Bianca Castafiore – The Opera Diva from the Tintin Comic Adventures
Bianca Castafiore first appears in the King Ottokar’s Sceptre and was to make an appearance in several of the Adventures of Tintin albums written and illustrated by Herge. Bianca Castafiore character is a Milanese opera singer and her disposition is definitely one of an opera diva.
Herge the creator of Tintin was not a big fan of opera and the creation of Bianca Castafiore was considered by many to be an acknowledgment of that fact.
Castafiore is presented as being one of the leading lights in of opera of her generation but in all her appearances in the albums is only heard to sing a couple of lines form The Jewel Song (l’ air des bijoux) from Faust and then only at deafening volumes “Ah my beauty past compare, these jewels bright I wear!…Was I ever Margarita? Is it I? Come reply…Mirror mirror tell me truly!” It was fair to say that Castafiore was not universally liked by all of the Tintin gang.
Captain Haddock in particular isn’t a big Castafiore fan and at one point she even calls him a “scruffy little school boy”. She shows a maternal instinct for Haddock which he truly hates and when he is later linked romantically to Bianca Castafiore by a newspaper reporter he is revealed by Herge as a very unhappy character indeed.
Captain Haddock’s is further annoyed by the fact that the signora can never get his name right (see the end of the post for details) and when she ever shows signs of affection for Captain through gifts the results are always calamitous.
Bianca Castafiore (her name means “chaste flower”) ends up captured along with her entourage (her maid Irma, her musician Igor Wagner and the detectives Thompson and Thompson) in the album Tintin and the Picaros by General Tapioca on the advice of Colonel Sponsz. The general and colonel’s aim being to lure Captain Haddock, Tintin and Professor Calculus to San Theodoros where they are then accused of conspiring with Castafiore to assassinate and overthrow General Tapioca. Then however through an unseen chain of events General Tapioca is overthrown with the help of the accused.
This doesn’t help Castafiore as she is unfortunately still imprisoned and is seen to complain of over cooked pasta. Bianca Castafiore is one of the best loved characters in the Tintin adventure comics and it will be very interesting to see which lucky actress will get to play her in the upcoming Tintin movie to be directed by Spielberg and Jackson.
Holly Franklin has been a fan of Tintin since she was a kid and she contributes to a website dedicated to bringing you the latest news of the upcoming Tintin movie at:-
http://www.letintinmovie.com
Captain Haddock – The Rougue Sea Captain Created By Georges Herge
Captain Haddock is one of the characters created by Herge the man behind Tintin. The Adventures of Tintin are now some of the well known comic albums in history. Tintin has been able to shift over 200 millions books over his life time. Captain Haddock was introduced to the world in The Crab with the Golden Claws and was depicted as a feeble character who indulged too much in the drink. Captain Haddock’s drink of choice was Loch Lomond brand whisky which he drank in copious amounts.
In the Crab with the Golden Claws; Captain Haddock is Commander of the Karaboudjan where he seems almost as dangerous to Tintin as the enemies the Walloon reporter is chasing. There is one sequence in which believing Tintin to be a bottle of champagne he tries to rip the poor boys head off. In this same album Captain Haddock proves to be a short-tempered and wildly erratic and often prone to expletive outbursts.
Herge though then slowly develops the character through out the album. He is shown to be deep down an honest and decent man and with the aid of Tintin finally becomes a sober chap. The Captain and Tintin are seen to be firm friends by the end of The Crab with the Golden Claw.
The introduction of Captain Haddock was to bring about a change in the way Herge worked. He now allowed Captain Haddock to become a balance for Tintin in later albums. Previously Herge supporting characters would not appear regularly but were used for back story an only with in one album. Captain Haddock though was a perfect foil for Tintin with his gruff manor and sarcastic view of life proving a great balance to the naive heroism of Tintin.
Snowy; Tintin’s dog had previously been Tintin’s main counterpoint but now his trusted wire fox terrier took on a lighter more humorous role and in some albums can even be seen to be drunk. Captain Haddock soon became a firm Tintin fan favourite.
Herge gave Captain Haddock a lot of facial expression when compared to many of the characters in Tintin and even Tintin himself who had few facial characteristics. In some frames you can see Captain Haddock’s face contorted with contempt or anger.
Captain Haddock from his humble creation becomes a heroic figure in the Tintin Adventures with Haddock actually offering up his life to save his pal in Tintin in Tibet. He is later seen as a retired captain in following albums and starts to take on even more central roles.
Herge built a back story around Captain Haddock and give him a family home called Marlinspike Hall and even introduces relatives and ancestors of Haddock in these adventures (e.g. Sir Francis is a Captain in King Charles II’s Navy, the Commander of Unicorn, and Captain Archibald Haddock’s ancestor).
Captain Haddock takes a serious role in The Shooting Star, where he is shown to be the President of the Society of Sober Sailors. His presence is futher felt in Th Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s treasure. Herge by the time of his last completed album Tintin and the Picaros gives Captin Haddock the central role in the first half of the album. Herge was very fond of the character at the end of his life.
Holly Franklin has been a fan of Tintin since she was a kid and she contributes to a website dedicated to bringing you the latest news of the upcoming Tintin movie at:-
http://www.letintinmovie.com
FAQ – Who Created Tintin? Herge The Early Years
The upcoming Tintin movie trilogy has heightened interest in all things Tintin. Herge the creator of the well known comic character Tintin will once again be in the mainstream consciousness. Herge was the pen name of Georges Prosper Remi who was both writer and illustrator of all 23 Tintin albums dying before he could finish the 24th Tintin and the Alpha-Art.
