On Tintin creator Herge’s 111th birth anniversary, team t2 picks their favourite moments of the nine key characters from the classic comic
TINTIN
The boy reporter we have loved reading about while growing up — and even now as adults — travels the world solving the toughest of cases, always accompanied by his dog Snowy and often by his friend Captain Haddock. With his trademark coiff and in his blue pullover, Tintin is an enduring image.
Prisoners of the Sun
Condemned to be roasted by the sun on a pyre on a day of their choice, Tintin has a “eureka” moment. He picks the day of a solar eclipse and, on the pyre, “calls on” the sun god to hide his face if the sacrifice is against god’s will. Sure enough, a black ring starts forming around the sun and the “divine intervention” makes the Incas let go of Tintin and his friends.
Land of Black Gold
Tintin is on a mission to rescue Arab prince Abdullah, but the young rapscallion doesn’t want to go home! Abdullah attacks Tintin with a fire extinguisher, makes him lose his gun and then locks himself in his cell, even as his kidnappers try to hold back Tintin. Tintin, usually always cool, loses his temper, gets into the cell and gives Abdullah a few solid whacks!
Explorers on the Moon
Tintin, the youngest member of the expedition, is chosen to be the first man to set foot on the moon. He slips on his spacesuit and gives a running commentary as he prepares to get out of the rocket. The lines — “This is it! I’ve walked a few steps! For the first time in the history of mankind, there is an EXPLORER ON THE MOON!” — still give us gooseflesh. Herge’s half-page image of Tintin walking on the moon (above) with the red and white rocket in the foreground is exciting.
Tintin in Tibet
Convinced that his young friend Chang hasn’t died in a plane crash in Nepal, Tintin travels all the way to the mountains in which the aircraft came down. He quickly figures out that Chang did survive the crash and has been “kidnapped” by Yeti or the Abominable Snowman. That moment when Tintin sneaks into the Yeti’s cave and meets an unwell Chang is a highlight. The Yeti comes charging in, but Tintin manages to blind him — courtesy St. Elmo’s Fire — and runs away with Chang.
CAPTAIN HADDOCK
The whisky-loving, blue-streak swearing, pipe-smoking, ill-tempered Captain Archibald Haddock is Tintin’s best friend. He may have started out drunk and weak but became one of the bravest people, opting to rush into danger to save his friends. Haddock’s mad escapades often outshine Tintin’s adventures.
Red Rackham’s Treasure
After Tintin discovers a jewel-encrusted cross and a cutlass underwater, Haddock decides to dive for the treasure. When there is a series of jerks of the rope — a sign that something is wrong — Tintin hauls Haddock up and he emerges triumphant... with a bottle of Jamaican rum, which according to the treasure details must be at least 250 years old. Once he drinks that bottle, Haddock jumps off the ship without the helmet of his scuba diving suit to get himself
another bottle!
Explorers on the Moon
Captain Haddock is enjoying a glass of whisky in the rocket on his way to the moon, when Thomson pulls down a lever that makes everyone float around in zero gravity. Haddock’s whisky turns into a “ball” and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t catch hold of it. When Tintin finally manages to push the lever, everyone falls and Haddock’s whisky lands splat on his face! Our favourite moment? When the drunk Haddock lovingly tells the whisky ball, “You see my, dear whisky! You have turned into a ball, but I’m a pretty little bird! Tweet-tweet!” while flapping his hands.
The Crab with the Golden Claws
There are so many Haddock jewels in this one — mistaking Tintin for a bottle of drink and trying to uncork him, twice; screaming revenge and making their attackers run for their lives after they crack his bottle; getting drunk on wine and abusing the hell out of his captors.... One of our favourite moments has to be the last panel where he is giving a speech on radio about how a sailor’s worst enemy is drink, and takes ill after drinking a glass of water!
