#Tintin

A passenger plane travelling to Europe, crashes into the Himalayas. It turns out that Tintin's young Chinese friend Chang was on board the aircraft. Tintin in Tibet (1960) is a story of pure friendship, without any of the usual villains: a tale of Tintin's desperate search to find his friend. The unusual narrative, which is much more introverted than those of other books in the Tintin series, tells the story that faith and hope are able to conquer all obstacles, and that pre-conceived judgements of others – in this case in regard to the yeti – are the fruit of ignorance.

Destination Moon (1953) gives a detailed account on the preparation and the launching of the expedition to the Moon for which Professor Calculus has chosen Syldavian soil. The red-and-white chequered pattern on Hergé's rocket was based on a technique used to measure movements in a rocket during launching, developed by NASA. The pattern made it easier to observe rolling and spinning in a rocket at take-off.

On 9 May 1940, the invasion of Belgium during World War II brutally interrupted the publication of Land of Black Gold. Tintin's universe was still young: Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and Marlinspike Hall did not yet exist. Eight years later the adventure was re-started in Tintin magazine; with a couple of nifty tweaks, Hergé integrated into the story the new characters who had come along in the meantime. In 1950 the adventure was published as a book, and as the years went by and the world changed, a slightly updated version was released in 1971.

This adventure was the first story published in TINTIN magazine when it was launched on 26th September 1946, and heralded the opportunity for the continuation of an adventure which had been interrupted two years earlier. Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock fly to Peru in search of Professor Calculus, who has involuntarily committed sacrilege, and has been condemned to suffer the ultimate punishment.

The Broken Ear (1937) is the story of a thrilling pursuit. Tintin sets off to South America to retrieve a stolen fetish. There, all sorts of interests are in conflict: military, economic and the war of the Gran Chaco which had been opposing Bolivia and Paraguay for the past three years. A small Arumbaya statue has been stolen in a museum, then returned. One little detail though will tell Tintin that instead of the original, a mere replica was returned. There must be a secret hiding behind this small statue since its robbery was carefully concealed. This is in South America that Tintin will find the key to this enigma.

The tale unfolds in China, a place as yet unknown and mysterious to Tintin. It looks like our hero may have bitten off more than he can chew as he takes on the task of wiping out the international opium trade, which has a vice-like grip on this beautiful country. With the assistance of the secret society Sons of the Dragon, and his friend Chang (whom he encounters later on in the story), Tintin succeeds in overcoming myriad obstacles to finally triumph over his adversaries and disband their network of corruption.

Red Rackham's Treasure (1944), sequel to The Secret of the Unicorn (1943), Tintin and the Thom(p)sons accompany Captain Haddock on a journey in the footsteps of the Captain's illustrious ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock. The parchments discovered in the previous adventure are in fact a treasure map pointing the way to the hidden gold and jewels of a notorious pirate, Red Rackham. A new character, named Professor Cuthbert Calculus, will prove invaluable in the search for the lost treasure; by the end of the adventure Calculus will also help Captain Haddock to acquire his family's ancestral home, Marlinspike Hall. This story is full of twists, turns and surprises, not least the moment when Professor Calculus demonstrates a new type of machine for underwater exploration...

While looking through an old sea-chest found in his attic, Captain Haddock chances upon the diaries of his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock. This legendary sea dog achieved fame through his renowned run-in with the fearsome pirate Red Rackham. So are the words of Sir Francis Haddock just another chronicle of life at sea? Certainly not! His journals speak of a fabulous hoard of jewels: for Tintin, Captain Haddock - and a gang of crooks - the treasure hunt is well and truly on. But as the search continues, the plot thickens...

Flight 714 to Sydney (1968), is the interrupted voyage, the hijacking which will turn everything upside down, Tintin and his friends' foray into the unknown, in a surreal world highlighted with telepathic phenomena. It is also the incredible contact with extra-terrestrials and the emerging from a dream... or is it a dream? Jakarta, the last stop for the Boeing and flight 714 to Sydney.

The Castafiore Emerald is a story in which, essentially, nothing happens. Captain Haddock's mansion, Marlinspike Hall, can be considered a theatre; the characters in the story are the actors in a play. Various outsiders, including a doctor and some gypsies, mingle with the residents.