Tintin's canine sidekick, Snowy, plays an integral role in Tintin's anti-criminal adventures. I wonder, though, could Snowy's role be played by a human to the same effect? A dog and a boy connote a pure, innocent bond, thus Snowy's adds to the purity of Tintin. It is probably no mistake that Snowy is all white, a sign of purity as well. Somehow a boy running around chasing criminals, and sometimes using firearms and other violent means to catch said criminals, seems less imposing and violent to the reader as long as he has a dog by his side. Snowy also provides comedic relief in some otherwise tense situations that Tintin gets into.
Could a human boy be used to the same effect as Snowy? If Tintin has his own version of Robin, would we view the crime-fighting pair in the same light? I'm unsure how effective a human sidekick would be for Tintin, but there certainly is something sacred about a boy and his dog doing anything together, even if that is fighting crime.
I also like Snowy in Hergé's Tin Tin. In class we discussed the introduction of Tin Tin's new human sidekick later on, Captain Haddock. Reading on how Snow's role changes, from a critical voice to balance Tintin's optimism to more of a silent characters as Haddock takes over that position makes me more than a little sad. This may support the theory that Snowy is more talkative as an imaginary friend, silenced after Tintin makes a new friend. I think it's interesting to look at the relationship between Tintin and Captain Haddock- and from what I understood looking at a few sites (http://tintin.wikia.com/wiki/Snowy, http://tintin.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Archibald_Haddock), Captain Haddock is a drunkard captain who is saved by Tintin, which isn't a very "pure" figure unlock Snowy, and it's interesting to note that Captain Haddock is definitely an adult and who used to be an authority figure. Although I haven't read any of Tin Tin with Captain Haddock, it seems like he exists to make Tintin even more heroic in comparison.
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