I really enjoyed The Mysterious Underground Men. But as I was reading something felt off. This comic features a young kid with a permanent cowlick who is running around building rockets and getting into fights with gangs. Not only this, but he eventually gets a small talking animal (or human?) companion with white fur. You could almost put the title Tintin and the Mystery of the Termite People on the cover. Another scene in this comic that stuck out to me was the deluge of ground water in the center of the earth which is taken straight from Journey to the Center of the Earth. I was antonished how much this story seemed influenced by these works!
I am particularly curious about the intent of Tezuka. Was he unknowingly influenced by these very popular works? Or was he trying to introduce the sci-fi/detective genre to Japan? It doesn't seem to me that he was trying to plagiarize these stories. But it is very interesting how many parallels there are.
Despite the fact that Tezuka has not spoken about drawing inspiration from Tintin for this comic or any of his other works, I also felt almost immediately that there was a parallel between the two comics: the boy-genius and his animal pal constantly getting into and out of trouble was just too similar for me not to acknowledge. Where they differ however is their ideologies: Tezuka intended to convey an appreciation for our planet as well as promote peace and love, while Hergé meant to promote the European cultures and the power of intellect.
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