This illustrated tribute to the famous Belgian strip and its creator shows side by side the drawings and references Herge used to establish credible backgrounds and realistic details. Explorations of the strip's themes and recurring characters, and the controversies that fueled Herge's art and life, are included. Full-color illustrations.

Reviews

Tintin is a reporter the way that Indiana Jones is an archaeologist: on the road for assignments, he always finds unexpected adventures. For over 80 years, Europeans have loved the stories of Belgian artist Herge about this forever-young hero whose slapstick-accented international exploits tug at all ages. Although available in English since the 1950s, Tintin has never captivated Americans. This will surely change when the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson Tintin film hits the screen next month. Farr, a leading British Tintinologist, uncovers an entire infrastructure for each of the 24 Tintin books: publishing history, racial and ethnicity issues, and especially Herge's research. Hundreds of fascinating illustrations juxtapose the artist's drawings with archival photo references. Originally published in 2002, the work would have benefited by a paragraph updating Tintin culture plus a few new references. Another drawback: some French cartoons have no translations. VERDICT Recommended for Yankee Tintinphiles and teens and up. It will also serve as a nice story sampler for newbies sucked in by the film and students of graphic narrative. The 2007 Pocket Essential Tintin covers similar ground but without illustrations. Note: Three biographies of Herge are due in December.-M.C. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.