Tintin and Brussels
Franco-Belgian Comics: Bande Dessinée
Course 1 · Chapter 3 · Tintin and the Brussels School
Tintin is the best-known name in Franco-Belgian comics, and its creator Hergé shaped the look of the whole tradition. This chapter follows Hergé from the newspaper supplement of 1929 to the studio of the 1950s, explains the "clear line" style, describes the magazine named after the hero and the artists who gathered round it, and deals factually with the arguments about the early albums and the war years. Names, dates and figures are from general knowledge and flagged "check".
Hergé and the Birth of Tintin
The artist
Hergé was the pen name of Georges Remi (1907 to 1983), a Brussels artist. The name comes from his reversed initials, R.G., pronounced in French (check). He began as a scout magazine illustrator and then worked for a Catholic newspaper.
The first appearance
Tintin, a young reporter with a dog, Snowy, first appeared in January 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième, the children's supplement of the Brussels newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, in a story set in the Soviet Union (check). The newspaper's editor wanted a young hero with a political message, and the early stories reflected the views of that paper.
A growing craft
The albums that followed took Tintin to the Congo, America, Egypt and China. The Blue Lotus (1934 to 1935, check) is often cited as the point where Hergé began to research his settings carefully, after meeting a Chinese student in Brussels, and where the stories became more serious and exact.
The Clear Line
- What it is. A style of drawing with an even outline, flat areas of colour, little or no hatching and a precise, uncluttered background. The French term is ligne claire, and it was named by the Dutch artist Joost Swarte in the 1970s (check).
- Why it works. Every figure and object reads at a glance, and a page can be followed with no confusion. It lets Hergé pair cartoon characters with realistic backgrounds: simple faces, accurate cars, aeroplanes and buildings.
- Its descendants. Later artists in Belgium, France and the Netherlands worked in the same manner, and the style is a point of reference even for creators who reject it (check).
- Hergé's studio. From 1950 Hergé employed assistants at his studio, which helped prepare backgrounds and keep the look consistent across the series (check the date).
Tintin Magazine and Its Artists
| Item (check each) | Note |
|---|---|
| Tintin magazine (1946) | A weekly launched in Brussels with the publisher Raymond Leblanc, with Hergé as artistic guide and his hero on the cover. It carried Tintin in serial form and the work of other artists, and was sold in French and Dutch editions, and in a French edition in Paris. |
| Edgar P. Jacobs, Blake et Mortimer | A British scientist and an army officer in realistic science-fiction and detective adventures, starting with Le Secret de l'Espadon in the magazine from 1946. Densely detailed pages and long text, in a closely related style to Hergé's (check). |
| Jacques Martin, Alix | A Gallic youth in ancient Rome, with a historical setting and careful research (1948, check). |
| Bob de Moor and others | Assistants in Hergé's studio who became artists in their own right (check). |
| The "Brussels school" | A name for this group's shared look: careful, realistic, clear and suited to adventure stories. It is often contrasted with the rounder, more comic Marcinelle school (Chapter 4). |
The Argument About the Early Albums
The Soviets and the Congo
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1929 to 1930) and Tintin in the Congo (1930 to 1931) reflect the views of their time and of the paper that published them. The Congo story shows African people in a colonial and racist manner, as Hergé himself later acknowledged, and he redrew the album in 1946 (check). Its availability and presentation have been argued over in courts and bookshops in Belgium, France and Britain, with a warning note or a reading of the book in historical context as common proposals (check the details).
The war years
During the German occupation of Belgium, Hergé published his stories in the newspaper Le Soir, which was then under German control (check). After the liberation he was investigated and for a time banned from working, and the debate about his choices continues. Biographers disagree on how far he sympathised with the occupiers and how far he was working to continue a career, and the account should be read in a range of sources (check).
Later reading
The later albums, such as Tintin in Tibet (1960 to 1961, check), are generally seen as more humane. Hergé left a final story, Tintin and Alph-Art, unfinished at his death in 1983 (check). The range of readings, from loving to critical, is part of why the series remains a subject of study.
Tintin Beyond Belgium
- Translations. The albums have been translated into dozens of languages, with English versions published in Britain from the late 1950s (check), and total sales are often given in the hundreds of millions (check).
- Adaptation. The stories have become animated television series and a 2011 film directed by Steven Spielberg (check).
- A cultural landmark. The series is shown in museums, and a museum devoted to Hergé opened in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in 2009 (check).
Exercises
Describe the clear line in your own words, and explain why it suits a weekly adventure serial.
Compare Tintin magazine with a British weekly you know, in what it contained, who read it and how it earned its money.
How should a library or publisher present the early Tintin albums today? Give two options, the case for each and the evidence you would want to see.
Quick Reference
- Hergé (Georges Remi, 1907 to 1983): Tintin from 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième
- Style: ligne claire, the clear line
- Magazine: Tintin (1946), with Jacobs's Blake et Mortimer and Martin's Alix
- Debates: the colonial content of the early albums, the war years
- Reach: translated worldwide, adapted for screen, museum at Louvain-la-Neuve