The Red Sea Sharks

My two grandson's, ages 7 & 9, simply adore Tin Tin. It's rewarding to know that they have books they can read over and over and never tire of them. This was the last book they needed to finish their collection, and they were extremely pleased that "Santa" brought it this year.

Tintin is one of the most famous comic book characters in the world. Unfortunately he is not as well known in the U.S. Hopefully I can help change that. The Tintin albums were created by the Belgian comics writer and artist Georges Prosper Remi under the pen name Hergé. His first Tintin album "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" appeared in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième on January 10, 1929 and his last completed album was "Tintin and the Picaros" in 1975/1976. The Tintin albums are primarily for children but they are written so that adults also greatly enjoy them. Tintin is a Belgian investigative journalist who gets drawn into all kinds of dangerous and eventful adventures around the world. Already in the very first album "Tintin in the Soviets" he is aided by his talking dog, a fox terrier called Snowy. In Swedish and in French Snowy is called Milou. In "The Crab with the Golden Claws" he meets the grumpy but hilarious Captain Haddock. A lot of the best comic situations arise from Captain Haddock's bad temper in combination with his bad luck and above all his creative use of words. As a sailor Captain Haddock is expected to swear a lot but all swear words have been replaced by expressions like "billions of blue blistering barnacles", "you Mameluke", "Macrocepahlic Baboon", "odd-toed ungulate", "and troglodyte "," Pithecantrophus", but never real swear words. Another source of many comic situations is the genial but hearing-impaired Professor Cuthbert Calculus (Kalkyl in Swedish, Tournesol in French). Other prominent supporting characters are the incompetent twin detectives Thomson and Thompson (Dupond and Dupont), and the constantly joking and laughing but irritating insurance salesman Jolyon Wagg. In this album from 1958 Tintin and Captain Haddock unexpectedly meets an old friend of Tintin, the former dictator from South America, General Alcazar. It turns out that General Alcazar is trying to purchase weapons from a shady arms dealer who is also illegally selling arms to two fighting parties in the Middle East. The son of the emir Ben Khalish Ezab (one of the fighting parties) the rambunctious Abdullah is staying with Captain Haddock (and Tintin) and is playing all kinds of tricks on everyone. To get away from this Arab Dennis the Menace and all his pranks they go see the emir himself and end up getting deeply involved in an incredible adventure. They also stumble upon an organization that is selling African slaves (slavery still existed in the Middle East and Africa in 1958). A lot of old crooks and friends from other books show up here, including Captain Allan, Rastapopolous, and the lovely but highly irritating Prima Donna and opera singer Bianca Castafiore. This album is fast paced, action packed and very exciting and quiet interesting. It is difficult to put the book down even for an adult. The humor is superb and there are laugh out loud moments on almost every page. It is my experience that American kids will love the Tintin album

After a strange encounter with General Alcazar of San Theodoros, and then getting home to see that Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, has sent his thoroughly obnoxious son, Prince Abdullah, to stay at Marlinspike, the Emir is deposed by the evil Revolutionary thug, Sheik Bab El Er.Tintin and the Captain fly to Khemed, to try to get to the bottom of an illegal arms buying racket and if they can, to help their friend, the Emir.There they take a boat to Mecca , where they must battle several enemies , in a high adventure on the Red Sea. Before the adventure is through , they will break a slave smuggling ring and ensure the defeat of several villains.The issue of slave trade by Arabs , of Africans , was not only still going on when this book was written in 1958 , but is still endemic today , in places such as the Sudan.These adventures are always full, of life and colour.

This is Herge in the 1950s, his art having reached a fully mature style. There's just something so open and exciting about this book -- the exotic locale, the breathless adventure and palpable danger, the complex political scenario. First-rate stuff, marred, alas, by a patronizing portrayal of black Muslims being sold into slavery. It's racist, but at any rate considerably less so than "Tintin in the Congo."