :)

      And right near the end it is Snowy that retrieves gangster Tom’s letter for Tintin.

      Herge Cameo

      One of the reporters seeing Tintin off!
      (Page 1, Frame 1)

      Observations
      Some may or may know of two boys that Herge created for his comedy series – Quick and Flupke! Well I was delighted to discover that Quick and Flupke is also in Frame 1 of page 1 seeing Tintin off!

      Also in this frame we have the (later inserted) first appearance of the Thomson Twins.

      Snowy mysteriously loses his tail bandage between frame 12 of page 5 and frame 1 of page 6.

      In a nice reverse, Tintin is saving Snowy’s life on pages 7 and 8. Snowy repays the compliment on page 22 saving Tintin from a lion.

      In Page 3, Frame 4. Tintin here does reply to Snowy directly, and later Tintin has a conversation with a monkey on page 18.

      Page 9 would suggest that Tintin and Snowy are well known in Africa too! On page 50 a tribe of english/french speaking pygmy men know Tintin and even comment that “Whole world know you!” And this is not not far off the truth in reality. Herge was bold writing this and perhaps could have been seen as rather arrogant.

      Page 18 of ‘Soviets’ Snowy says “He who laughs last laughs the longest.” Now our villain says this line on page 9 of ‘Congo’ (which would have been page 18 had we had the same amount of boxes per page as ‘Soviets’)

      In the ‘Soviets’ podcast our host talked about the time needlessly narrated the action I noted in ‘Congo’ Frame 4 of page 15 Tintin’s narration is helpful, because Herge didn’t show us the monkeys throwing the coconuts onto Tom.

      Second use of “Crumbs” page 38, and third use on page 43.
      Second use of “Great Snakes” on page 47

      Frame 10 of page 45 of ‘Congo’ is very similar to Frame 4 of page 27 in ‘Soviets’.

      Frame 5 of Page 47 reminds me of the iconic Holmesian picture of Sherlock fighting Moriarty at cliffs edge – minus the waterfall and the night. :)

      It is no coincidence that Tintin calls Tom’s letter, ‘The Gangster’s letter’ (Frame 11, pg 50). The letter is signed by A.C. which we discover stands for Al Capone on page 52. Most certainly a set up for Herge’s next book ‘Tintin in America’ a country he had longed to get Tintin to.

      Firsts I noticed
      1.Snowy’s dislike of spiders
      (page 1) However, Snowy is braver here and goes after it. On page 53 of ‘The Black Island’ Snowy freaks over a Spider. He’s terrified.

      2. ‘Heavens’
      In Herge’s remake Tintin says this on page 19.

      3. “Horrors!”
      In Herge’s remake Tintin says this on page 39

      4. ‘Great Snakes!’
      In Herge’s remake Tintin says this on page 42.

      5. ‘Crikey’
      In Herge’s remake Tintin says this on page 54.

      Tintin’s Outfits
      pages 01 – 03 Brown plus fours and tan overcoat.

      pages 03 – 08 His brown plus fours and matching brown suit jacket

      pages 11 – 50 His Congo outdoors outfit. (after buying another pair of shoes)

      pages 51 – 53 He is dressed in Tom’s clothes.

      page 53 brown plus-fours and short sleeved yellow shirt.

      pages 53 – 61 brown plus-fours and long sleeved yellow shirt rolled up.

      Likes
      Love the dear joke spanning pages 15 and 16! It’s brilliant! (I didn’t relies before hear your great podcast Father that Herge swiped this joke from elsewhere.)

      Also loved Herge’s technique in the above joke. The BANG and puff of smoke aids the progression of the joke. The smoke hides the death of the deers.

      Love the picture in frame 4 of page 19. A very nice country spread.

      Love the picture in frame 7 of page 35. It reminds me of pictures in ‘The Broken Ear’
      (I also wonder if this picture is bigger to compensate for the missing Rhino action. This shot takes out, at the most 5 normal size frames. In five frames Tintin could climb the tree, drill the hole in the rhino’s shell, insert the TNT and blow the creature up!

