Secret Lives: Herge

(May 22, 1907 – March 3, 1983)

The truth about Tintin

DO YOU feel you can never have enough of Tintin? Do you wish you were in  Snowy’s place, so that you could share every single adventure with the young Belgian reporter and globetrotter?

Did you know that when Belgium minted a limited edition of 50,000 silver 10 euro coins to mark Tintin’s 75^th birthday in January 2004, it was sold out within hours? The Royal Dutch Post’s release of Tintin stamps on October 8, 1999, vanished just as quickly.

But who created Tintin? What was special about the Belgian artist Herge, the brain behind your favourite comic book, which has sold over 200 million copies in 50-plus languages?

Herge’s real name, I must confide, was Georges Prosper Remi. Just look at his pseudonym hard. It is made up of his initials in reverse ~ or R.G., instead of G.R.! Clever, right?

Born on May 22, 1907, in Belgium, he is considered the best ever European comic book artist. He is known for his clear line style, which others often aped.

You’d never guess, would you, that Tintin had his beginnings in Herge’s early experiences as a Catholic and a boy scout? The character grew out of Totor, whom the artist invented for the scouting magazine, Le Boy Scout Belge!

It was on Jan. 10, 1929, that the character in tan pants first went into print as ‘Tintin au pays de Soviets’ (yes, in French!) in The Petit Vingtieme, the youth supplement of a Belgian daily. Like you, European readers soon grew addicted to him

Oddly enough, Herge has created other comic characters, including Quick et Flupke and Jo, Zette et Jocko. But Tintin is the one his fans know him by best. During  World War II, Herge found himself in trouble because his political views differed from those in power in Europe. So, he had to continue Tintin in Le Soir, a magazine that the Germans supervised.

What was wrong in the political sense with Tintin, Calculus, Haddock, Thomson and Thompson? To begin with, Herge was said to be a racist. Some felt his non-European characters were caricatures. But beginning with ‘The Blue Lotus’ (1934), which was set in China, Herge began to research his themes deeply, thus clearing some myths about the Chinese. Similarly, ‘Tintin in America’ (1932) ran into such deep trouble that Herge had to re-colour some black characters white!

By the time Herge died in 1983, Tintin was a household word. By then, his studio had trained artists like Bob de Moor, Jacques Martin, Roger Leloup and Edgar P. Jacobs, each of whom launched their own comic series.     

Herge, who was a workaholic, created 24 Tintin books, which inspired five films. Since the 1980s, Steven Spielberg has owned the rights to produce a trilogy of live action Tintin films. Finally, in 2011, the first of the films on Tintin appeared on screen.