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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Comic Books / Film Tintin 101

Posted by Erik Henriksen on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 4:29 PM

Steve's not-entirely-complimentary review of Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin will be up later this afternoon—but in the meantime, the New York Times has a quick primer on the character, his creator, and the 5,000 comics he appeared in.

Considering how few people in America know/care about Tintin, I'm curious to see how Spielberg's film does this weekend. The closest analogy might be Green Lantern, actually: Both are big, flashy, basically CG movies with hopes of spawning a franchise, and both star a comic book hero 99 percent of the populace is utterly oblivious too (but, to be fair, those who do like him really, really like him). Hopefully things will turn out better for Spielberg than they did for Ryan Reynolds—and considering there's basically no way Tintin could be even half as terrible as Green Lantern was, I'm guessing that'll probably be the case. Or maybe all those moviegoing families on Xmas will decide to take the kids to see A Dangerous Method! It just goes to prove my hypothesis about the box office: HOLLYWOOD, AM I RIGHT! WHO KNOWS?

 

Comments (9) RSS

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1
I've heard people try to say that virtually no one in this country knows about Tintin before this, and I asked in vain for any supporting evidence of this. Is there any, something statistical rather than anecdotal? American editions have been in print for decades, selling out countless printings, and each of the books is in hundreds of libraries nationwide. Not saying its as big as in Europe, but it's still a pretty big comics phenomenon here too -- has been a consistent seller for decades, as far as I can tell from the publication history. Pretty hard to say how the movie will do, though.
Posted by geyser on December 21, 2011 at 7:23 PM · Report
2
Agree with geyser. I've read all the Tintin books numerous times over the years (mid-30s here, so it was 20+ years ago when I was collecting), and when this meme gathered steam that Americans don't know Tintin, it seemed odd to me, so I started asking friends and coworkers. Couldn't find anyone that hadn't read at least a few of the books or wasn't familiar with the characters and basic concept. It's not as big as in some other countries, sure, but to me, Tintin is kind of like Nerf, Lincoln Logs, and Legos... just a common feature of childhood.

That said, the stop-motion in the previews for the movie looks creepy and cold.
Posted by Blistering Barnacles on December 21, 2011 at 8:36 PM · Report
3
I third the sentiment.

My brother and I read all the stories numerous times. They were at our local library, and seemed well loved/worn. I'm not saying that my experience is typical, but clearly we are not some obscure minority.

Poll time.
Posted by * on December 21, 2011 at 9:37 PM · Report
4
Since I was asking about evidence, I should have cited the source for my own claim that the books are in hundreds of libraries nationwide: Worldcat.org, which I checked to satisfy my curiosity about this a while back.
Anecdotally, many of my own family's copies of the books were bought from the Baltimore Public Library, where they were withdrawn because they'd been read so many times they were too worn to keep circulating them. I also don't think HBO would have aired the animated series here if it'd been so obscure. As one of the most premium channels of the time, their airtime was too valuable for that.
@2, it's motion capture, technically, and I agree it looks really bad, in this film at least.
Posted by geyser on December 22, 2011 at 8:05 AM · Report
5
Another anecdote: the now-gone-from-downtown Looking Glass bookstore (which was THE bookstore back in the day) only had space for one of those tall spinny racks in its kids' section. I don't remember a single time that rack wasn't the exclusive domain of Tintin books. Wouldn't have had that placement if it wasn't the best seller every year for as many years as I can remember.
Posted by thomson on December 22, 2011 at 9:14 AM · Report
6
I'M STILL WAITING FOR MY ASTERIX AND OBELISK ANIMATED MOVIE. THIS TINTIN IS SOME MAINSTREAM SHIT.
Posted by Graham on December 22, 2011 at 9:39 AM · Report
7
I like the early books where not only Milou (Snowy) speaks but other animals talk as well. Tintin is obviously insane. He probably never actually leaves his mother's back garden in Brussels.
Posted by Todd Mecklem on December 22, 2011 at 10:13 AM · Report
8
@ Todd and Graham...agree on both. I grew up in Portugal and France until age 12, and liked both comics...I am glad there was exposure here
Posted by The Showstopper on December 22, 2011 at 11:12 AM · Report
9
@6: "OBELISK"? Obelix, you piker.
Posted by geyser on December 22, 2011 at 11:02 PM · Report

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