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Product Reviews:
Tintin and the Picaros (The Adventures of Tintin) |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: The1with Tapioca and the Bananas
Comments: Comfortingly enjoying life in Marlinspike Hall, there 's a marked reluctance on the part of Tintin and Captain Haddock this time to get involved in another mad adventure, and1perhaps senses a similar reluctance from Hergé,8years after publication of the previous Tintin adventure Flight 714, to run his characters through the same old paces once again. Once they all get going however, it's pretty much business as usual in Tintin and the Picaros, although it would prove to be the last completed Tintin adventure.
Hergé initially has a great deal of fun at the expense of his heroes' prevarication. The opera singer Bianca Castafiore has been arrested in San Theodoros while on a tour of South America and charged with spying offenses. Despite pressure from press and television reporters and despite the gallant words of Calculus, Haddock is the last person to the rush to the aid of the diva, believing correctly she is quite capable of looking after herself. The pressure mounts however as General Tapioca turns it into a public challenge offering safe passage if they come to negotiate in person. Normally, Tintin and co. would be on the next plane for South America, however this time they are a bit more canny, and have clearly learned lessons from past, aware that the challenge is nothing more than an attempt to lure Tintin, as well as General Tapioca and his Picaros rebels, into a trap. Nonetheless they do make the journey and soon find their suspicions confirmed.
As recompense for putting Tintin and Haddock through the same old routines1more time, Hergé takes some pleasure in bringing back a few old faces, not only reigniting the struggle between Tapioca and General Alcazar from The Broken Ear for control of the Banana Republic of San Theodoros, bringing back the associated characters of Doctor Ridgewell and the Arumbaya Indians, however connects their revolutionary activities with the Kûrvi-Tasch regime from the fictional Balkan state of Borduria 1st seen in King Ottokar's Sceptre and later in The Calculus Affair, bringing in Colonel Sponz. The connection is somewhat forced, however it makes for a great deal of entertainment, Hergé finding a new way after the previous adventure, Flight 714, to characterise and make fun of villains and dictators and their mad, absurd lust for power.
Entertainment is to be found also in a few familiar places, with Captain Haddock - much to his horror - taking an aversion to whisky (with Calculus snickering in the corner of the frames), and the hilarious cockney-speak "foreign" language of the Arumbayas. The artwork is latter-day clear-line Hergé - not as pure as his early and mid-period style, with rather too many large speech-bubbles, however attractively designed nonetheless in its South American jungle and Carnival settings. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Farewell, sweet Tintin
Comments: Interestingly, Hergé followed1of his strongest Tintin adventures with1of his weakest (this is a relative term, of course - Hergé is consistently stunning). Tintin and the Picaros opens in Marlinspike with a few new oddities - Tintin on a motorcycle, a portable TV (sample of groovy 70s design), Tintin doing yoga, as well as Haddock reacting violently to alcohol (a mystery that is carried through half of the book). there is international intrigue when Bianca Castafiore is arrested in San Theodoros. Insane diplomacy appears between Tapiocopalis and Marlinspike, and there we go - on to more civil war intrigues in Central America with our old friend General Alcazar (who has a new wife, an American monstrosity called Peggy) and who has appeared in various Tintin adventures starting with The Broken Ear; besides Alcazar, there is also the shifty Pablo, also from The Broken Ear and General Sprodz, from The Calculus Affair. Tintin and Haddock approach the scandal differently for a change - when Castafiore has been framed, Haddock is the1who wants to charge into battle while Tintin wants nothing to do with the whole stinky business. The setting changes to Central America, however before long Tintin is there and we get a crazy pyramid adventure, more amnesia, a walk through the jungle, and crazy drunk revolutionaries. What is the world coming to!!?!! Of course, no Broken Ear reunion can be complete without anthropologist Ridgewell, whose jungle village is also having problems with too much free jungle whiskey. Again, the "local" lingo is a strangely masked phonetic version of cockney English - just read it aloud to see how far English spelling is from the literal sounds. Since we're in the jungle, there is plenty of mucking about with crazed wildlife, such as alligators, anaconda and an electric eel (last seen in Tintin in the Congo), which our hero saintily returns to the pond (he's quite different lad from the big game hunter in Tintin in the Congo, where he massacred a tribe of antelope and assassinated chimpanzees). And when things settle in the jungle, what else could possibly happen than Jolyon Wagg, an associate from Marlinspike, entering the scene, a coincedence that helps our heroes win the day. And why not - coincedences are what this is all about anyway!!!! And what a wonderful grand finale - Thompson and Thomson are to be executed, only to be saved by a floating head and some gunmen ('70s hallucinatory imagery, of course), with lots of "HEY NONNY NO, HEY NONNY NO."
