Tintin ‘In Black and White’

The Tintin albums that were first printed in black and white offer a revealing picture of the conservative, Catholic, nationalist climate in which the young Hergé was immersed in the 1920s and 1930s. Taken together, they offer a coherent vision of the world. Tintin sometimes takes on the role of a pious young hero, and a character such as Rastapopoulos may seem like a perfect illustration of the enemy as defined by a writer like Charles Maurras. But Belgian conservative Catholics also had a powerful social mission. From the Congolese escapade up to L’Oreille cassée [ Tintin and the Broken Ear ], Tintin is combating the same proponents of Anglo-American cosmopolitan capitalism. Conversely, he comes to the help of the poor and needy, reactivating a whole Christian iconography of charity, as, for example, when he rescues Tchang from drowning in Le Lotus bleu [ The Blue Lotus ].