Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Tintin (an Homage)

In this chronological catalog, items are thrown in which are not conventional or canonical, but, by whatever stretch of the imagination, makes sense.
---

Tintin was born in 1912.
He was 17 in 1929, when he went to Soviet Union, and then the Congo, South America, North America, India, China, and was closer to 20 than 21 when he met Cpt. Haddock.
He was 22 going on 23 when the Cpt. inherited Marlinspike.
And at age 28, he went to the Moon.
---

Prologue, Book 1: Tintin, in "The House" -
Abandoned as a young boy by an exasperated mother who was a floozy who was around bad men. Though not mentioned as such, his actual father was French, his mom Belgian, though she moved around the border criss-cross between Lille and Tournai in Wallonia. His birth name was "Martin", but his mom called him Tintin, this was his one and only name.
He was alone to play in the wild near his shack while his mother left (or stayed home) "to make some money". He learned to talk to animals. He always was smashing stuff and running away with the packs of small dogs. He was full of boundless energy, there was no rest for the weary mom. She took him out, possibly for the first time, to see the Bull "Totoro". He was so enthused, he sought to ride the bull. She ended up paying her savings for the damages.
Tintin's mother abandoned him at age 5, at the idea of his mother's new boyfriend.
He may have been "adopted" more than once, meaning he was yet "too much" for any prospective new parent and was abandoned at a different orphanage, each time worse.
At last, at around age 10 (he may have been possibly 9), he was dropped at The House with 100 rooms (plus 15 other "secret" and dangerous rooms) administered in the interest of foreign gangsters (mostly American). [archive.is/tUzFQ] [archive.is/WFS7h].
Though they had nuns, it appears to not have been religious. The crosses on display in the office were the only religious icons, and the boys were not given a religious education. In fact, there wasn't much of an education. 

A legacy of WW1:

Some boys (including Tintin) and a few girls were given the privilege of an education for the sake of funding and seeking influence, whereby boys & girls would be farmed out to dignitaries and capitalists, and instructed to "spy" on their prospective new parents and run away back to The House.
This was how Tintin learned about the world. He was a voracious reader, pilfering the latest copies of books from wherever they were found in The House. He also was able to teach himself and others new languages (mostly a few words, including Hindi, English & other western European languages, Japanese, and Chinese) from foreign kids.
He saw much abuse of the children (kitchen help, laundry servants), whispers of worse stuff happening "between the walls". Tintin, being chosen to be "well-to-do" with an education, was kept apart from the possibly hundreds of other kids whose population always seemed to change. Many adventures occurred in The House for Tintin as he tried to protect the kids he befriended. But in the end they always seemed to leave (disappear). Tintin was kept in a separate wing behind locked doors.
He was adopted from The House into a well-to-do family (possibly a government official) who were kindly and took an interest in him, but, after some misadventures ending with the death of a servant, was dropped off again (he wanted to stay).


