Review: The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 2

Source: Goodreads

Length: 192 pages

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Second in the eight-volume collector’s edition, The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 2 contains Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh, and The Blue Lotus.

My take:

Volume 2 of The Adventures of Tintin is brilliant when compared to Volume 1. Individually though, it doesn’t reach that level of charm that the later books possess. Containing three stories, Volume 2 does get better as it progresses.

Tintin in America includes characters that are part of the earlier books. It’s just a brief mention though and you won’t really be lost if you choose not to read the previous ones. As a story, it’s quite random, with things happening abruptly and a little too conveniently. It doesn’t have an elaborately woven storyline and is also a bit racist. Of all the three books in Volume 2, Tintin in America is the worst.

Cigars of the Pharaoh has an interesting story. There is a bit of racism in this one too, but that’s quite negligible when compared to the others. It’s an interesting read and sets the stage for the next book too. It also includes characters that make appearances in later books (from what I remember). If you want to avoid the overly racist, not too great earlier books but at the same time don’t want to miss any central characters, then I’d recommend beginning the series from Cigars of the Pharaoh.

The Blue Lotus has the interesting, multi-layered, multi-dimensional type of story for which Tintin became famous. The story itself is quite interesting and (thankfully) has very little racism. In fact, at some point, the story mocks the stereotyping and racism habits of people too. All in all, The Blue Lotus comes across as the best part of Volume 2 and does leave you looking forward to Volume 3 and Tintin’s next adventure.

Highly recommended to:

• people who enjoy Tintin
• people who want to start reading The Adventures of Tintin (start from Cigars of the Pharaoh)
• anyone looking for an interesting graphic novel to read

Let us know what you thought of The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 2. Drop us a comment below!

– Rishika

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Review: The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 1

Source: Goodreads

Length: 206 pages

My rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 1 is the first in the collector’s edition of the series. It contains Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo.

My take:

Let me begin by saying that I absolutely love Tintin comics, which is why I have the collector’s edition in the first place. I’ve read all the comics over the years. But, I had not really read the entire collection in order. Until now.

I picked up Volume 1 because I wanted to start right at the beginning. And let’s just say that if these had been the first Tintin comics I’d ever read, I probably wouldn’t have given the rest of the series a chance.

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets has no story as such and is just page after page of Tintin and Snowy escaping from crazy situations in ridiculous ways. I mean Tintin is famous for getting in trouble and getting away, but these scenarios were plain incredulous and un-entertaining.

Tintin in the Congo is painfully racist and depicts hunting in the most brutish and inhumane manner possible. It still has some story and is closer to the better Tintin comics in a few ways. But by no means is it a comfortable read (I’m pretty sure I actually cringed a couple of times).

Both books within Volume 1 aren’t really enjoyable. The creators have admitted that both books were heavily influenced by beliefs and assumptions of the time during which they were set. They’ve even updated some aspects of the books that just would not have been accepted later. But that still doesn’t make them a great read. And they definitely don’t compare in the least to the books that followed.

If you want to read Tintin then read any other than Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. The others are surely enjoyable. But the only reason you can consider reading Volume 1 is if you, like me, want to go through all the books in order. That compulsion is the only thing that’ll get you through them.

Leave us a comment below and let us know what you thought about Volume 1 of The Adventures of Tintin.

– Rishika