      “Entry free” sign over film hut. page 26

      The Judgment of Solomon page 27

      Frame 6 of page 31 is quite a scary pic! – Aniotas behind Tintin. – I love this idea of the leopard people I looked it up on the net and it is a very interesting read – an idea I would have drawn more heavily on for a story in the Congo.

      Dislikes
      Where Tintin menially calls the African’s train on page 20 an “Old chuff, chuff” Then berates them into working. He does however redeem himself because he tows the train to the people’s village.

      Utter craziness
      The Snowy and the Snake sequence through pages 34 and 35. Is another place where my belief is not suspended – it would have to run away and hide, before I can accept the action. I do however love the snakes dialogue “How extraordinary … it’s the first time I’ve noticed I have paws!

      And also Tintin survival of the fall – this just annoys me. The crook would have had more chance of surviving landing in water, had it not been for the crocks.

      How the father knew to take rope along with him on page 44 to save Tintin is beyond me.

      Questions
      Raised from page 3. Can psittacosis transfer from parrot to animal? I know it can to humans?

      What did Tintin use to disembowel the monkey and clean it with? (page 17)

      Quotes
      “I say, I’ve been in more cheerful situations” Page 33. :D Such a James Bond thing to say.

      “Missionaries are the tops!” – Snowy page 36.

      Thank you sirs for letting me rattle on. I’ve not had a place to freely share my love of Herge and his creation, Tintin.

      Blessings
      Glenn

    • Fred 11:22 am on December 6, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      I remember reading this story as a kid, but I don’t have it in my small collection. Thanks for touching on the controversial aspects, and Herge’s later explanations.

      There are a few references to this online, but the name of the Babaorum tribe seems to be a play on words. Rum baba or (in French) baba au rhum is a dessert with a very similar sounding name. It’s also used in another famous French language comic series, Asterix, as the name of a Roman garrison Babaorum.

  • Fr. Roderick 5:13 pm on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Catholic, Tintin, Vatican   

    Vatican: Tintin is a Catholic Hero 

    On Tuesday, the Vatican Newspaper Osservatore Romano put Tintin on the frontpage of its edition. The newspaper calls Tintin was “a hero of Catholicism” who was driven by “a sacred moral imperative – to save the innocent and conquer evil.”

    The Osservatore devoted five articles to the young reporter, calling him “a Western knight for modern times”.

    Tintin “challenges the arrogance of the powerful, the venality of colonizers, he protects the weak and the oppressed.”

    “He’s the guardian angel of Christian values which the West constantly disowns or mocks. Hergé’s creation reflects virtues that priests try to inculcate in the catechism.”

    According to the Vatican’s newspaper, Hergé’s books were full of strong Christian characters, such as a missionary in Tintin in the Congo who “in his soutane and white cowl runs a school and cures the sick.”

    In his adventures with Captain Haddock, Tintin demonstrated the “universal values of loyalty, fraternity, friendship and the willingness to help those who are weak or needy.”

    Click here for an article about Tintin on the Vatican’s official news portal NEWS.VA

    Click here to subscribe to SQPN’s podcast about the adventures of Tintin! (iTunes link)

     

    • Glenn 11:51 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Yet he’s not perfect. He is human and messes up at times. ie. Picking fights and getting drunk. Which I think is good. Even hero should have shortcomings. It means we can relate to Tintin. He is not completely alien to us.

  • Fr. Roderick 10:18 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Tintin! Are you dead? Say yes or no but answer me!

    Snowy to Tintin in ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’
     

    • Glenn 11:47 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Other Quotes from Snowy.

      Love Snowy’s devotion to Tintin on page 049.

      1. “I’ll never leave you Tintin”

      2. “Oh what a lot of pretty sparks” Snowy pg.109

      3. “Cuckoo, it’s me!!” Snowy pg 105 & 130

  • Fr. Roderick 11:59 am on November 6, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    STT002: Tintin in the Land of the Soviets 

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    How did Tintin get his iconic tuft of hair? Why did he travel to Russia on his first assignment? How did Hergé’s first album revolutionize comics in Europe? You’ll hear it in our analysis of Tintin’s first adventure in the Land of the Soviets!