The Castafiore Emerald
Haddock throws a fit when he finds out that Bianca Castafiore is coming to stay at Marlinspike Hall, having referred to him in her telegram as “Captain Bartok”. He asks Nestor to pack his bags so he can escape but twists his ankle on a broken step. Our favourite bit is when Castafiore surprises Haddock by covering his eyes from behind and yelling “Cuckoo” in his ear that makes him jump out of his skin. She greets him as “Captain Fatstock” and “Captain Drydock” and gifts him a parrot. Oh, the look on Haddock’s face!
Prisoners of the Sun
What fun the llamas had with Captain Haddock! The first time Haddock meets a llama in Peru, he pets it, going “Kilikilikili” and ends up being sprayed by water. The second time, he refuses to travel with a “pair of perambulating fire pumps” and calls them “moth-eaten imitation camels”. The result? One of them chomps on his beard, he lashes out and gets sprayed with water. The third time he hits a llama by mistake and — you guessed it — gets sprayed with water. In the final page of the comic, as Haddock and Tintin prepare to fly out of Peru, Haddock decides to settle old scores... by filling his mouth with water and spraying it on an unsuspecting llama!
Destination Moon
This one has several hilarious moments starring Calculus, like when he runs to Haddock to give him a hug and crashes into his face with a helmet on, or the time he sticks the Captain’s pipe into his ear, mistaking it for his ear trumpet. But the one that takes the cake is what follows after Haddock tells him he can “go on acting the goat”. Calculus’s outburst in reaction is epic, shocking everyone and making him do things we never knew he was capable of
(we bet he didn’t either!).
The Castafiore Emerald
Two reporters looking for a scoop on the “relationship” between Captain Haddock and Bianca Castafiore chance upon Calculus and pump him for information. But Calculus being Calculus thinks that they are asking him about the white roses in his garden he’s named after Castafiore. He gives them details about his roses; they think it’s about the Haddock-Bianca romance and it all goes to print!
Red Rackham’s Treasure
This was the professor’s first appearance and he played a key role in this instalment. A classic bit in the story comes when he takes Tintin and co. to his house. The clothes-brushing machine sucking in Captain Haddock and spitting him out with his clothes shredded, and the wall-bed thumping and tossing Thomson and Thompson like a couple of dolls is hilarious!
SNOWY
Tintin’s dog Snowy is as important a character as any other in the comics, accompanying Tintin on all his adventures — Peru to Tibet, India to Japan. Snowy lands in sticky situations but is terribly loyal to his master and often helps Tintin crack a clue… and more.
Prisoners of the Sun
As Tintin, Captain Haddock and their guide Zorrino trek to the Inca citadel of Temple of the Sun, a giant condor bird swoops down, picks Snowy by its talons and flies away. Tintin and team try to coerce the bird into letting go of Snowy, and the condor drops Snowy on the edge of a precipice. Ignoring warnings that it could be dangerous, Tintin climbs the precarious rock-face, all the while fearing the worst for Snowy, but what does he see once he gets to the top? Snowy happily ensconced in the condor’s nest and nonchalantly chewing on a giant bone saying, “Oh, it’s you? I say, these birds certainly know how to treat a guest!”
The Seven Crystal Balls
Professor Calculus has been kidnapped and Tintin and Haddock are at the shipyard to trace a ship on which Calculus may have been taken. But they find nothing and are about to leave when Snowy comes running towards Tintin with a dirty hat in his mouth. Tintin reprimands him for picking stuff off the road and throws it away, but Snowy brings it back every time. An exasperated Tintin finally throws the hat into the water, but Snowy jumps right in to bring it back. It’s then that Tintin realises that the hat belongs to Calculus!
The Crab with the Golden Claws
Snowy picks a can from a garbage dump and takes it to Tintin. His snout gets caught in the jagged edges of the can and an angry Tintin tells him that if he goes scavenging again, he will have to be muzzled. A few frames later, Tintin realises that the can is a vital clue in his case and runs to the same garbage dump, prompting Snowy to shoot back with, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Rummaging in dustbins like a common mongrel off the streets?!”
Land of Black Gold
Thomson and Thompson are driving through the desert and fall for mirage after mirage. The first time they think they have found an oasis, it disappears as soon as they reach. The second time they see palm trees, they think it is a mirage and crash right into it. But our favourite is when they see a pool and change into swimming trunks and dive in... only to land face first in the sand! And when they come across a real pool they, of course, drive right into the water.
