When the Belgian cartoonist known as Herge died in March 1983, not even Fanny, his widow, thought the extraordinary success of The Adventures of Tintin would live on.
She was wrong. The intrepid cub reporter and his faithful canine companion keep attracting new readers. Today comic-strip lovers around the world will mark the centennial of Herge, nom de plume of Georges Remi (the French pronunciation of his reversed initials is "Herge"), a native of Brussels.
Herge's ligne claire style of drawing, French for "clear line," has influenced generations of cartoonists. And people of all ages are devoted fans of Herge's bequiffed boy hero Tintin, his clever white terrier Snowy (Milou in French), curse-happy Captain Haddock ("ten thousand thundering typhoons!"), the half-deaf Professor Calculus and bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson. The booklets, translated into 70 languages, sell about 3 million copies each year. More than 120 million copies have been sold to date.
Even Hollywood has taken an interest in Tintin and Snowy. The administrators of Herge's estate announced recently that director Steven Spielberg would shoot a series of Tintin movies.
The first, presumably Destination Moon, is scheduled for release by 2010. Whether it will be animated is unclear.
British author Michael Farr, an ex-reporter and well-known "Tintinologist," attributes Tintin's timeless popularity to Herge's simple, inimitable drawing style as well as to his stories' humor and multiple layers of appeal.
Children are excited by the adventures, Farr has noted, while adults appreciate the political satire and wordplays.
"Readers can easily identify with Tintin no matter where they're from and which language they speak," Farr said.
Tintin is not sharply defined, in contrast with characters like Captain Haddock. His precise age, his family, and whether he has a girlfriend are mysteries.
"Tintin, that's me!" Herge once declared.
"Herge would have liked to have been a journalist -- he was fascinated by news," said Farr, who said Herge had written his stories based on international events.
From the Japanese invasion of China in The Blue Lotus (1936) to Tintin's flight to the moon in Destination Moon (1953) -- 16 years before the US landing -- "the comic books chronicle the 20th century, which makes them interesting to more mature readers too," Farr said.
The Adventures of Tintin elevated the comic book to an art form. Herge's admirers have included Andy Warhol and the Dalai Lama, who honored the cartoonist last year for Tintin in Tibet. Herge seems to have "arrived" in the world of high art just in time for his centennial.
The current exhibition of Herge's work at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris is its most successful exhibition ever, Farr said, adding that the museum had even decided to include several pieces in its permanent collection.
"Herge has long been seen as a father figure in the comics world. If he's now recognized as a modern artist, that's very important," Farr said.
Tintin first appeared on January 10, 1929, in Le Petit Vingtieme ("The Little Twentieth"), the youth supplement to the Brussels newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle ("The Twentieth Century"). His earliest adventures took him to the Soviet Union and Belgian Congo. Both stories were full of anti-Communist and racist prejudices that Herge later called "youthful folly" and partially revised. During the course of his career, Herge's obsession with accuracy and detailed research grew.
"He was a perfectionist," said Farr, who interviewed Herge in the late 1970s in Brussels.
The cartoonist's modesty and curiosity turned the tables on Farr. Instead of letting himself be interviewed during their three-hour lunch, Herge peppered the Briton with questions about Pink Floyd, the Beatles and art.
"Herge was a charming person who sparkled with humor, but he didn't like talking about himself," Farr said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said on Monday that it would be announcing its mayoral nominees for New Taipei City, Yilan County and Chiayi City on March 11, after which it would begin talks with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to field joint opposition candidates. The KMT would likely support Deputy Taipei Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) as its candidate for New Taipei City. The TPP is fielding its chairman, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), for New Taipei City mayor, after Huang had officially announced his candidacy in December last year. Speaking in a radio program, Huang was asked whether he would join Lee’s
RSS