    Follow us on Twitter: David Handlos @davidhandlos | Fr. Roderick Vonhögen @fatherroderick | @tintinpodcast

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    Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/tintinpodcast

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    • Fr. Roderick 10:15 am on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Hope you enjoy this new episode!

    • Glenn 11:44 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks again so much Father Roderick and David for doing this podcast – I’d love to be involved ie perhaps by sending audio feedback.

      I’m particularly glad you are doing this podcast, because it’s going to help me finish buying my Tintin collection. I want to get each book before you review it.

      Here are some of my ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ thoughts.

      (deep breath)

      Before page 20

      Tintin is bombed and in his first automobile accident of so many that I lost count as I re-read this story and hit by a train!
      Indeed father, how DID his currency and papers survive! :)
      And the insanity doesn’t stop!

      This first story reminds me of a Simpson’s Itchy and Scratchy cartoon – totally unrealistic.

      But all greats, must start somewhere, and I am so grateful Herge started somewhere!!

      Now first up…

      My Responses to Father Roderick

      I Disagree with you father regarding the exposition on pg 104. I don’t think it was superfluous. Not really. Adults may have worked out what was going on, but not necessarily kids.

      I really liked your quiff story. I didn’t know that either! I also didn’t know Herge was was into his cars … M. Tillieux creator of Gil Jordan certainly was.

      and…

      In your first podcast you noted that Tintin is a rather boring character – true in later comics. This is certainly not true of his first three adventures in my opinion. His black and white self in Soviets is rather colorful. He is smug, extremely sure of himself, quite hilarious in places – I laughed out loud on pages 48 (“Funny I don’t seem to be able to sleep”) Waist high in waste :D and 54. Tintin’s boat is going down the bad guys are upon him and what does Tintin say? “Don’t worry, snowy. Something tells me they’ll give up the chase.”

      Now

      Onto the review then :)

      Tintin’s Abilities

      Bomb proof.
      Train proof.
      So fit he can catch a train on a rail cart.
      Builds a railcar out of debris.
      Outruns a train (that wasn’t suppose to there because the next train wasn’t due for 24 hours – we were told on page ).
      The ability to see in the dark (in those fighting scenes).
      Super speed (making the ghost costume, and the second propeller).
      Super Sneeze.
      Super Strong (he fights big men and bears! And many more animals in ‘Congo’ Oh my that poor Rhino!).
      Knowing exactly which vehicles have keys in the ignition! … and a ton other stuff :)

      Snowy – Wonder Dog
      Is not Snowy quite the super dog? Countlessly saving Tintin’s butt! pg 37, 70, 95 are but some examples.

      Some Stats

      Five black eyes (pages 006,014,050, 091, 123) and a bloody nose (page 022), and he goes through about 5 changes of clothes in this story and David gave us stats about Tintin’s jail time.

      Compassion

      Loved Tintin’s compassion for the old Russian on Pg. 31 Pity the man was really the Cheka.
      Snowy’s compassion shines through on pg 79 in the bread distribution scene.

      Morals

      1. “Losing your temper won’t help. Tintin.”
      So true Snowy, so true.” (Page 49)

      2. “With patience all things are possible…”
      Yeah. But felling a tree with pocket knife!?

      3. And Father you already pointed out the ‘Don’t play with fire moral” :)

      Fun names I caught…

      1. Vlipvlop (flipflop – page 32)

      The Cheka’s old man guise.

      2. Nokzitov (knocks it off – page 96)

      The Russian Tintin challenges.

      Firsts that I noticed were…

      1. “Crumbs!”
      First use of the word for Tintin. Pg 058

      2. Tintin Flies
      page 112

      3. Alcoholism
      Snowy problem begins pg. 121

      4. Chloroform
      First use of it pg 133

      Observations

      1. Precursor to the cursing Haddock

      pg. 41 & 75 – “Ten Thousand Knouts” and pg. 43 “Ten Thousand Knotted Knouts”

      2. Herge Cameo

      The man on page 57 suspiciously looks like Herge.

