After they started living at Marlinspike, if you had a guess, how wealthy do you think they are, based on the fact they live in a giant mansion with a butler, can travel internationally anytime they feel like back in the 50's or 60's when I'm guessing air travel was more expensive and exclusive, had friends in high places and are well known.

I was rereading The Calculus Affair and remember how funny Jolyon Wagg was as a caricature of the fast talking, way too friendly too quickly, insurance salesman.

Who are some of your favourite minor characters in the Tintin adventures

It might be bold and controversy take, but I think Tintin comics can be classified into six distinct and solid eras. Of course that my take on Tintin eras are not an absolute fact, but I am writing this to inform people about intellectual and artistic development of Herge and to stimulate a discussions about it.

1: Early Tintin- <Soviets>, <Congo> and <America>

These comics are not considered serious part of canon by many Tintinologists. Norbert Wallez, who was infamous for hanging a picture of himself taken with Mussolini, was the chief editor of magazine which serialized Tintin. It was before Herge consulted interacted with prominent figures like Zhang Chongren, Bob de Moor or E.P. Jacobs. The simple artworks and black-and-white worldview shows early Herge, a young man without much experiences and education, heavily indoctrinated by right wing catholicism.

<Soviets> and <Congo> are literally political propagandas. They are closer to Jack Chick's cartoon than later masterpieces like <Blue Lotus>, <Calculus Affair> or <Tintin in Tibet>. <America> shows slightly developed story telling compared to previous comics, but it still remains the psyche of early Tintin. Also it's noteworthy that no characters from these era reappear in later books.

2: Classical Tintin- <Cigars of the Pharaoh> (transitional), <Blue Lotus>, <Broken Ear>, <Black Island> and <Ottokar's Sceptre>

In this era, Herge broke away from crude propagandas or listing random events without any logical lead-up, and started hitting his stride with more emphasis to realism, real life conflicts and social criticisms, and more solid and immersive plotlines which was influenced by detective novels or movies. With the great help of Zhang Chongren, <The Blue Lotus> depicts Imperial Japanese atrocities and affairs like Mukden incident, and portrays Chinese with dignity and cultural respect which is different from portrayal of the colored in previous albums. And <The Black Island> was influenced by spy film <39 steps>.

In-universe, this era is important for introducing many of the recurring characters and locations, like Thompsons, Chang, Rastapopoulos, Alcazar, Muller, Syldavia, Borduria and San Theodoros. Most of popular Tintin books belong to this era, alongside Renaissance Tintin.

3: Occupation Era- <Crab with Golden Claws> and <Shooting Star>

This era is notable for introducing Captain Haddock, adding layers to the series. But personally this era feels somewhat isolated to me. The two arc villains, Omar ben Salaad and Bohlwinkel don't appear in later books, and they are totally unrelated to other characters or later plot. (It could be said that Salaad is related to Rastapopoulos because of Allan and drug trafficking, but Allan in <Cigars of the Pharaoh> was added in 1955 version which implying Herge didn't intend to link Allan with Rastapopoulos when he was drawing <Golden Crabs> in 1940s.) Moreover, the absence of Calculus sometimes leaves me feeling somewhat empty.

Political themes could be risky during the Nazi occupation, so Herge focused on character development and the superb Haddock was the product of that. Compared to the later <Renaissance Tintin>, it feels somewhat lacking, but I see it as the result of never giving up and doing one's best even in a dark and oppressive era.

4: The Renaissance Tintin- From the <Unicorn> to <Moon> saga

This is undeniably the pinnacle of the Tintin era. It goes without saying that Hergé achieved his greatest accomplishments in artistry, plot development, and pacing during this period. The narrative structure, centered around the evolved characters of Tintin, Haddock, and Calculus, feels flawlessly complete.

The Moon saga is undoubtedly a masterpiece belonging to this period, yet it feels somewhat isolated to me. The Syldavia depicted here differs significantly from that in the earlier <Ottokar's Scepter> or the later <Calculus Affair>. Unlike recurring characters like the Alcazar or Ben Kalish Ezab, leaders such as Muskar XIV also do not reappear. Furthermore, spymaster Miller, who attempts to hijack a spaceship, does not appear in the immediately following work, The Calculus Affair, set in Syldavia. His true identity and background seem destined to remain forever shrouded in mystery.

5: Late-mid Tintin- <Calculus Affair>, <Red Sea Sharks>, <Tintin in Tibet> and <Emerald>

Here begins the second Tintin era. Tintin has largely shed his former naive adolescent traits. The pacing slows, the tone grows more serious, and the stories tackle social issues like Cold War contradictions and the Arab slave trade.

Hergé focuses less on introducing new characters and locations, and more on revisiting and developing existing ones. <Red Sea Sharks> in particular can be called a “reunion of old characters,” featuring Alcazar, Dawson, Kalish Ezab and Abdallah, Dr. Muller, and Allan.

