We had a mobile library (a big van would park up a few streets over every Tuesday) and I have very fond memories of their Tintin books.

There's something about the 'album' format as well, you can fit a lot more on a page.

Should have been made into cartoon series, but seeing how old it is I wonder if it was before its time. It really had an originality unlike anything I've read before or since.

In the EU they brought books that had expired copyright (e.g. in the Uk which used to be life +50) back into copyright. This also did not happen in the US when it extended copyright to life + 70).

The section on Zhang Chongren's wikipedia was cool

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# Influence on Hergé

Hergé's early albums of The Adventures of Tintin were highly dependent on stereotypes for comedic effect. These included evil Russian Bolsheviks, lazy and ignorant Africans, and an America of gangsters, cowboys and Indians.

At the close of the newspaper run of Cigars of the Pharaoh, Hergé had mentioned that Tintin's next adventure (The Blue Lotus) would bring him to China. Father Gosset, the chaplain to the Chinese students at the University of Leuven, wrote to Hergé urging him to be sensitive about what he wrote about China. Hergé agreed, and in the spring of 1934 Gosset introduced him to Zhang Chongren. The two young artists quickly became close friends, and Zhang introduced Hergé to Chinese history and culture, and the techniques of Chinese art. Of similar age, they also shared many interests and beliefs. Hergé even promised to give authorship credits to Zhang in the book, but Zhang declined the offer. As a result of this experience, Hergé would strive, in The Blue Lotus and subsequent Tintin adventures, to be meticulously accurate in depicting the places Tintin visited.

As a token of appreciation, Hergé added the character "Chang Chong-Chen" (Tchang in original French-language version) to The Blue Lotus.[1]

As another result of his friendship with Zhang, Hergé became increasingly aware of the problems of colonialism, in particular the Empire of Japan's advances into China, and the corrupt, exploitative International Settlement of Shanghai. The Blue Lotus carries a bold anti-imperialist message, contrary to the prevailing view in Europe, which was sympathetic to Japan and the colonial enterprise[citation needed]. As a result, it drew sharp criticism from various parties, including a protest by Japanese diplomats to the Belgian Foreign Ministry.[citation needed]

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I bought a copy of The Blue Lotus after learning about how the publication of that adventure was a turning point in Hergé's understanding and open-mindedness about other (specifically China, in this case) cultures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Lotus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_Chong-Chen

Most of us will just ignore these parts (nobody's perfect, expecting that from a past author is a high bar, and would have considerably reduced the amount of entertainment available), but I also see an option for us to have alternative versions where those bits are either reworked or removed.

The original would still be there, and there would be a "modernized" version that's easier to digest for the newer generations.

Asterix is more consistent, complex and rewarding for adults. A part of Asterix has dated also because the endless cameos of real people popular in that years don't mean so much for new generations.

Other European comic in the big leagues is the Spanish Mortadelo and Filemon. If Tintin is adventure and Asterix is clever wordplay, Mortadelo embraces directly sadistic fun in its wild own way. If you don't know them still, see the film "Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission implausible" for a good glimpse of that world. You'll thank me later.