Prologue, Book 2: Tintin and "The Miscreants" -
This time, he did not report to the office, but went direct to a secret place between he walls that wasn't quite a room (it wasn't serviceable, no doors, just brick). It is here his adventures in the 2nd book begin. 
He could access anything, see everything, he even went into the secret dark tunnel and found the opium farm in the gully below, behind the hills. There, he found grown kids being used as farmers, they could never leave, and were constantly abused, some of these teenage kids were bosses in exchange for power. During the 2nd Book, he is free from surveillance and manages to raise an upstart army of brats versus the power-hungry teenagers. Tintin is 13 at this point. He then leads some of the savvy kids and teenagers out of The House after burying the dead gangsters at their hideout. It was the smell of death that took away Tintin's innocence despite having seen the living horrors of The House for years. The innocence of youth fell sway to a life of crime, sometimes petty, mostly annoying. It is here he names himself Tortor (after the bull). He had no name, a lack of petty individuality that parlayed into how he viewed himself, selfless. He directed his gang mostly against men (and women) who reminded him of the bad people who visited The House, but it was as an act of revenge, for seeking thrills, and not for any sake of "good".
He saw his mother for the first, and last time since age 5. [three panel strip]. She is drunk in front of the doorway to a bar. He passes her by, wordless. His disdain masks an absolute disgust. After this, he never talks to girls again or drinks alcohol. One can ask why, and he'd shy away, as if there's no answer. But to him, it's disgust. And he will always remember why. This is also the source for his anti-alcoholism.
Finally, after a close call at a bar (Tintin never drank) when thugs nearly murder him, he asks the Spirit of Above (there is no mention of God, no angels) to bless him, that if he lived a true life of worth, of good, that he would be protected. He Believed.
Tintin then goes to the police patrol on the street, saying "I want to be good". The police laugh, recognizing him, but being known as a nuisance against gangsters, they gave him a chance, and, taking him to the precinct chief, Tintin is told, "if you want to be good, join the Boy Scouts", not expecting Tintin to actually join it, let alone do good works. So, at age 14 (he may have been 15 at this point), he joins them with the intent of learning to "be good". Being literate and articulate, the Boy Scout troop leader adopts Tintin not as his son, but as a caretaker of the troop campgrounds, as employment so that he could live on his own wages. 
At this time, Tintin adopted his trademark look, which may have subconsciously recalled from a picture strip by Rabier and Isly (c. 1900) featuring a character called Tintin-Lutin, a character who had bequiffed fair hair, knee-length trousers, and even a little white dog, perhaps contained in a collected edition at a well-to-do house.
At this time, a dog has stayed with him, and is named Milou, nicknamed "Snowy" for his lucent white fur. The two shared a meaningful relationship, and Milou may have been originally been a "street cur" who stayed around bars but was of prestigious pedigree.
So, it was there that Tintin took to typing about the days rounds, to impress his new boss, and because he enjoyed letters. Tintin produced a Boy Scout newsletter for a year or two, as he makes his rounds to newspapers submitting Boy Scout columns and, eventually he is paired with a young artist named Hergé to create a humorous comic strip based on "real-life" anecdotes in exchange for residuals for Tintin, titled "Extraordinary Adventures of Totor, Chief Scout of the Hannetons" (1926 to 1930), and this strip increases newspaper readership among the children. During this time, however, Tintin's personal life intrudes, and he takes down a local gangster syndicate, and impresses on one of the major newspapers in Brussels of his worth.

Prologue, Book 2 - Epilogue: Tintin and his True Wish -
Tintin found himself under the employment of an editor who kept a Mussolini photo on his desk, a Roman Catholic priest who appeared he cared not to go after gangsters, whom he referred to as "those good men". Not shown in the book is how these gangsters worked for the fascists. Still, this infuriated Tintin, who knew how to spot a "bad guy". Tintin realizes he wants to use his journalism to go after them. The Editor, showing his resignation, but not wanting to offend the Boy Scouts, then offers Tintin a stringer position at an affiliated news journal. Tintin "quits" the scouts and starts his new life at age 17.

Thus begins the ADVENTURE.


on the 4th of January, 1929...

Tintin is already famous as a crackwhip journalist for taking down a few petty gangsters. He was sent to the USSR after the Belgium Embassy had been disestablished. Tintin's education in Soviet reality consisted of reading a book about life under the Soviets, thus, Tintin is predisposed, though reluctantly as he sees life is worth cheap, yet still, the Soviets did indeed feed the starving children and eventually employ them. Life was cheap, but better in some glimpses than the life of Orphans in Europe. Tintin would regret having sent back reports that entirely showed life there in the negative. Maybe someday he'd return...
What he never realized was that this assignment was a death wish. Maybe the gangsters employed by the fascists had ideas for the "troublesome little interloper"...
The KGB of the USSR was contacted about a young journalist's plans with the purpose of propagandizing against the Soviet state. 
Tintin is given a book and is instructed to stay on the train all through Moscow, he will be contacted by gentlemen who will give him photographs and stories to embellish his articles. But, moreforth, Tintin is to base the entirety of book's claims as his own, including personal anecdotes. After all, Tintin is not to be sent out to actual zones of civil deprivation and war. His presence is purpose enough. It is common tactic among journalists similarly guided by such editors, such as those employed by the Hearst Media (who employed Mussolini on private retainer).
Here is the book Tintin is employed to report verbatim from: "Moscou sans Voiles: Neuf ans de travail au pays des Soviets (Unveiled Moscow: Nine Years of Work in the Land of the Soviets)" (1928, by Joseph Douillet):
Doullet had lived in Russia since 1891 where he had been the Belgian consul in the million town of Rostov-na-Donu, before being arrested in 1925, spending nine months in prison before he was deported to Belgium.

