Tintin and the Lake of Sharks

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT a Herge's creation...
Review: Despite what Amazon.com listed in its webpage, this is not drawn or written by the original creator. As noted by earlier reviewer, there were far fewer pages than any in the original series and the storyboard frames were far larger and fewer in each page. In all, the number of illustrations might have made up but a third of any other Tintin's adventures. The artist used a watercolour wash for much of the many frame's background instead of the very detailed pen and ink method of the original, thus giving the whole book a less-than-ideal muddy and dull quality. Since much of the enjoyment from the Tintin series were of taking in many of the details of the illustrations, I find myself not being able to be drawn into this poor knock-off as I have been with all the other Herge's creations! I would suggest bypassing on this purchase unless you are a diehard Tintin fan and wanted to collect everything of Tintin's!

Rating:
Summary: Lake of Sharks isn't the best Tintin book
Review: Tintin has set on another adventure in the country of Syldavia. This time Tintin, Captain Haddock, the Thompsons and Snowy fly to Syldavia to meet Professor Calculus on Lake Pollishoff, an artificial lake that has a curse on it. The trip is doomed from the start when Tintin & Co. barely survive a plane crash only to be saved by two Syldavian kids, Niko and Nushka. The crew meets Professor Calculus on the Villa Sproj on the lakeside but mysterious things happen when the group gets attacked by a frogman who is trying to steal an invention by Professor Calculus. Also in the story is Bianca Castifiore, her pianist Wagner and the ruthless Rastapopoulos. The color is a little dull compared to the other books and their is 44 pages instead of the normal 62 pages. I would only recommend this book to die-hard Tintin fans.

Rating:
Summary: Tintin and Captain Haddock save the day in Khemed
Review: While talking about General Alcazar, the deposed president of the Republic of San Theodoros, Tintin and Captain Haddock literally run into him. This is more than mere coincidence, it is the beginning of another exciting adventure for our hero and his friends as it seems Alcazar is involved in buying armaments on the sly. However, Prince Abdullah has been sent by his father the Emir to stay with the good Captain to improve the young scamp's English. The Emir mentions that the situation is serious at home and when the headlines announce a coup d'etat in Khemed, Tintin decides to head there to find out if there is a connection between the rebel victory achieved by air power and the arms dealing he has discovered.

What makes "The Red Sea Sharks" one of the best Tintin adventures is that there are even more dastardly deeds being done by the bad guys this time around (involving "coke" smuggling). Herg? continues to explore the clash between Western and Near Eastern cultures as Captain Haddock has to wear a veil as a disguise and Snowy has a memorable encounter with a cheetah, while back home Professor Calculus and Nestor do their best to keep Prince Abdullah, ah, entertained. Herg? might have created an imaginative parallel world for Tintin's adventures, but they certainly echo serious real world concerns, and that is especially true of "The Red Sea Sharks." As an added pleasure, the good captain gets to vent time and time again at people who really deserve to be roundly cursed out, even by Haddock's peculiar collection of epithets.