Tintin i Congo

by Hergé

Paper Book, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

808.042

Library's review

Journalisten Tintin rejser til Congo og allerede på båden er der bud efter hans hund Terry, men den klarer sig heldigvis. I Afrika klarer Tintin sig også på bedste Europæer-i-Afrika stil. Han slagter et dusin antiloper og en chimpanse. Han går på løvejagt, leger heksedoktor og er så god og
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alvidende, at det i bakspejlet er det, der er det morsomme ved historien. Han forfølges af en hævngerrig forbryder, men undslipper hver gang. Han klarer krokodiller, leoparder, boaslanger og elefanter. Til sidst opklarer han også at bagmanden er Al Capone, der vil have fat i Afrikas diamanter. Tintin får arresteret hele banden. Senere klarer han leoparder, giraffer, vildbøfler og næsehorn. Tintin og Terry vender hjem med et biplan og tilbage i Afrika tilbeder afrikanerne dem og håber de vender tilbage.

Ufrivilligt komisk album
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Publication

[Kbh.] : Carlsen Comics, 2002.

Description

Join the world's most famous travelling reporter in two exciting adventures as he heads for the Congo. The young reporter Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy set off on assignment to Africa. But a sinister stowaway follows their every move and seems set on ensuring they come to a sticky end. Tintin and Snowy encounter witch doctors, hostile tribesmen, crocodiles, boa constrictors and numerous other wild animals before solving the mystery and getting their story. Join the most iconic character in comics as he embarks on an extraordinary adventure spanning historical and political events, and thrilling mysteries. Still selling over 100,000 copies every year in the UK and having been adapted for the silver screen by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson in 2011. The Adventures of Tintin continue to charm more than 80 years after they first found their way into publication. Since then an estimated 230 million copies have been sold, proving that comic books have the same power to entertain children and adults in the 21st century as they did in the early 20th.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member andersocheva
A very early, very naïve Tintin adventure; improvised from one week to another by a very young author who still believed everything his editor told him, it's incoherent, prejudiced, and rather stupid. This redrawn, colourised version from 1946 is at least technically well done, but in a way it
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almost makes it worse: the contrast between the polished art and the decidedly unpolished script is rather jarring. Whether it's more racist than other children's books from the early 30s is not clear, but it is bad enough that Hergé himself soon found it embarrassing, and Casterman decided not to reprint it from around 1950 until a newspaper in Kinshasa wanted to run it in the early 70s.

Only three years later, Hergé started work on _The Blue Lotus_. The contrast couldn't be much greate
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LibraryThing member tootstorm
Even the best Tintin stories are, to me, speeding towards irrelevance. Hergé's writing is confusing -- written for kids, his plots are propelled forward by exposition dialogue describing everything happening in the artwork, with overly-political plotlines and a vocabulary far beyond the target
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grade level. I liked following the art when I was a youngster, but most of the stories bored me and still bore me.

Tintin in the Congo is as ridiculous as its reputation. After his earliest exploits in the Soviet Union circa 1929, Tintin lands on Africa's shores to unanimous acclaim from every 1930s racist caricature imaginable. His adventures there follow the attitude of this uncomfortable encounter:

Tintin wanders what I presume is the modern DRC killing every animal in his path and acting out the white savior to every African. He and his dog are made chiefs of two different tribes in one day. His English car gets hit by an African-made train, and the train simply collapses from how poorly-built it is. All the Africans in said train are lazy and refuse to help clean up the mess because Africans are lazy. He kills an elephant for its tusks. He kills an entire family of gazelle for a gag. He wows a tribe with white innovations like moving pictures and audio recordings. He stops American criminals from turning Africa into another Chicago.

It's ridiculous.

It's also a fast read, and utterly fascinating for how terribly antiquated it is. If you're an older fan of Tintin and feeling the curious itch I felt, I think I'd actually recommend it for curiosity's sake.
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LibraryThing member BenjaminHahn
Sadly, this is probably the most offensive Tintin Adventure that Herge produced. The natives of the Belgian Congo are drawn in the traditional minstrel show style that was popular during that time period. They are likewise portrayed as very ignorant and backwards. Furthermore, Tintin spends most of
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his time shooting animals left and right. Still, all that being said, there are a few classic panels of Tintin falling off of cliffs and being chased by an elephant. Sadly, the elephant gets shot and Tintin saws off its tusks and takes them as a trophy. Again, he drew this in 1930 so its not all too surprising.
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LibraryThing member Frenzie
This one's rather silly. In the end the treatment of animals annoyed me more than the racism, possibly because I still remembered the silly stereotypes from when I first read it, but had forgotten about the animals.
LibraryThing member brakketh
This one really shows the time it was written. Full of racist stereotypes and big game hunting. I am glad that Hergé himself was embarrassed by this book in later life.
LibraryThing member LibrarianRyan
This book is racist. There’s no other way to say it. Tintin has been an enduring loved comic book character for decades. These adventures brought the bumbling detective to life and made them a part of our lexicon. But sometimes classic characters in fall to the changing of time. The illustrations
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are in typical black face. Not drawing a black person is a black person but drawing them as a monkey painted black as you would see in old vaudeville acts. Completely inappropriate. Then add the language barriers, and how none of these black characters speak proper English. It’s all broken or comical, or made to show more differences then should be relevant. Then add the white saviorism. Tintin has gone to the Congo to write about his adventures with the great apes and acts like an unneeded hero. Whether it’s fighting lions, riding crocodiles, or saving a group from a different man, Tintin wants to be the hero. I know this book is a product of its time, but this is not one a library should have on their shelves, unless the library specifically keeps collections of old children’s books for purposes of study. Tintin can do better. This book has been banned. I agree with the ban in this case. There are better books and better characters.
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LibraryThing member Zare
Second book in the series is way, way better than the first one (Tintin in the land of Soviets) in both graphical presentation and consistency of the story.

Story itself seems to be a popular view at the time of Africa, European African colonies and native people. Especially of Congo, Belgian
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colony, that was ruthlessly exploited while ran as personal fiefdom of Leopold II, king of Belgium, until it was, at the end of first decade of 20th century, made part of Belgium state territory.

With that said portrayal of native people is very simplistic and will definitely be offending today (although to be honest as far as I can see this volume was found to be offending even in 60's and 70's). Keep in mind this was written in 1930's and story reflects the period with all its racial stereotypes and prejudices.

Second element that remained controversial with this book is approach to wildlife - Tintin is presented as a big-games hunter that came to Africa to hunt down every signature animal from Africa (lion, rhino, elephant) for his news report. Again this is part of the story that will be offending to many today but at the time big game hunters were celebrities (and let us not forget that unfortunately this practice continues even today with hunt-safari's).

So if you are aiming at politically correct works then this one is not for you.

Improvements over the volume #1 are in art (we can see the art becoming much better and comic is starting to look like Tintin we know today) and consistency of the story. Although nature of comic (serialization in newspaper over the months) is more than obvious, story itself is much more cohesive and does not read like just a collection of short gags.

All in all much better book than volume #1 and one that shows bright future for Tintin.
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Language

Original language

French

Original publication date

1930

Physical description

62 p.; 29.4 cm

ISBN

8756207425 / 9788756207423

Local notes

Omslag: Hergé
Omslaget viser Tintin, Terry og en sort dreng i en jeep på en afrikansk savanne
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra fransk "Tintin au Congo" af Jørgen Sonnergaard
Tintin, bind 22

Similar in this library

Pages

62

Library's rating

Rating

½ (234 ratings; 3)

DDC/MDS

808.042
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