Herge

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.

In Tintin in America (1932), Tintin confirms his reputation as a righter of wrongs. He faces Al Capone and his gang as well as all sorts of other villains. Hergé shows his generous vision of the world as he offers a very well documented depiction of the sad plight of the Native Americans. Tintin's fame extends beyond the Atlantic Ocean, so, when he arrives in Chicago in the middle of Prohibition, all the gangsters in the city have gathered to make sure that he gets the most uncomfortable reception. Tintin will need to use all his determination and intelligence to survive! Tintin in America is the highest-selling Tintin title of all time. It is the clear winner ahead of Tintin in the Congo and Explorers on the Moon, which come in second and third places respectively.

In Cigars of the Pharaoh (1934), Tintin finds himself entangled in a drug trafficking ring that will take him all the way to India. In the meantime, he meets Thomson and Thompson, two clumsy policemen whose role will progressively become more important throughout the series. Tintin, fighting against the drug traffickers of Egypt and India, meets with a few characters he will encounter again soon, Villains such as Allan Thomson or the mysterious Rastapopoulos as well as some of his future companions like Senor Oliveira.

On his return from South America, Tintin embarks on an exciting British adventure, full of unexpected surprises. Tintin clashes with the villainous Dr. Müller for the first, but not the last time. Müller is the mastermind behind a vast European counterfeiting operation. After numerous incidents, Tintin succeeds in breaking up this criminal network.

Created in 1939, this book is most impressive and has its sights on Germany. Tintin finds a brief-case on a park bench and this leads him to Prague, then to Syldavia. He will save the Kingdom from being overthrown by a fascist "coup d'état".

This story was first published in French in 1941 and returns to the theme of an exotic adventure. Tintin sets off for North Africa. He thwarts a scheme thought-up by a gang of criminals who have hidden opium in tins of crab-meat. Thanks to this adventure, Tintin meets Haddock who will become his side-kick in the future.

On board a polar vessel with Captain Haddock at the helm, Tintin and a team of European scientists sail to the Arctic Ocean where an aerolite made of an unknown metal crashed. But soon they find out that another ship is sailing toward the strange meteorite and their expedition turns then into a true race.

The Calculus Affair (1956) or “how scientific inventions can serve humanity without being coveted by military powers”, in the tense climate of the Cold War. This new adventure takes Tintin back to Syldavia and Borduria. After inventing an ultrasound machine, Professor Calculus is kidnapped. Jolyon Wagg, an insurance sales rep, makes his entrance in this story, and will prove to be a constant nuisance. A thrilling chase, surprises, old friends getting back together, headlong fights... all this for a stake in what seems to be limited to an ordinary umbrella. This is probably the most “detective-like” story.

Captain Haddock simply cannot believe it, but human trafficking really is still going on, even in the twentieth century (and today in the twenty-first century). The Red Sea Sharks lifts the veil on the scandal of the modern day slave trade. Herge stayed abreast of current affairs, and as was his style, for this story he wove real-life news into action-packed adventure.