– Customer review on 15/08/2011

Being a big fan of Tintin when I was growing up, I wanted to check out everything. Thought I'd read all the stories, but I'd heard about "Tintin and Alph-Art", which at the time was in a blue hardcover with a rough picture of Tintin on a ladder. This particular edition (gold) was published in 2004, as part of Tintin's 75th anniversary. Both editions are a collection of sketches Herge was preparing for the 24th Tintin adventure, but he died in 1983 before he could finish the story or colour and ink it in. It's presented like a script, with pictures of the pencil drawings along side, some significant details blown up. Was put off by the fact it was incomplete and rough, but I gave it a go, and I quite like it. Very personal, I thought.

Tintin has a lot of contacts, so does his friend Captain Haddock. Bianca Castafiore wants to visit Marlinspike Hall again, and so does Prince Abdullah the trickster. Haddock almost runs into Bianca on the street, so he hides in an art gallery, and ends up being cornered by Bianca. He buys a "H" made by a famous artist there, "H" for Haddock. It's Alph-Art, PersonALph-Art to be exact. Many don't understand it, Haddock is frustrated all the more by it. Meanwhile, a man at the gallery is killed, and Tintin gets on the case...

What happens? It doesn't end, though there are some sketches in the back where Herge considers what he wants to do. God bless you, Georges "Herge" Remi.