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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Fred, 
Professor Alan 11:59 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink |
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 |
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
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!
This is really The Adventures of Snowy – and I LOVED every bit of it
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
Such a James Bond thing to say.
“I say, I’ve been in more cheerful situations” Page 33.
“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 |
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.
Anthony 12:41 am on April 27, 2012 Permalink |
I love Tintin in the Congo JUST BY LISTENING TO IT! You guys did a GREAT job on putting this into a podcast, I find Tintin very interesting, now I’m trying to collect all books! Thank you so much for putting this into a podcast or else i wouldn’t have this fascination in Tintin I have today! Without this podcast, I would probably only know about the awesome movie! thanks again for making this podcast.