Tintin was preceded by other personages who did the same thing, including a Danish boy scout named Palle Huld (vintagenewsdaily.com/the-real-tintin-rare-vintage-photos-of-palle-huld-a-teenage-boy-who-travel-around-the-world-in-44-days-in-1928/) [archive.is/UQlsc]: “In 1928 the Danish newspaper Politiken held a competition in honor of Jules Verne, the prize being, rather fittingly, an around the world trip. The competition was open only to teenaged boys who would be assisted to circumnavigate the globe in 46 days unaccompanied and by using any means of transportation with the exception of aviation.
Fifteen year old Palle Huld from Hellerup was chosen as the winner from hundreds of applications. On March 1, 1928 he left Denmark and traveled through England, Scotland, Canada, Japan, Korea, China (Manchuria), the Soviet Union, Poland and Germany. In 44 days he made it back to Copenhagen to the cheers of a crowd of twenty-thousand. Shortly after his homecoming he made an additional journey (now mostly dressed in his scout uniform) to Sweden, England (where he met Baden-Powell) and France (where he laid a bouquet of flowers at the grave of Jules Verne).”
What made Tintin's journey different was the addition of a graphic artist named Hergé to translate the written reports to one that is more suited for the younger audience, thus begins the 10-year book series credited to Tintin based on official and later personal reports to Hergé, whose long-standing relationship was at once tense once success was achieved, because only Hergé would be given the monopoly on Tintin, and only Tintin was the source for Hergé's success, leading to a tense though amicable business relationship once a contract was worked out for regular reports in serialized form based on Tintin's adventures, though cleansed of scandal or truly secretive information! 

[Book 1] Tintin in The Land of The Soviets 
- Originally published from January of 1929 to May of 1930
- Publicity stunt organised by Le Petit Vingtieme to celebrate Tintin’s return from the Soviet Union on the 8th of May, 1930. 
- Original album (1930)
The first 500 copies of ‘Soviets’ were autographed by "Tintin” and “Milou” 
- Coloured Version. Editions Moulinsart, 2017. [archive.is/d3zoe]


* "From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays: Tintin Part 1: Land of the Soviets" (2011-08-04, comicattack.net/tintinpartone/) [archive.is/60vJd]
* "01 - ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ (1930) || Radio Tintin review" (latterature.com/tintin/tintin-in-the-land-of-the-soviets) [archive.is/SpsvY], video (youtube.com/watch?v=3nwk5xpqmJ8)

As far as the content is concerned, it is also childishly simplified, but beneath the naïve surface a bleak Soviet reality is manifested, which the young Hergé had not been personally confronted with, but which he knew from Catholic, anti-Soviet propaganda. Oddly enough, Hergé's criticism has no religious associations, which may seem strange since the comic strips were published in a fanatically fascist Catholic newspaper.

Photo showing street children waiting to watch a parade and given Red Army coats by the parade participants amidst severe frost in Moscow.


Tintin wanted to go to America, "The Home of The Gangster Kings", specifically Chicago. Instead, his fame drew attention from government authorities in a scheme to introduce patriotism in the Belgian Empire. He is sent to the colonies over his quiet reluctance.


[Book 2] Tintin In The Congo
- Original album (1931)
- Redrawn (1946)
- Revised (1971)

At last, he has a position of influence. He will be sent to Chicago. On his own dime. Why? A Chicago gangster had infiltrated Belgian Congo and smuggled diamonds. At last, he had a reason to play out his fantasy. And how could the Belgian government and his newspaper editor say "no"? It was a matter of national revenge and pride...


[Book 3] Tintin in America
- Original album (1932)
- Colorized 
- Redrawn (1945)
- Revised

Tintin is now a world hero for having defeated the most notorious gangster clique in their own homeland! The entire world has noticed, including those "Secret Kings"...


[Book 4] Cigars of the Pharaoh 
- Original album (1934)
- Redrawn (1955)
- Revised

Tintin had gotten close to a King of The World... and helped stabilize an indigenous King of India. Soon, India would be free of the opium smugglers, and eventually of the British Empire, a story for another time...


[Book 5] The Blue Lotus
- Original album (1936)
* (newseu.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-16/Original-Tintin-painting-fetches-3-9-million-at-French-auction-X4HXNbn6gM/index.html) [archive.is/LZhHz]: The painting was intended as a front cover for "The Blue Lotus" volume from the series of children's novels, 'The adventures of Tintin' back in 1936. But publishers decided that the painting would be too expensive to replicate so went for a simpler version instead.
- Redrawn (1946)

Tintin has brought affect to the World Order. Things were getting better in China on the long road to expel the foreigners... and Tintin was the one who brought it to bear!


[Book 6] Tintin and The Broken Ear
- Original album (1937)
- Redrawn (1943)

Witnessing the chaos brought to bear of capitalism's stretch into South American politics, Tintin is thus a part of it, for ill or good. He makes a direct connection with a Latin American despot general. Tintin's influence measures in another continent!


