Tintin Turns Eighty

Where: Brussels, Belgium

January 10, 2009 : Tintin made his first appearance in a Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle (The 20th Century) on January 10, 1929. This comic strip eventually became ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’. There are 24 Tintin comic books in all, translated into more than 60 languages, including English – the originals are all in French! Over 200 million Tintin comic books have been sold worldwide. In an age before there were cartoons on television, these books were simply devoured by generations of readers, who loved to ‘travel’ with their hero. Tintin has a huge fan following even today. You can check out his website, http://www.tintinologist.org/

Tintin is the creation of the Belgian Georges Remi (1907-1983), whose pen name is ‘Herge’. Two well-known twentieth century artists, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, have mentioned Remi as a major influence on their work.

Tintin’s dog Snowy is with him in all the adventures, and his best friend Captain Haddock makes his first appearance in ‘The Crab with the Golden Claws’, the ninth book in the series. Tintin, like most comic book heroes, never ages. Other characters who figure regularly in the series are Prof. Calculus, the bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson, and the opera singer Bianca Castafiore.

210 words | 2 minutes
Readability: Grade 8 (13-14 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: world news
Tags: #tintin

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