Tintin in America

Tintin in America ( the adventures Tintin to defer to the " Small Vingtième" in America , Hergé, 1932) is the third album of Cartoon of the adventures of Tintin , published in black and white of 1931 to 1932 in the pages of the " Small Vingtième" , supplement of the newspaper the Twentieth Century.

Synopsis

The history occurs at the time of the Prohibition. After the imposed interlude of Congo, Tintin is sent to the the United States of America. Arrived at Chicago, it is immediately removed by the gangsters of Al Capone, who regard it as dangerous…

After having succeeded in escaping and stopping them, it attacks Bobby Smiles, the chief of a rival band. The continuation brings Tintin in the “Redskins” that Bobby Smiles went up against him. Always victorious, Tintin captures the criminal and returns to Chicago. Once more, it must fight other gangsters, for better triumphing over it. It leaves the country after a procession in the street quite worthy of the American heroes.

Characters

Tintin
Milou
Al Capone : Appears on page 1. It is the chief of the gangsters of Chicago. He wants the death of Tintin. The only really real character who appears in the Adventures of Tintin.

Piétro : Appears on page 12. He works for Al Capone.

Bobby Spalling hammers (known as Bob) : Appears on page 12. Ganster which wants to get rid of Al Capone and Tintin.

Powerful Sachem : Appears on page 19. It is the chief of the Redskins. Bobby Smiles assembles it against Tintin.

Mike Mac Adam : Appears on page 45. He is private detective. He tries, without success, to find Milou.

Tom Hawake : Appears on page 53. He is the person in charge of the Slift factories and must kill Tintin.

Bolivar Hyppolyte : Appears on page 60. He is champion of haltérophilie (out of wood!).

Rastapopoulos : Although not quoted, many agrees to perceive the character-prototype of what will be the sworn enemy of Tintin, Rastapopoulos, with the 5th box of page 57.

Around the album

Tintin in America starts to appear in Small the Twentieth starting from the September 3rd 1931. It will continue to appear during a little more than one year at a rate of two boards per week.

In this adventure, Al Capone intervenes. It is one of the rare times in the series where Hergé integrates a real individual as a character. Generally, it is inspired for creation by its heroes by existing people but while making many modifications there.

To create the history, Hergé had only one reduced documentation, just like for Tintin with the country of the Soviets and Tintin in Congo . It had left the Scènes of the future life of Georges Duhamel, of the review Crapouillot which devoted an special edition to the United States and of a book on the Indians of America.

During the creation of the album, Hergé wanted mainly to make turn the history around the Indians of America for which it tested a great fascination. Thus it created in a label a lampoon denouncing the violence made in Améridiens. One sees American soldiers thus there expelling bayonet with the gun of the Indians drawing after them their papooses themselves trailing their headstocks and this after the discovery from an oil well for which financial higher bids were made with the white explorer. This sequence did not achieve the unanimity when the album was republished but he wanted to never remove it.

Hergé also tried to depict America at the time where it drew it. It thus integrated various elements like prohibition or the Guerre of the Gangs as well as the place subordinate made into the Blacks in the company. The thought bienséante having censured these characters (such as the gatekeeper of hotel) and having imposed to them " blanchisation" in the later republications the denunciation thus possible has disappeared blow leading contrary to the sought-after goal!

Adaptations

Other versions of the album

It is into 1945 that the album was taken again to be put color and it was then altered. In the new version, much of improvements on the level of the narration of the images were brought to make the reading more fluid and more comprehensible.

Animated version

This album was adapted in the animated series of 1992

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