have believed for an instant in the New Order.”
Tintin first appeared in a kids’ supplement of the Belgian
newspaper Le Petit Vingtième and was so successful that it
spawned a series of books published in 70 languages and
selling more than 200million copies.
Studios Hergé was set up in 1950, to produce twenty-four
Tintin albums, his stories have been adapted for radio, TV,
theatre and major Hollywood blockbusters.
The characters who share the globe-trotting reporter’s
adventures, including his faithful fox terrier Snowy, the
boozy Captain Haddock and hapless detectives Thomson and
Thompson are almost as iconic as Tintin himself.
They are all immortalised in the £16million Hergé Museum
in the provincial Belgian town of Louvain-la-Neuve. Exhibits
include tributes paid to Hergé by Andy Warhol, who viewed
him as a peer.
The pop art superstar praised Tintin’s “great political and
satirical dimensions”, adding: “Hergé has influenced my work
in the same way as Walt Disney. For me, Hergé was more
than a comic strip artist.”
Philosopher Michel Serres declared Tintin a masterpiece
to which “the work of no French novelist is comparable in
importance or greatness”.
And French President Charles de Gaulle said: “My only
international rival is Tintin. We are the small ones, who do not
let themselves be had by the great ones.” Seems the debate
over Tintin’s legacy will rage for another 85 years.
HERGÉ AT WORK
HERGÉ WITH ANDY WARHOL
THE HERGÉ MUSEUM
// 17