Georges Prosper Remi was born in Etterbeek in Belgium in 1907 and was to become the father of the ligne claire style of illustration that was to influence artists such as Warhol. Remi was a keen sketcher from an early age and his primary school books were filled with doodles of the invading Nazi regime who occupied Belgium during the First World War. Remi was a natural and throughout his life had no real formal training apart from a few lessons taken at l’ecole Saint-Luc during his teenage years.
On reaching the age of 13 Remi studied at the college Saint-Boniface being taught by Catholic priests and joining the Boy Scout troop of the school. He was to be given the moniker “Renard curieux” (Curios fox). It was where Remi was to initially experience his illustrations being published firstly in Jamais assez, the school scout paper and then later to a bigger audience in Le Boy-Scout Belge, the scout monthly magazine where the pseudonym Herge first appears.
It is within this environment that many believe heavily influenced Remi’s work and especially the character that became Tintin. It is clear that the ethics of the scout movement and the traveling Remi did with his group make up a great part of Tintin’s spirit.
In 1925 Herge went to work for Le Petit Vingteme a Catholic newspaper edited by an abbot Norbert Wallez. Herge was to publish his first cartoon series the following year, The Adventures of Tortor again in Le Boy-Scout Belge. It wasn’t until 1928 when Herge was put in charge of producing material for the children supplement of Le Petit Vingtieme that Herge really came into his own.
Herge began illustrating the adventures of Flup, Nenesse, Pousette and Cochonnet written by a member of the sports staff. Fortunately for the rest of the world Herge wasn’t particularly enamored by this chain of events. It led to Wallez asking Herge to create a young hero that would fight good all over the world and be a reporter to boot. Herge filled with brio created a comic strip of his own influenced by the American innovation of using speech bubbles to depict the words coming out of the characters mouths.
Herge created the now legendary Tintin in the Land of the Soviets that appeared in Le Petit Vingtieme in January 1929 and ran until may 1930. The strip was a wonderful adventure through the Soviet Union, the young reporter Tintin with his trusty fox terrier Snowy. The character of Tintin is also said to be inspired partly by Remi’s brother Paul who was an officer n the Belgium Army. Tintin was a popular stip from day one. Remi was to produce other comic strips such as Quick and Flupke but Tintin was the one character that was to make him.
In June 1930 Tintin began his second adventure, Tintin in the Congo (which was at the time a Belgian colony) to be followed by Tintin in America and the Cigars of the Pharaoh.
The first Tintin adventures would take about a year to complete and then would be released by the Casterman publishing house. Herge would continue to revise the adventure in subsequent editions, including later turning them into colour. These early works were also to age quickly as the century moved at break net pace with Tintin in the Congo having to be revised due to the fact Tintin in the original tale is seen giving a lesson to native students in a missionary school and proclaims “My dear friends, today I am going to talk about your country: Belgium” that was later edited into a math lesson.
Herge soon began to learn some of life truths as he got older and there is definite water shed in his work around the time of his 30th birthday when he introduced Tintin and The Blue Lotus to the world. It can be seen as the start of a new era in the life and works of Herge.
Holly Franklin has been a fan of Tintin since she was a kid and she contributes to a website dedicated to bringing you the latest news of the upcoming Tintin movie at:-
http://www.letintinmovie.com
Thomson and Thompson the Bumbling Detectives From Tintin
Thomson and Thompson are two of the best loved characters in the Adventures of Tintin. Thomson and Thompson first featured in Cigars of the Pharaoh where they arrest Tintin and Snowy as they are enjoying a holiday cruise. In their first outing they prove to be highly efficient characters using a cunning not seen in later albums they appear in. They save Tintin from a firing squad using a disguise that even fools Tintin.
Thomson and Thompson still cause much debate over whether they are twins or not despite their names being different. In Tintin and the Broken Ear Herge uses “Dupont” twice for the two characters. The common consensus is that they are not twins even though Snowy thinks they are in Destination Moon (pg 18; last frame) Snowy says “This is it! … Sensational appearance of the Thomson twins!” To add to the confusion both characters claim to have worn the same mustaches since they were born.
It is the mustaches of Thomson and Thompson that allow the reader to differ between the two. Thomson sports a pointed mustache; his colleague Thompson sports a straight mustache (e.g. Land of Black Gold, p2, frames 6, 7, and p9, frame 6, and p33, frame 11).
One of the main reasons that the pair is so popular is that they provide a lot of the comic relief in the albums when they appear in. They are the bumbling detectives that spend much of their time chasing the wrong suspects throughout the story lines (they pursue Tintin in Land of Black Gold for crimes he didn’t commit) and are afflicted with spoonerism. They are always seen to be clumsy and bumble their way through each adventure and in spite of this always seem to be sent on important missions or given extra special tasks to perform such as guaranteeing security for the Syldavian space project.
The detective with the flared mustache is Thomson (without ‘p’), who often describes himself as “Thomson, without a ‘p’, as in Venezuela. The detective with the flat mustache has described himself as “Thompson with a ‘P’, as in…” and then used words with either a silent ‘P,’ or in which the ‘P’ is combined with another letter, as to change the sound, such as Philadelphia, psychology and so on.
Thomson and Thompson are easily familiar with everyone as they are most often seen in their bowler hats and carrying walking sticks. They though always cause amusement when they go abroad as they change into costumes that they believe make them fit in the locals but in actuality are so poorly chosen they stick out like sore thumbs.
Herge based Thomson and Thompson on his uncles who were twins that wore bowler matching bowler hats. Herge then also drew further inspiration for the detectives from two mustachioed, bowler hated and formally dressed detectives in Le Miroir who were seen escorting a criminal in the picture. One was handcuffed to the criminal while the other was holding their two umbrellas.
Holly Franklin has been a fan of Tintin since she was a kid and she contributes to a website dedicated to bringing you the latest news of the upcoming Tintin movie at:-
http://www.letintinmovie.com