Little, Brown and Company
Hergé (Georges Remi), writer and artist
My first exposure to the Belgian comic The Adventures of Tintin was in elementary school. My family lived in a small farming community in Iowa at the time, and the school district was operated jointly by two nearby towns. The youngest children were bussed to a three-story building in one town that housed kindergarten through sixth-grade classes, and the older children went to a three-story building in the other town for seventh- through 12th-grade classes. I mention the size of the district only because looking back it amazes me that they had these books in the elementary library of such a small school district.
For those not in the know on Tintin, he is a young reporter for a newspaper in his native Belgium. Tintin and his ever-present dog, Snowy, get into a number of adventures, traveling all around the globe and beyond, and along the way, he meets a vast array of colorful characters to either assist or attempt to stymie his purposes. The first two of Tintin's adventures to catch my attention were Destination: Moon and Explorers On the Moon. In the first, Tintin and some of his friends are invited to be part of the first manned trip to the moon; in the second, the rocket blasts off and the adventurers land on the moon with a stowaway aboard. I enjoyed these two adventures so much that I checked them out and reread them several times. These two books prompted me to try a third, also from that same elementary-school library, The Crab With the Golden Claws, a tale that takes place mostly in Africa and the Orient. I'd always suspected that there were more published Adventures of Tintin from references in these three volumes, all three hardcover, oversized books, by the way. But it was much, much later that I learned there are 24 Adventures of Tintin volumes in all.
This one is the first, having been serialized between 1929 and 1930 and first collected into a single book in 1930. The illustration style is very crude compared to the later Tintin volumes, but both Tintin and Snowy are still recognizable. This first volume is in black and white, while all of the other volumes are in color. Also, to my knowledge, all of the other volumes, while almost always first having been serialized, read like one continuous story per volume, much like today's modern original graphic novels. That is definitely the case with the three I have already read. Land of the Soviets, however, is presented with six large panels per page, and each two-page spread reads like a single installment of a serialized narrative; each one ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger in that 12th panel, clearly meant to entice young readers to come back for the next installment.
Tintin is sent to Russia to report back to his readers about the real conditions in the socialist nation. The clear intent is to quash any disinformation and lies being spread by the Soviets.
In the very first installment, Tintin and Snowy climb aboard a train bound for Russia only to have a Bolshevik spy try to blow them up before they can arrive. Miraculously, our hero and his dog both survive the explosion, but are quickly arrested as the responsible parties in the bombing. They manage to escape custody, but with even more Bolsheviks in pursuit. All told, Tintin and Snowy end up traveling by train, automobile, hand cart and motorcycle, just trying to get to Russia. Then they have just as much trouble trying to get back out after witnessing the hardships and injustice the poor have to face in Russia at the hands of their fat-cat leaders.
Tintin stories often have elements of humor mixed in with the adventure and intrigue, but there are many more instances of slapstick-style humor in this volume. The story has more in common with an ongoing comic strip than an original graphic novel in this first volume. The situations Tintin finds in Russia are pretty one-sided depictions based on the politics of the time period, but that can be said for many things written to reflect a certain era or political setting. Tintin himself is portrayed as young, but not a child. He can handle himself in single, hand-to-hand combat, and in the instances where Tintin's opponent is physically stronger or he is outnumbered, the reporter is quick-witted enough to outsmart all comers with trickery.
One definite departure from reality with the series are the often sarcastic comments made by Snowy throughout the adventures; however, Herge never has the human characters react to what Snowy says as if they cannot hear him, only the reader can. Even Tintin does not appear to "hear" what Snowy says although he can often "read" his pet's feelings through body language.
Overall, this is a satisfying adventure for a modern reader interested in the complete world of Tintin adventures. But if one is curious to try a Tintin adventure, it might be better to start with one of the later volumes.
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