Tintin: Master of Death

Going into this reading, I knew very little about Tintin. I was obviously familiar with the series, however, I really didn't know what to expect. After having read Tintin in America and Cigars of the Pharaoh, I can confidently say that I am not a fan of Tintin. And not just as a comic, but as a character as well. I understand that these stories were published in the 1930s and that storytelling was much more simplistic back then but I'm pretty sure I can sum up the two stories in 5 bullet points.

• Tintin discovers something illegal happening
• Tintin is in mortal danger
• Tintin gets out of mortal danger (Probably with help from Snowy)
• Repeat points 2 and 3 for the next 50 pages or so
• Tintin beats the bad guys 

After about the first six times Tintin thinks he's going to die, I kind of realized that he wasn't really in any danger, nor would he ever be. In fact, I was almost rooting for him to get seriously injured just so a little bit of depth could be added to the story. He doesn't even acknowledge that he was almost killed and he's like 14. He just acts like getting held up at gun point is a typical Tuesday and that before lunch every Thursday he has to escape a lynch mob. In Tintin in America alone, I counted 20 times that Tintin could have been killed. I'd like to imagine that after the third time my life was in jeopardy in a given week that I'd probably stop vacationing in another country and never leave my house again. 

I can see how this style of story would be entertaining for a kid (young adventuring journalist overcomes the bad guys to save the day), however, if you're going to do that at least make the protagonist a little more interesting. The only thing that makes Tintin special is the fact that he ends up eluding death every 3 pages and as far as I'm concerned, that's more from the incompetence of everyone else in his stories and not a testament to his prowess as a famed adventurer.