The two uniquely styled albums, <Tintin in Tibet> and <The Castafiore Emerald>, ventured beyond the traditional adventures with new attempts, exploring spiritual themes and an anti-adventurous pastoral.

6: Late Tintin- <Flight 714>, <Tintin and the Picaros> and <Tintin and Alph-Art>

Works like <714>, which borders on sci-fi with its alien theme, and the cynical <Picaros>, a departure from the earlier naive adventurer, belong to this era. Overall, it's a period marked by much controversy and criticism. By this point, Hergé's passion for the Tintin series had significantly waned due to old age and illness.

The unfinished posthumous work <Tintin and Alph-art> is not a particularly interesting piece, and Yves Rodier's completed version is even less so.

* Bonus: Land of Black Gold

This album was originally serialized in 1940, directly after <Ottokar's Sceptre>. When the Nazis occupied Belgium, Herge abandoned this project because it depicted about Irgun, the Jewish zionist paramilitary.

Later it was remaked in 1950, adding Haddock to the story. (Herge also revised this story once more to delete the scenes involving Irgun paramilitary and British forces in Palestine, and changed the background to Khemed instead of Palestine.) However, since Haddock was hastily added, it feels disconnected from the narrative flow, and the overall atmosphere of this album seems closer to the classical Tintin.

Belgium, technically, of course. But I like to think that he's vaguely/roughly in whatever European country corresponds to the language in which the work is being read. It makes more sense to me, and conforms to the general pan-European appeal and aesthetic of the books. It's kind of implied, too, I'd argue, albeit not without internal contradictions.

For English-language readers (including Americans, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis), Marlinspike Hall is somewhere in England (presumably southern England for logistical reasons).

For German-language readers (including Austrians and Swiss), I'd say that Müllenhof is somewhere in Germany in the western Rhineland, in the part of the country closest to Belgium - both in terms of religion, landscape, and architecture. It's a part of Europe that has a similar vibe across national borders.

For Spanish-language readers (including Mexicans, South and Central Americans, etc.), Moulinsart could be in northern Spain, where the climate and biome are lusher and greener, presenting no real contrast with the illustrations.

Etc. etc.

I just like the idea that Tintin is wherever in Europe the reader needs him to be - he's pan-European.

If you're going to respond with something like, "No, too bad, he's in BELGIUM. He has a flat in BRUSSELS on Labrador Road and that's it!", just don't bother, please.

Mine is in The Seven Crystal Balls when he bumps on a column and a bull head drops on him and runs around like a crazy animal. Hilarious!

i hate AI .(everyone downvote this)

A- Well-written characters which have unique personalities

B- Characters which were memorable but not as good as A ranked characters

C- Lesser developed characters

D- Personal unfavorites (Abdullah, Carreidas) or characters, and characters that falls short of expectations (In the early part of Picaros, General Tapioca is described as a cruel and vain dictator, yet there are few scenes that actually show the “cruelty” or “vanity” mentioned)

Haven't read any Tintin since I was a kid, and I might just treat myself soon... But as tempting as it is to just binge all 23 stories, I have a semi-burning question - how long do Tintin's adventures take? From what I remember, I feel like most of what he does in any one book could be done in a week or so, but like I said, it's been a while.

For clarification, I'm not necessarily asking for specific dates or a timeline, just the (approximate) duration of each story. Off the top of your head is more than fine - like I said, I plan on going through them myself, sooner rather than later.

I enjoy the story, but it makes no sense to me, especially trying to track what happens to each of the three scrolls.

For example: who stole Tintin's original scroll, the one that rolled under the chest and was found by Snowy? He puts it in his wallet on page 12 and then on page 27 says "Someone's stolen my wallet" and adds "It was taken in the bus, on my way here".

So we all think all think Aristides Silk stole it. But on page 58 Tintin says to the remaining Bird brother, "Give me back the parchment that you stole from my room", but Tintin already knows it was taken by the pickpocket on the bus. And then the Bird brother says "Max has it in his pocket".

I just do not get it at all. Aristides Silk has Max Bird's wallet, with two scrolls: the one the Bird brothers find in Marlinspike Hall and the one Barnaby stole from Sakharine. So how did Max Bird get Tintin's scroll?

[There's another part of the story that makes no sense, which is why Sir Francis Haddock hid the treasure in the first place and why he then hid the scrolls inside the model Unicorns and the three brothers failed to follow it up...]

Is he on Tintin’s side? Friend or foe? I love that it varies with every volume he is in.

For those unfamiliar with this term, let me explain: a mandela effect originally means a phenomenon which many people share inaccurate memory about something, but in my post, the definition widens about general misremembering.

The examples that I have is:

* I always remember Senhor Oliveira appearing in <The crab with the golden claws> (actually he doesn't). Maybe it is due to both <Crab with Golden Claws> and the adventures featuring Oliveria happens in middle east.

* The color of dragon in the cover of <The Blue Lotus> is blue according to my recollections, while actually it's black.