      3. Horse sequence…

      Page 98 featuring Tintin’s trouble with the horse reminded me of Captain Haddock’s trouble with his horse in “The Red Sea Sharks (Coke en Stock)” page 26.

      4. References to the Bolshevik Party.

      “By Lenin’s Beard” (Page. 42) We get more on (page 104).

      Likes

      1. Loved frame 2 of pg 36. Great comedy, but a very sad reality.

      2.The panels are fantastic on pgs 40 – 43 I loved that the door was a devised the panels – I’ve used this affect myself.

      3. I enjoyed Herge’s collection of animals on pgs 128 – 130

      Dislikes

      Now I know this is not to be taken at all seriously, but what really grates me was
      1. The wetsuit in the cell and the tiger skin Snowy finds.

      2. Oh and the whole. “I’ll ask this man to help by tripping him up!” pages 64 -65.

      Yet I wasn’t particularly bothered my Tintin’s Super Sneeze. I know … weird right :)

      Closing Thoughts

      It is interesting that under all of this slapstick fantasy was a volatile political issue! – . I think Herge often used humor as a nice way to lead people into serious subject matter. Sort of a soften up the reader, draw them in then slam them with the hard issues. Perhaps not so much in ‘Soviets’, but communism was certainly a hot topic at the time.

      The book is made up of individual comical incidents that doesn’t flow seamlessly into each other and this continues for the next 3 comics in my opinion. ‘Soviets’, ‘Congo’ and ‘America’. Now if I’m honest I have to say I find it impossible (as an adult) to suspend my belief for these first 3 stories. I find I finally can with ‘Cigars’.

      Following the back cover order ‘Cigars’ is the first of my favorites. I’ll talk about ‘why’ when we get to that review :)

      Herge got a lot more serious about his plots and realism from The Blue Lotus on. And from here I really DID begin to dig Tintin!

      Lastly Some Quotes

      “What’ll happen to Tintin?” – Snowy (page 093)
      “Yet another brush with death.” – Tintin (page 119)

      Both these quotes typify my Tintin reading experience. I said both those things often through my first outings with Tintin as a boy.

  • Fr. Roderick 6:53 pm on October 23, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Secrets of Tintin 001: Introducing Tintin 

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    In our first episode, we talk about the origin of Tintin and about the early career of Hergé, aka George Rémi, Tintin’s creator. We also look at the world premiere of the Tintin movie by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson in Brussels.

    Follow us on Twitter: David Handlos @davidhandlos | Fr. Roderick Vonhögen @fatherroderick | @tintinpodcast

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    Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/tintinpodcast

    Music credits: Free background music from JewelBeat.com

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    • Denyse 8:37 pm on October 23, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      I really enjoyed watching the recording of the first episode. I loved reading Tintin as a child; I’m so glad to revisit the stories. Can’t wait for the movie. Father R. and Dave, you did a great job on the podcast. Great listening.

      • David Handlos 10:34 am on October 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Thanks, Denyse.

        Had a lot of fun doing the episode. Tintin was definitely one of my favorites as a kid, too!

      • Glenn 2:14 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        I’m going to enjoy this podcast!

        Thanks so much for bringing this to us, Father Roderick. Love ye enthusiasm! I have been in love with the world of Tintin since a wee boy of 8 and would often try and sneak a comic past my parent, so I could read it in church! I was always caught out.

        Largely because of Herge, I taught myself to draw and drew my first Tintin inspired comic at the age of 10, “The Precious Object’. My hero has a similar hair style and I called him Stephen Cace. The tagline was “This is a Case for Cace”. Between 10 and 16 I drew and coloured three 32 page comics.

        I understand that Spielberg only discovered Tintin after someone said that his character ‘Indiana Jones’ reminded that person of Tintin, so Steve looked into it and instantly fell in love with Herge’s work.

        The Crab with the Golden Claws was included primarily, as I understand it, because it is in this work Tintin first meets the Captain (except differently to the original graphic Novel). I will be interested to see how they’ll merge all three stories, but the script was in the hands of Steven Moffet (Showrunner of current Doctor Who). He is an excellent writer so we are in MANY good hands. I’m very excited for this movie. I have to wait for boxing day (that’s when it comes out here in New Zealand) I been wanting to see a Tintin movie for about 13 years!