[Book 7] The Black Island
- Original album (1938)
- Redrawn (1943)
- Revised (1966)

In a sense, this adventure brought a halt to fascist ends in money laundering for funding campaigns across the continent. This was the wild deal made of the fortress, impregnable, perfect (with a air runway on a beach next to a cave!). Without it, the money stopped, for the most part (English and Scottish pounds are valuable on the world market). The Soviets did not know how grateful they should be. 
The main antagonist - named Dr J.W. Müller - was loosely inspired by Scots-born forger and secret agent Georg Bell, who had been a strong supporter of the Nazis in the 1930s and an associate of Ernst Röhm, co-founder of the Sturmabteilung, or Brownshirts.


[Book 7.5] Tintin in The Far North
An adventure in which Tintin would be sent to Greenland and Canada


[Book 8] King Ottokar’s Scepter 
- Original album (1939) 
- Redrawn (1947)

Joining the Golden Order of the Pelican, Tintin is vested with access privy to the World Market. Thankfully, it is within a neutral government lead by a Court of private wealth holders, holdouts of the chaos of The Great War, so much held that it would be used invested in the state (and paid back). So it is that Tintin brings with it a vision, a wealth of new ideas, unencumbered by tensions between the Great Powers (England, France, Soviet Union). All his Adventures had a direct impact on the Royal Court, they lived vicariously through him.



[Book 8.5] Land of the Black Gold / "Tintin in Palestine" (unfinished, 1939 - 1940; reprised in 1950)
The early and unfinished version of Land of Black Gold (1939-1940) alluded to the mobilization of Nazi war power. This unfinished adventure is set in the British Mandate of Palestine with British soldiers and officials. The beginning of the war and the defeat of Belgium prevented Hergé from finishing this version, though it did come out in 1950. He later rewrote it, setting the action in the fictional Arab Kingdom of Khemed and replacing the conflict between Arabs and Jews by a civil conflict between two Arab factions.


A bi-national state with separate homelands for the Arab and Jews is established in 1933, with Jerusalem militarily occupied by the British Empire representing The League of Nations. An expected refugee stream from Europe doesn't happen as Hitler's movement loses momentum in 1933 against a United Front of civil organizations, and against AntiFa street fighters. The "empty land" set aside for the Jews is a hasty point of opposition for the Arab nationalist leaders. Thus, it goes... Until the Orthodox Churches of Palestine call upon Syldavia to restore order for their safety, their symbolic presence doing more to upset some more than others... All this happening in the background, none of it concerning Tintin in the least.


[Book 9] The Crab with the Golden Claws 
- Original album (1941) 
- Redrawn (1943)

For the first time, Tintin meets a fellow person, not as a person of authority or enemy. The call for his own mother by the Captain resonated within Tintin. He had forgotten how much he missed the mother of his early childhood. He almost saw a father figure in the Captain, for their age difference, except that the Captain did not act in authority. For the first time, Tintin had a friend.

Archibald Haddock is of the Haddocks of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex.


[Book 10] The Shooting Star (1942) 

Rastapopoulous's friend Blumenstein shows up as a technocrat with an interest in the unique radioactive element. The element provides a "blueprint" for enrichment. With Tintin being the man who secured it, it's knowledge is of interest to those included among his contacts. Thus, friends in the Syldavian Royal Court are among the first to study it, after advertising their country as a place of refuge for persecuted and ignored scientists... protection for patents with a simplified bureaucracy for licensing and publishing as sophisticated as found in the British Empire.
The shock to the market after the great Earthquake was enough to disrupt the flow of capital, even for a short while, as money merchants sought new jurisdictions to house their capital with greater safety than along the coast and preferential treatment. Syldavia advertises itself as a tax haven, a "little Switzerland".


[Book 11] The Secret of the Unicorn (1943)


[Book 12] Red Rackham’s Treasure (1944)

With full funding by Cpt. Haddock, the Prof. becomes a world traveler and celebrity. It is now when Syldavia contacts him for a most terrible of rockets, with a plan to astound the world...


[Book 13] The Seven Crystal Balls (1948)


[Book 14] Prisoners of the Sun (1949)

Tintin, fascinated with the Indigenous governing structure he saw, published a monograph about Inca culture.


