What Is The Reading Order For The Adventures Of Tintin?

I've been chasing old comic strips in flea markets for years, and the origin story of 'The Adventures of Tintin' always makes me grin. The very first Tintin episode, titled 'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets' ('Tintin au pays des Soviets'), was serialized in 1929 — it debuted in the children's weekly supplement of the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle on January 10, 1929. Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, was only in his early twenties at the time, and that rough, energetic early work launched a series that would grow into a worldwide phenomenon. If you pick up a complete collection today you'll see how the style and storytelling evolved: that initial 1929 story was later collected into book form (around 1930), and over the decades Hergé produced a total of 24 completed albums, with one well-known unfinished manuscript left after he stopped. So when people ask when Tintin was first published, the clear date to remember is 1929 for the serialized debut, with album collections following soon after. I love tracing those first strips because they still feel like a young creator testing boundaries — and it's a thrill to see how those experiments became the polished globe-trotting adventures so many of us grew up with.

Some afternoons I still picture myself sprawled on the carpet with a battered copy of 'The Adventures of Tintin', and the cast was what hooked me: Tintin himself (that intrepid young reporter), Snowy — his loyal fox terrier — and Captain Haddock, who stole so many scenes with his colorful curses. They form the core trio you always come back to: Tintin driving the plot, Snowy providing comic relief and canine bravery, and Haddock bringing heart, booze-fueled rants, and surprisingly tender loyalty. Beyond them, Hergé built an unforgettable supporting crew. There’s Professor Cuthbert Calculus, the slightly deaf inventor whose experiments spark whole plotlines; the bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson (those identical-looking twin-ish policemen); Bianca Castafiore, the booming opera diva who shows up to wreak gentle havoc; and Nestor, the ever-patient butler at Marlinspike Hall. Then you have beloved friends and recurring figures like Chang (Tintin’s sincere friend from 'The Blue Lotus') and antagonists such as the scheming Rastapopoulos. The world around Tintin is packed with generals, crooked businessmen, diplomats, and oddball locals who pop up across albums — from palace intrigues to treasure hunts in 'The Secret of the Unicorn' and 'Red Rackham's Treasure'. If you want a compact checklist to start with: Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Thomson and Thompson, Bianca Castafiore, Nestor, Chang, and major recurring villains like Rastapopoulos. Each character brings a different flavor — comedy, pathos, mystery — and part of the joy is watching how Hergé uses them to flip the tone from slapstick to heartfelt adventure. Whenever I reread, I notice a new little detail and it still feels like meeting old friends.

I still get a little giddy thinking about hunting down old copies of 'The Adventures of Tintin'—it’s one of those rabbit holes that starts with a casual browse and ends with a crate of comics in the trunk of your car. If you want rare editions, start with specialist auction houses and antiquarian bookshops: Christie's, Sotheby's, and smaller houses like Artcurial in Paris often list first printings, signed copies, or original plates. Online auction platforms such as Catawiki and live auction listings are great for spotting scarce lots and seeing realized prices so you learn the market. For everyday digging, use AbeBooks, Biblio, and the rare-books sections of eBay with very specific search terms—look for 'première édition', '1re éd.', or original publisher names like Casterman. Don’t forget regional markets: French- and Dutch-language first printings are where the true rarities live, and Brussels or Paris bookstalls sometimes hide treasures. Also check specialist comic dealers and shops that handle bande dessinée in cities that love comics—those places often have curated, well-preserved copies. Practical tips from my own small scores: always ask for clear photos of covers, spine, and the gutters (restoration is a big issue). Confirm whether it’s a first printing or a later reprint—facsimile editions can look tempting but are common. For ultra-rare items, provenance and a certificate of authenticity matter; for original Hergé pages, auction houses and galleries are the safer route. Lastly, be patient: I once stalked a listing for months and finally snagged a nicer-than-advertised copy after the seller got tired of it. It’s part luck, part persistence, and totally worth it if you love the charm and history in each page.

I've spent more evenings than I care to admit curled up with a Tintin book and a mug of tea, and for me the best English version of 'The Adventures of Tintin' is the one that stays truest to Hergé's originals—both in text and in artwork. What I look for is a translation that keeps the precise jokes, the period flavor, and the pacing intact, while making the dialogue natural in English. That means avoiding versions that over-Anglicize names or smooth out Hergé's biting satire. When a translation respects the panels, the captions, and the little visual gags, the books read like a fresh classic rather than an awkward relic. I also love editions that include contextual notes or short essays about when the story was made and why certain scenes feel dated now. For example, seeing historical context beside a story like 'Tintin in the Congo' helps me appreciate the art while understanding its problematic parts. If you want my pragmatic tip: hunt for editions that advertise being carefully revised or restored—those editions tend to preserve wordplay and visual detail better, and they read beautifully whether you're new to Tintin or like me and keep coming back for the composition and humor. If you're collecting, try to pair a faithful English translation with scans or photos of the original French pages now and then. It’s a small ritual that makes me feel closer to how Hergé worked—like peeking into his sketchbook while still enjoying a clean, readable English script.