Destination Moon
Thomson and Thompson are scared to death after they see what they think is a skeleton. It’s actually their own bodies passing behind an X-Ray door! But they have to be brave, so they go looking for it and “arrest” a skeleton from an osteology doctor’s room and march the skeleton out saying, “You needn’t pretend to be dead, my friend... you’ve had it this time!”
Explorers on the Moon
The gang has landed on the moon and Thomson and Thompson take the time to do a little impromptu ballet because of the lack of gravity. They are then stumped by footprints and assume that there are other people on the moon. When Calculus argues that it must have been one of them, they say it can’t be one of them because there are two sets of prints, and when Calculus argues that it could be the two of them, they argue back saying it can’t be because they are alone! Quintessential “with a P and Without a P” moment.
BIANCA CASTAFIORE
The singer — who really can’t sing to save her life and knows only one song — takes a shine to Haddock, who bolts every time he spots her. Bianca Castafiore is a key character in many of Tintin’s adventures.
Tintin and the Picaros
When Captain Haddock and Tintin go to release Bianca Castafiore from the prison, she rushes into Haddock’s arms. Haddock’s terrified expression and Castafiore’s eccentricity still give us bouts of laughter. After all, he is Bianca’s “Captain Hemlock”!
The Castafiore Emerald
Newspaper reporters turn up to interview Castafiore and they photograph her making the wheelchair-ridden Haddock wear his coat and then forcing him to smell a rose that hides a bee. He gets stung! “Wait, I’ll help you. First remove the sting…. There! Then apply crushed rose petals to the spot,” she says and the reporters drink it all in as a “scoop” — “Bianca Castafiore will marry old sea lion.” Of course, it all leads to a few famous words from the Captain: “Wait till I get my hands on the miserable molecule of mildew who dreamed up this balderdash.”
King Ottokar’s Sceptre
Tintin “must be prevented from reaching Klow at all costs”. The determined boy reporter travels some way in a peasant’s cart but then gets a ride from none other than the nightingale who’s singing at the Winter Garden in Klow. She sings: “Ah, my beauty past compare, these jewels bright I wear”! Tintin, from the corner of his eye, notices a mark on the car’s glass window and tells himself: “It’s lucky the windows are strong!”
RASTAPOPOULOS
Tintin’s nemesis — easily identified by his bulbous nose — claims to be a film tycoon but deals in every kind of illegal business, drugs to slave trading.
Flight 714
Rastapopoulos injects billionaire Laszlo Carreidas with truth serum to obtain his Swiss bank account number. But Carreidas starts talking about all the times when he, as a kid and then as a young man, stole money from his family. A frustrated Rastapopoulos raises his hand to hit Carreidas but manages to jab himself with the truth serum. The next few frames are a riot with Rastapopoulos and Carreidas competing with each other to prove who’s “wickeder” between them. And when Tintin comes in to rescue Carreidas, Rastapopoulos, still under the influence of the serum, bawls like a baby.
Red Rackham’s Treasure
Rastapopoulos — undercover as Marquis Di Gorgonzola — is aboard his ship Scheherazade when Tintin and Haddock lead a team of cops to arrest him on the ship. Rastapopoulos pretends to surrender, but his boat suddenly turns into a submarine and he escapes. Right in front of everyone’s eyes!
NESTOR
Captain Haddock’s butler at Marlinspike features in many a comic. Nestor may seem submissive, but his frustrated asides are often hilarious.
The Red Sea Sharks
The largely-unflappable Nestor has to manage the whims and pranks of prince Abdullah. That includes being trussed with a duster shoved into his back! When Haddock returns, he sees an emaciated Nestor, like he has never been before or since.
The Seven Crystal Balls
Nestor is an acrobat, gymnast and juggler rolled into one here when he trips over Snowy (who is chasing a cat) as he is getting drinks for Captain Haddock. Super fun!
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