[Book 15] Land of the Black Gold (1951)


[Book 16] Destination Moon (1953)


[Book 17] Explorers on the Moon (1954)


[Book 18] The Calculus Affair (1956)


[Book 19] The Red Sea Sharks (1958)


[Book 20] Tintin in Tibet (1960)


[Book 20.5] Tintin and the Thermozero (concept only)
On a rainy day, Haddock, Tintin and Calculus have a car accident with a German they had had words with a few minutes before. Tintin, ready to help people, draws him out of his car and covers him with his coat. Surprisingly, many people try to put the man in their own car before the ambulance arrives. He hides an object in Tintin's coat without anyone's knowledge. Finally, the ambulance arrives and everyone goes home. Back at the hotel, Calculus decides to bring Tintin's coat to the laundry. A few days later, Tintin and the Captain discover that everyone present at the accident has been burgled. Apparently, the people behind all this are looking for an item that previously belonged to the victim. The next day, Haddock is kidnapped and the message for the ransom is "Haddock for the item". A meeting is set in Berlin. Though unaware of what the item is, the heroes travel to Germany to get Haddock back. With a case in his hand, Tintin meets the kidnappers. A few minutes later they are all jailed, as Tintin's case carried a transmitter. Back in Marlinspike, Calculus discovers the item (an explosive that functions in spaces without oxygen) cannot work as one ingredient is missing. 
Further notes were apparently added, which included and international crime cartel, and which expanded into Cold War territory, with references to British double-agents Burgess and Maclean, the Bird Brothers (villains from The Secret of The Unicorn) escaped from prison, and a Russian scientist from behind the Iron Curtain.
- (comicsandcola.com/2014/03/tintin-thermozero-everything-you-need.html) [archive.is/GjoCH]
- page 4 inked by Yves Rodier


[Book 21] The Castafiore Emerald (1963)


[Book 22] Flight 714 (1968)


[Book 23] Tintin and the Picaros (1976)

Already we see a new vision of society infused with technology, as Bourdoria's technocracy continues to send working packages as a means to solidify partnerships, hence, the closed-circuit cameras and advanced weaponry.
Music is changing, as is popular culture, one sees for the first time an electric band of some kind, possibly a new wave of music, granted, as it were, still experimental and accessible only among society members who travel internationally, also among such university students participating in field ventures, though in the USA it is referred to as Rock & Roll as termed by Rythm & Blues artists adopting electric guitars and synthesizers to "auto-tune" their grasp of The Blues, though most real Blues men and women eschewed the adoption of the synthesizer if they ventured into the more raucous electric guitar sounds, yet, when recorded and shared to the world, the new Rock & Roll sound commanded attention, and soon the British Empire had a field export for soft power, coupled with the new color televisions being mass-produced! It appeared all ranges of society had some members enjoying this new wave of music though rare and apart it is such as it were from the range of instruments and technicians needed to operate the machinery, especially the heavy to voice synthesizers! This was a perfect vehicle to display the "New" 20th Century!


[Book 24] Tintin and the Alph-Art (1986, unfinished)
- re-made by Yves Rodier, translation by Richard Wainman [blackkat.net/tintin/pdf/24%20-%20Tintin%20And%20The%20Alph-art.pdf] [is.gd/lvg5Wo]

The Kings of the Earth have regrouped, and engage in narco-trafficking and money laundering while continuing their field study of human psychology. Tintin knows too much, and a plan is put into motion to be rid of their enemy!
Tintin dies, the endorphins and DMT released into his brain the moment Archibald, his true life partner, removed the clay and smacked Tintin's face. He lived, but he caught in one glimpse what he is missing: Love, including broadly speaking, himself with his "future" sons. 
Tintin has met, for the first time, a woman who he is attracted to, though he is emotionally distant at first because of misgivings. What he did not know was that she was 18, and was familiar with Tintin already from his published volumes, having grown up with them as did many children around the world. If Tintin knew, he wouldn't have just misgivings, but, a shyness in aptitude as any world-class celebrity. Thankfully, the young lady kept the reason for her attraction silent, and wanted to know Tintin as a person.


[Book 24.5] Day at the Airport (concept only)
- cover by Yves Rodier
- page 1

One could say this was the final volume, yet, Hergé seemed glad when Tintin stopped reporting his adventures. It meant something was afoot in the world...

===*===*=== 



Further Information

Hergé, in a sense, lived life like Tintin, only more in his office, though he traveled in the Brave New World. His life's work spanning the career of Tintin was cut short, but continues as researchers chimed in with the corpus of the extant research and storylines.