I still get a little thrill thinking about the fragments Hergé left behind. One of the clearest examples is the famous 'Tintin and Alph-Art' — the book that everyone talks about when they ask if there are unfinished Tintin adventures. Hergé died in 1983 with only rough layouts, pencilled pages, and notes for that story. Casterman later published a volume showing those sketches and jottings, so you can actually flip through his thought process: page after page of thumbnails, dialog scraps, and experimental compositions. It’s fascinating and a little bittersweet to see a master at work without the final polish. Beyond 'Alph-Art' there aren’t many full lost books waiting in a trunk, but Hergé’s notebooks are full of abandoned ideas, background research and short gag strips he never developed into full albums. If you dig into biographies or the published notebooks you’ll find hints of plots, characters, or places that he considered and then shelved. Fans with a taste for “what might have been” have also tried to reconstruct endings — most famously Yves Rodier’s completion attempts and a few other pastiches that circulate among collectors. The estate is protective, so official continuations never happened: instead we get those rough, raw glimpses of Hergé’s creative process, which I think are lovely in their own strange way.

There’s something about that kinetic opening sequence in 'The Adventures of Tintin' that made me grin like a kid — Spielberg nails the spirit even if he rearranges the furniture. The movie is not a panel-by-panel recreation of Hergé’s work; instead it’s a mash-up that takes most of its plot from 'The Secret of the Unicorn' and 'Red Rackham's Treasure', with a healthy dose of action and character beats borrowed from 'The Crab with the Golden Claws'. If you care about strict fidelity, you’ll spot plenty of changes: scenes are condensed, motivations are sharpened for cinematic clarity, and some of the comics’ slower detective moments are swapped out for chases and set pieces. Visually, though, it’s incredibly faithful. The film’s motion-capture models echo Hergé’s ligne claire aesthetic — faces, proportions, and the clean framing echo the comics in a way that made me go back to the books just to compare layouts. Character traits are mostly intact: Tintin’s curiosity, Haddock’s bluster (with the alcoholism toned down a touch), and the bumbling twins provide the comic relief. Snowy, however, loses a lot of his inner voice and comic timing from the page. Overall I’d call it faithful to the spirit and look of the comics, less slavish to every plot beat. If you love the books, the film feels like a love letter that also wants to be a summer-adventure blockbuster — so expect thrills, some invented connective tissue, and a visual palette that will make you want to reread 'Red Rackham's Treasure' immediately.

I've spent more weekends than I care to admit scrolling auction catalogs and stalking gallery newsletters for original pages from 'The Adventures of Tintin', so I can talk about what really lights collectors' wallets on fire. The pieces that consistently sell highest are iconic cover pages and dramatic double-page spreads — think the splashy visuals an album uses to sell itself. When Tintin, Captain Haddock, Snowy or a dramatic shipwreck or plane crash occupies a full page or two, collectors pay a premium because those pages carry immediate recognizability and visual impact. Early black-and-white pages from the 1930s and 1940s are also insanely desirable because of their rarity and because Hergé’s personal hand is more obvious there. Provenance and condition matter as much as subject. A signed page, a sheet with Hergé's corrections or annotations, or something that can be traced back to a prominent collection will jump in value. Auction houses in Paris and Brussels often handle the top sales, and we've seen prices climb into the high six-figures or even seven-figure range for truly rare covers or complete, pristine double spreads. Conversely, studio-produced or heavily restored pages usually fetch less. If you’re shopping, prioritize plates with original gouache/ink intact, clear margins (no cropping), and solid documentation — those are the features that separate a pretty piece from a market-topping one. I still get a little thrill every time a catalog photo shows that unmistakable Hergé linework, like seeing an old friend in a crowd.

I've always loved how a simple map in a comic can make a whole world suddenly feel real, and Hergé was a master at that. When I first dug into the making of 'The Adventures of Tintin' maps while reorganizing my bookshelf over coffee, I was struck by how methodical he was. He didn't just draw decorative bits — he researched, sketched, and revised until the geography served the story. For real places he relied on photos, travel guides, postcards and eyewitness sketches; for fictional countries like Syldavia and Borduria he invented plausible coastlines, towns, and borders so the maps could be treated like legitimate props in the plot. Technically he worked very much by hand: pencil roughs, careful ink lines, and then the clear-line finishing that makes everything legible. In later years his studio helped polish and sometimes redraw maps — Bob de Moor and other collaborators refined backgrounds and cartographic details under Hergé’s supervision. You can see this evolution if you compare the early black-and-white pages with later color editions; Hergé revised 'The Black Island' for a more accurate Scottish setting, for example. That search for authenticity, mixed with a storyteller’s touch, is why his maps still feel convincing on my wall and in my head.