        If you look behind the characters there is an incredible amount of detail, in Herge’s work. It really genius.

        Regarding Tintin’s age. Before David cleared it up. I can remembering wondering if Herge was giving us a clue on page 28 and Frame 11 of ‘The Black Island’. Tintin is climbing over a wall. He tries to jump onto the roof of Dr. Muller’s car. He misses and face-plants on the road. So in the last frame Tintin is lying there as candles float around his head. I counted the candles. There is 16.

        I chuckled at David’s mention of Tintin strength. Yeah he could knock out almost anyone with one punch, but even in ‘The Cigars of Pharaoh’ Page 51 and Frame 10. He defeated a Tiger by strapping it in a straight jacket!

        Actual I think that the theme song for the late 80′s early 90′s animated series is fantastic! I really like it. I think it is perfect to the spirit of Tintin.

        Anyway Fantastic show. I have subscribed.

    • Mr Scirev 10:00 am on October 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      I think storywise the movie will be great, thanks to Doctor Who producer Steven Moffat’s involvement in this production. However I’m not so convinced by the cartoony CGI I don’t think it’s suitable for tintin. They should have gone for live acting instead or realistic CGI. It’s for this reason I won’t watch it at the movies, I’ll rent it later on.

      • Fr. Roderick 1:41 pm on October 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Most reviews are very positive about the CGI depiction of the characters. I think having CGI will guarantee future continuity if they make new movies. Tintin is timeless, ‘normal’ actors age and change. With CGI, Tintin will still look the same in future movies.

        • Glenn 2:23 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

          Fantastic point Fr. Roderick. However voices change as one gets older, but I don’t suppose we’ll have to worry about that, if we only get three movies.

    • danielsmrokowski 3:37 am on October 31, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks Fr. Roderick for introducing me to Tintin when I heard you discuss this comic/movie on The Break. What caught up attention is that Tintin is a reporter and as someone who is currently studying journalism at the university, and after I saw the trailer, this sounds like an interesting and inspiring movie. Looking forward to this new “Secrets of Tintin” series.

      May God continue to bless your work in Catholic Media.

      I will continue to keep you and SQPN in my prayers.

      God Bless,
      Daniel
      Host/Producer of Special Chronicles Podcast- http://www.specialchronicles.com

    • Nancy Brown 12:54 pm on October 31, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Our children discovered TinTin through a cousin and fell in love. I’ve read the stories out loud so many times, and had to laugh, Father Roderick, when you mentioned the funny way Snowy barks. I used to say “Woah-ah! Woah-ah!” not knowing if I was pronouncing it right or not. But once you do it once for a child, then every time, Snowy had to bark the same way!
      I also had a complete melody made up for Signore Castafiore’s song “Ah my beauty past compare! These jewels bright I wear!” etc. Professor Calculus, the Thompson Twins. All so funny, so much good story.
      Now, two notes.
      1. We discovered if you put on those red and blue type 3D glasses, you could actually make the comics appear in 3D. I’m not sure why that worked, but it did.
      2. There is a very good audio of TinTin that we took out many a time from our library. I am going to link to it. Once we listened to these cassettes in the car, we listened over and over, and those voices *were* those characters for us. You might want to check into it, the audios would be great on the podcast. Looks like it was done by the BBC Father R–of which you are very familiar :-) http://www.amazon.com/Six-Adventures-Tintin-I-Herge/dp/0807281034

      • Glenn 2:20 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Fantastic Nancy! I love that you had a tune for Bianca Castifore’s aria. Brilliant.
        You should send us an audio of your tune!

    • Fred 5:09 pm on November 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      As a kid growing up in Montreal, I read many of the Tintin books. I am very excited about the movie! I own three of the books, one of which (“Coke en Stock”) was passed down by my mother from when she was young. Now I will pull out the books and get ready, even though my limited collection is not any of the earlier stories.

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