Articles:
* "A Brief History of Tintin Books" (2008, by Shervin Moloudi, sites.google.com/site/shervinmoloudi/abriefhistoryoftintinbooks) [archive.is/2Ae0f]
* "Hergé & The Clear Line: Part 1" (2003 in Comic Art Magazine #2, via paulgravett.com/articles/article/herge_the_clear_line) [archive.is/cRbkR]


Websites:


Books:
* "Tintin: the Complete Companion" (2011, by Michael Farr)


* "Herge and the Treasures of Tintin" (2014, by Dominique Maricq; Published by Goodman), This book contains rare, removable facsimile documents. Hardcover edition cover: 


* "The Metamorphoses of Tintin: or Tintin for Adults"


Daubert, Michel, and Hergé . Tintin: the Art of Hergé. Abrams ComicArts, 2018.

* "Tintin" (2002, by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Randy Lofficier; Published by Pocket Essentials)


===*===*=== 



Epilogue -

In 1939, married as Martin and Martine Vandezande, she being allowed her maiden name as Tintin carried only his one name. 
He met her, and realized his attraction...
In their first dance, he realized he fell in love. The music sounded a bit like this: Kon Kan - Bite The Bullet (youtube.com/watch?v=1rVtU_azpRQ).
Later that year, they shared an experimental DMT compound made of psilocybin by Calculus, and foretold fate... Tintin saw Martine as one who could withstand his life's adventures.

Their children are as follows.
1941: 1 Son
1949: Twin boys
At some point, one of the twins dies. Later adventures are of the older brother in the workshop and the younger brother reprising his father's role against corruption and for peace.

Tintin also fell in love with the "New Wave" music being produced by technicians, artists and musicians. For example, here's "Radio Silence" by Blue Peter (youtube.com/watch?v=q3iZaM3TgPs). These were theatric performances with dozens of musicians and technicians operating complex electrical instruments to create a tapestry of sounds with song lyrics that were meant to be translated across Europe. Another example: Blind Vision" by Blancmange as performed in theater (youtube.com/watch?v=djt2ohG2n_k) and televised in a short music video (youtube.com/watch?v=MG4A_FJclyA), & "Living In The Plastic Age" by Buggles (youtube.com/watch?v=S3Ecs07in7U). The use of televised music videos was a successful ploy to spread the music, more examples of this include Blancmange's songs "Don’t Tell Me" (youtube.com/watch?v=ukLGrA2ryYY) & "What's Your Problem" (youtube.com/watch?v=EGtGd8pQhag).
Tintin would eventually record an English-language song, with a Thompson acting as back-up vocals recorded on magnetic tape and replayed on stage, which sounds like this: "Dead Fish (Don't Swim Home)" by New Musik (youtube.com/watch?v=p2gP4G2b5gA). In light of this, it is rumored The Captain had a song commissioned, though not sung, by him: "Wot" by Captain Sensible (youtube.com/watch?v=fj04rzn-Cxs). Tintin also inspired a later New Wave band, Tin Tin (youtube.com/watch?v=5zoE2Hxs3WY), regarded as a queer band in homage to the question of Tintin and his life partner The Captain as presented in the volumes published which do not show romance by the main characters and women, however, after the volumes were stopped from being published because of extraordinary circumstances (it was the 1940s), Martine became a fixture in the adventures though secretly. One could say the controversy did not affect Tintin & The Captain in the slightest, though it was most peculiar.

And then... what happened during the 1940s?
Without the binding glue that spanned the Earth consisting of illicit cartels, broken as they were in the early 1930s, there was no centralized acquisition of capital for nefarious purposes, nor funding for a coordinated political push towards a cartel of fascist dictatorships. Instead, it was the boundless faith of the people that the big name gangsters had been taken down and the public's recognizance of the police was unparalleled. The invisible kings of the Earth could be broken! These were the headlines, and it caused a major push for a coordinated efforts among governments against the gangsters!