Unusually, Tintin appears in this book with full pants, not the knee-length leggings we've seen in practically e frame he's been in (except for when he's in costume, such as in The Blue Lotus, The Black Island or Explorers On The Moon). I guess this would have been a new look for Tintin had Herge lived long enough to give us a few more adventures.
Fantastic comedy on page 47-48, when Bianca Castafiore is on trial with Thomson and Thompson. The kangaroo court is absurd, as is Castafiore's howling of "MY BEAUTY PAST COMPARE", which blasts the local transmitting station into submission!! And then there is the exchange of Thompson and Thomson when they think that their final hour has approached: "Can you perhaps think of some famous last words?" "Er... What about `Kiss me Thompson"... Will that do?" Absurd. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Coup and Countercoup...
Comments: 1976's "Tintin and the Picaros" was Belgian artist Herge's last finished adventure story starring his famous cartoon character Tintin, a young journalist. This adventure is notable in bringing together many of the recurring characters of the Tintin series, and in finally getting Tintin into conventional long pants.
As the story opens, Tintin and his seafaring friend Captain Haddock are shocked to find that Bianca Castafiore, the prima dona opera singer of earlier adventures, has been arrested in the Latin American country of San Theodoros. Shortly thereafter, Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus are publicly accused of conspiring with Castafiore against General Tapioca, the current San Theodoros dictator. The3are invited by General Tapioca to come to San Theodoros to clear their names.
Thus begins a exciting story of plot and counterplot. Tintin and his friends will discover that an old enemy from "The Calculus Affair" is behind the machinations in San Theodoros, where a deadly trap has been set for them. Escaping the trap, and rescuing Castafiore, will require the assistance of another old friend from "The7Crystal Balls." An amusing subplot finds Captain Haddock mysteriously unable to consume his favorite whiskey.
"Tintin and the Picaros" features the distincive artwork and adventurous detailed story for which Herge was rightly famous. This book is highly endorseed to Tintin fans of all ages. |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: Tintin's last adventure is a fine one
Comments: Tintin's last album (not considering the unfinished Tintin and the Alph-Art) is not among the best of the books however it still remains a great addition to the series. Published in 1976, it took Herge alalmost all10years to finish it; though he was only in his sixties at the time, he was probably tired of the character he has been involved with for half a century. The plot is fine: In San Theodoros, General Tapioca has overthrown once again General Alcazar, who has flown to the jungle with his Picaros. Tapioca is secretly advised by Colonel Sponz (of the Calculus Affair) who wants to take revenge from Tintin, Haddock and Calculus. He 1st arrests Bianca Castafiore (who was in a tour there) and then the Thompson Twins, hoping to lure the trio to South America. Tintin is hesitant, smelling a trap, however soon his desire to save his friends prevails. After an official welcome that is clearly a trap, Tintin, Haddock and Calculus barely escapes to the jungle, where they find Alcazar's Picaros done in by their drunkenness. Nevertheless, Calculus and Tintin figure out a plan to reverse Alcazar's fortunes (and save Castafiore and the twins). Many more things happen, and it is suggested that Haddock (whose name is revealed to be Archibald for the 1st time) might be cured of his drunkenness. At any case, this is the only album in which you see Tintin wearing blue jeans (instead of the golf trousers he sported in many of his early albums). |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: The end of the road.
Comments: Herge, Tintin and the Picaros (Methuen, 1973)
Tintin and the Picaros, the final Tintin adventure, has the boys headed for South America to see their old friend Alcazar, whose rebel band are finally getting ready for1last push against General Tapoca, who usurped Alcazar's power early on in the series. Alcazar, while always an ally, was never exactly1of the great guys, and Herge plays that up here (especially on the volume's last page, which given the few pages before it presents itself as a knife-twist). however that doesn't stop eone from having a blast putting him back in power. Another fine Tintin adventure. **** |
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