The Adventures of Tintin: Volume 6

I grew up reading The Adventures of Tintin and recently purchased this volume for a young cousin in an effort to turn him on to these great stories. I like the new hard cover 3 story format as my old paperback copies have begun to come apart, from repeated reading of course. One thing that I noticed is that unlike the original versions which each had exactly 62 pages, the new format has not preserved this... now I know that's a little nerotic but that's something I always remembered from reading them as a young boy, the fact that each was exactly 62 pages. Herge is a very talented artist and story teller, I would recommend the complete collection to anyone who is looking for a quality adventure story!

I grew up with Tintin books, and my kids are now at an age where they are beyond "See Spot Run" but don't always have the patience for a full-length book. The stories are always great, and the research is meticulous. Most of the story subjects were highly topical at the time, and reading the books regularly provide history refresher. "The Calculus Affair" is a typical cold-war cloak-and-dagger story of espionage and intrigue. How the world has changed, but the Litvinenko Affair is a reminder that the Cold War was a reality not so long ago. "The Red Sea Sharks" deals with gun-running and slavery in the Middle East, a subject that is still topical (as the UN's efforts attest). "Tintin in Tibet" is one of my favourites, a great Tintin story used by Herge to draw attention to Red China's invasion and annexation of Tibet, and the cultural heritage the Communists set about to destroy.

My highest recommendation goes to this volume. Volume 6: The Calculus Affair (1956), The Red Sea Sharks (1958), Tintin in Tibet (1960). This is the sixth instalment of my reviews of each of the seven volumes. Oh, what a trifecta in this volume! Tintin is not so well-known in the USA and the American who might give it a try would do well with this volume. The artwork has become draftsman-like, the lines are clean and brisk, the composition of the panels is endlessly pleasing, and the pace of each adventure always just right. The bottom right panel is the teaser panel, inciting us to turn the page and read on. Bear in mind that before being in book form, these adventures came out two pages at a time in Tintin magazine, with the teaser keeping us in suspense until the following week's edition. "The Calculus Affair" was, for a child, a dauntingly adult-sounding title, and the story a little less accessible than the others. But what a cold war story! - with a plausible scientific gizmo, kidnappings, car chases, an Eastern bloc-style military junta set in fictional Borduria with an iconography based on the régime's founder (just look at the cars' bumpers), and with Tintin's determined aplomb and Haddock's ever-entertaining slapstick, riding a crackling plot from beginning to end. Castafiore earns an added dimension for her character and the insufferable Jolyon Wagg takes his first bows. Regarded by many as the best of the series. The cover of The Red Sea Sharks shows the heroes marooned on a raft in the eponymous setting, seen through a telescope. What brought them there and what lies next is an adventure that involves depth charges, jet attacks, torpedoes, a burning ship, clandestine commerce handled by a villain we've seen before. The French title (Coke en Stock) gives a clue as to what this commerce is, but I won't give it away. A great adventure with a tremendous amount of action and some hilarious moments, showing Hergé's mastery of the visual narrative, but the author's own favourite comes next... Tintin in Tibet. Hergé's personal favourite; the cover shows the explorers confronted with huge humanoid footprints in the Himalayan snows. The teaser is already set for an adventure that shows the deep bond between friends, the loneliness of conviction against all odds, a surreal dream sequence, misunderstanding, Eastern mysticism, and intense solitude. In my review for Volume 4, I said that the Temple of the Sun was a pinnacle in the Tintin series, but this may be THE pinnacle of the whole series. The settings and drawings are positively stunning. I also mentioned elsewhere that Haddock took some of the limelight off Snowy, but in this story, after character parallels are drawn between the two, with some tension, a panel of surpassing sensitivity shows the Captain's deep affection for the dog, after Snowy himself showed the extent of his own devotion to Tintin. Humour is superbly developed, in one notable case around a theme of making faces as a

Two of the three adventures here have their genesis in earlier Tintin adventures. Red Sea Sharks takes Capt Haddock back to a ship, and this time we see his metamorphosis from the drunkard in Tintin and the Golden Crab to a responsible and almost noble person who tries his best (in his inimitable manner) to prevent Africans from being sold in slavery. 'Tintin in Tibet' sees Tintin off to Tibet (obviously), with a short stop in Delhi, to rescue his friend who he first met in 'The Blue Lotus'. We meet the yeti, see the captain's attempts at whistling, Snowy's bravery (unintended, as in The Black Island).I read these adventures as a kid, and some twenty years later I still find myself enjoying these as much. I also enjoy HTML and CSS books now, but some things are too good to grow out of :)A word of warning - try and buy the bigger versions of these adventures. The 3-in-1 format is convenient to be sure, but the big print of the indivudal comics is that much more satisfying!

For reasons unknown, at almost 43 years old, I suddenly had this strange desire to read some of the Tintin stories I read when I was about 12. As a kid I spent countless hours reading Herge's books over and over. If memory serves, I only had 5 or 6 titles, and they were big books with hard covers.This book is a great value since it contains 3 stories. Oh what memories they bring back. If you ever read Tintin as a kid, get some of these books. The only caveat is that the text is hard to read as these collections are smaller in size and both the drawings and text have been shrunk proportionately.And yet another "warning." You may start buying the bigger individual stories once you read one of these. I should know. I am now hooked again and "collecting" all 23 volumes.Thank you, Herge. We miss you.