The technology crusade. 
In 1937, Syldavia's technocracy learnt of Prof. Calculus' unemployment and tasked him to create "the biggest missiles imaginable" against Bourdoria. Of course, Prof. Calculus was for peace in the world, but he knew of uranium isotopes being used for fission experiments in Germany, whose provenance as ally of Bourdoria concerned him, so, rather than decline, he hatched a subtle plan whispered in the ears of the technocrats, that the missile would be for display only, though working, and not for bombasts of usage against capitals, and, in that, in his mind, he hatched a plan to save a society, though riddled with wealth, that could represent the old Europe as a counterforce in the new age of Fascism & Communism.
One could say, in his imagination, it was all calculable to the point where he would task others on what to do on an advanced level hitherto not shown even in Germany, to do so immediately so that a fielded test rocket was constructed which worked, and this was naturally scaled up in a second version (the one that exploded). The King (now regent in a constitutional democracy) was naturally impressed by the Prof.'s high-handed remark that "it... We can reach the Moon!", and so, completely on the spot, he had his royal secretary write an official order to do so! At once, to bolster the "Mouse That Roared", and two, to claim The Moon!!! This was one reason kept secret, pending key negotiations with powers over use of Syldavian rocket that could reach the satellite.
This was what lead to world peace and trade, a free market for capitalists and academics. 
At first, all the powers, especially the USA and USSR, were hostile but not belligerent to the act of Syldavia reaching the Moon. It was joked that the Soviets were the first ones to recognize the Space power as equals, despite size and political differences ("The Bear & The Shrew" being a famous combination), yet still remained indifferent or somewhat hostile in their propaganda at first, but also "silently" sending, at first, advisors and technicians, and then academia and historians to tiny little Syldavia. One could take note that the USA remained rather belligerent to the whole affair of the "Silent Communist Invasion of Syldavia"', but, thankfully, the USA remained overseas, unable to make war against the USSR. The European powers, which now included Syldavia, were fractured beyond the homelands of France and Britain with their world colonial empires, so that though Italy and Britain, segments of industrialists and technocrats in Germany, Bulgaria and France (& Japan) all could agree to be hostile to the USSR, neither could they make an effectual alliance as there could be no leadership! 
With this, the United Nations was created, first between the USSR and France co-creating a Bureau of Space Affairs at the insistence of Syldavia's King, then others signed onboard (most notably the British, though they kept their own Space agency) and China, except the reluctant USA, which kept to its own relations separately with every major Power. The League of Nations at first protested, but as this was a scientific and academic union, not diplomatic, they remained strangely silent throughout the first five years until Britain brought up the idea of territorial claims to planets! China actually wowed the world by sending it's own rocket to Mars, unmanned and under the aegis of the United Nations, in 1949 with the help of Soviet technicians. The banner of the United Nations was unfurled on another planet, a green flag with a gold colored map of the world. The British Empire remained strangely silent. 
The Moon and Mars were claimed as part of the United Nations, a claim not recognized by the USA, which launched a manned non-nuclear rocket in the early 1950s into space, but not the Moon, but was complacent as its corporations were incorporated in the proper bureaucracies of the United Nations Space Agency (corporate loopholes work!), despite the perpetual indifference of the United States Senate & Congress to get "involved in international affairs", a conservative sentiment going "back to George Washington" according to folklore, but mostly due the general disdain and indifference of the United States peoples to the world, generally speaking. 

Photo showing Herge with a mock-up of the first voyage to the moon.
Herge's congratulations to the USA's eventual manned-moon landing:

The Cold War. 
This being the 1940s, Tintin's adventures are never-ending. Tintin was naturally anti-Colonialist, and did not support ideologies, so when at hand to defend the people, in his adventures, he was pitted against foreigners from overseas. Most of the times, the distinction between the powers was blurred.. Sometimes, agents would work for the British while being French communists under the direction of Soviets. Or, so on, so forth... Free trade was ever flowing, the advancement of ideas never ceasing, the world prospered and progressed so fast, and there was, at least officially, peace.
As such, there were no major wars. The Congo was held by Belgium with more efficiency, as were the portions united under the British and French Empires. A few African nations did conduct Liberation wars backed by Ethiopia and USSR, against whom Tintin unwittingly fought. Also, some tribal chiefs were allowed "independence" within Belgian Congo.
Hitler was overthrown in 1933. Consequently, there were no Great Terrors in Soviet Russia, and by late 1930s, there was a slight devolution in state power in favor of Soviet democracy. The USSR kept its plans to destroy the British and French Empires, and vice-versa.
There was no "communist China", except for regions in Yunnan and the western frontier (Xinjiang). That is, until the USSR fought off an invasion by the Japanese Empire into Outer Mongolia, 1937 to 1941, ending with a Soviet-controlled Manchuria. Instead of "carving up China" like the Imperialists, the Soviets' offered to reconcile China and belabored to create unity, albeit with the concessions of peace and trade, and to permit Soviet socialism to replace Japanese-controlled conglomerates. China offered warm sea ports for USSR trade. Mongolia was re-united, and Tannu-Tuva joined in "The New China".
Tibet retained independence except in defense, which was left to "The New China's" central government.
Latin America continued to see war among rival governments aligned with rival world powers. Only a United Nations could prevent further bloodshed and perpetuate the independence of all nations...

In in the late 1940s, Tintin enacted a plan for "Pax Terrana".
Plan for a Contract for Human Rights, enacted by the United Nations signatory states (USSR, Syldavia and it's European Union, French Empire, British Empire) and certain republics in Latin America.
Britain is already belligerent in the League of Nations against collective decisions detrimental to its sovereignty. So Tintin works through Syldavia and the United Nations to enact something different yet binding... it works. A basic premise of Human Rights in exchange for perpetual peace and trade, whereby signatory governments would recognize a modicum of basic rights for all people in exchange for scientific exchanges, technology sharing, and agriculture trade, although the platform that all women shall receive an education through sixth grade was received rather reluctantly by the Arabic kingdoms... It worked. Tintin rests easy. He is in an early "retirement". It is 1949.
There is one last crisis as the French Empire undergoes a devolution in Indochina after nationalists there are stirred to a war of liberation by agents of the USSR and United Nations. After the nations of Indochina achieve their independence, the British Empire agitates for an invasion, which necessitates the re-arrival of the French military, compounded by the USSR and Chinese military agents already in the field. A World War appears imminent, and Tintin diplomatically saves the world by initiating a Peace Congress with the participation of the Latin American Union organized (or, rather, coerced) by Tintin's old friend, General Alcazar, who had USSR military equipment superior to his neighboring republic's armaments provided by the French and British Empires, and, the new African Union of traditional kingdoms heralded itself in opposition to the British & French Empires at the Peace Congress. 

With perpetual peace and trade, the world in Tintin's time transitioned rapidly.
For reference, the 1940s of Tintin's world were akin to the 1950s and early 1960s of our own, including the advances in cybernetics and energy production, and of rapidly changing culture and values like the transition of the late 1960s to the mid 1970s in our own time, and from that time on there was unlimited technological advances alongside down to Earth venues for adventures.
The transition away from the Cold War towards capitalists and their mad scientists versus the United Nations is the scene of further adventures... 

The adventures go on forever, they are endless... 
Eventually, there is time travel, parallel universes, and clones! Unlimited possibilities of time, space and imagination!

Some of the pirated editions contain these visions. 
* (gorianet.it/tintin/english/pirates.htm) [archive.is/e6Dqq]
* "Tintin's new adventures; When Tintin's creator Hergé died, he specified in his will that no one else should continue his work. Yet fans continue to turn out loving homages - and obscene pastiches" (2007-05-07, theguardian.com/books/2007/may/07/booksforchildrenandteenagers.features11) [archive.is/C5XTF]
* "Le Pastiche Tintin: 111 'Lost' Tintins" (2019, by John C. Stringer), cover [archive.is/60WSo], back cover [archive.is/jPB44] 
* "Le Pastiche Tintin: 222 'Lost' Tintins" (2020, by John C. Stringer), cover [archive.is/VeWGp], backcover [archive.is/73BS5]
* "How Tintin became an unlikely poster boy for the far right; Fascists in France are reclaiming the comic book character as one of their own" (2020-10-16, wired.co.uk/article/tintin-far-right-fascism) [archive.is/fgEsw]
- "Tintin in Quebec", cover only
- "Les entrailles du Llulliallaco", cover only

===*===*===



On another note, the thought of the development of New Wave music is an allegorical arrival of the conclusion of the 20th century at the start, so that the people who originated the century experienced the end, and moved on to what the epoch felt it could have been like, in the minds of the authors of science fantasy and popular mechanics magazines. And, this is in-tune with the homage to Hergé's acumen in staying abreast of popular culture in his books as seen in the story of Tintin & The Picaros, and Tintin & The Alph-Art.
Further, one could state that the first major new wave song to gain worldwide attraction was "Voulez-Vous" by ABBA, released a few months before the Alph-Art! ABBA gained fame by experimenting with the new electronic music pieces then being created, including the electric guitar and synthetic soundbeat in their song "Does Your Mama Know?", nominated for social clubs across the USA!
Other songs that are part of the new wave include:
- "Union Of The Snake" by Duran Duran (youtube.com/watch?v=n6p5Q6_JBes)
- "Don't Look Now" by Torch Song (youtube.com/watch?v=uXbseqS1au0)
---


A note on the inclusion of the benevolent USSR -
It makes for a counterbalance to the British Empire in light of a weak Europe, and as presented is based on the evidence up to a point, controversial as it is in the USA! If you were alive in the days of the Cold War, how would one remember it? In the minds of the victors. Thus, millions dead all told at the hands of the fascists allowed for millions more to be heaped up on the rubble of revolution and civil war. In this lifetime as described, this did not happen, and the USSR evolved into a manner which, perhaps, it should in the manner of those who look nostalgically behind what occurred to this day. 
"Towards Mars" (1966, by Andrei Sokolov). Peace (Mir) on other worlds!
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)