Tintin En America - NB: 2 Encuadernado

Rating:
Summary: Tintin visits America, the land of gangsters and Indians
Review: I first read "Tintin en America" ("Tintin in America") relatively late in my journey through the Adventures of Tintin, which might not be fair since this early work by Hergé certainly pales in comparison to some of our beloved heroes later and greatest adventures (e.g., "Tintin en el Pais del Oro Negro" or "Aterrizaje en la Luna"). From that perspective you notice that the art is a bit more cartoonish than what comes later but the most important difference is that this is basically Tintin and Milu on their own. The wonderful cast of colorful supporting characters that end up populating the Tintin universe are not to be seen at this point, which might explain why Milu "talks" a lot more in this early Tintin adventure than is his habit in later volumes.

While this is not a great Tintin adventure, "Tintin en America" is certainly an interesting one because of the way Hergé presents America to his readers. In a manner that reminds me of Babe's fanciful vision of the big city in "Babe: Pig in the City," Hergé presents the United States as being pretty much half Chicago gangsters and half Wild Wild West cowboys and Indians. Tintin arrives in Chicago to clean up the city ruled by gangster bosses and Al Capone is not happy to see the world famous reporter. Tintin survives so many attempted gangland hits that you lose count of them, and it is a toss up whether there are more last second escapes or scenes where Tintin pulls a gun on a gangster. The perils of Tintin continue even when our hero and his faithful terrier companion make their way out West and become involved with some of the quaint customs of the local natives.

The final word would be that if you have heard people raving about Hergé and Tintin, and then you start at the "beginning" (in terms of what is readily available of "Las Aventuras de Tintin") you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Do not fear. "Tintin en America" represents the early days when Hergé was still finding his way and learning his craft. The best is yet to come after this one and the best is pretty good. Get with the program and stick to it.

Rating:
Summary: Tintin visits America, the land of gangsters and Indians
Review: I first read "Tintin en America" ("Tintin in America") relatively late in my journey through the Adventures of Tintin, which might not be fair since this early work by Herg? certainly pales in comparison to some of our beloved heroes later and greatest adventures (e.g., "Tintin en el Pais del Oro Negro" or "Aterrizaje en la Luna"). From that perspective you notice that the art is a bit more cartoonish than what comes later but the most important difference is that this is basically Tintin and Milu on their own. The wonderful cast of colorful supporting characters that end up populating the Tintin universe are not to be seen at this point, which might explain why Milu "talks" a lot more in this early Tintin adventure than is his habit in later volumes.

While this is not a great Tintin adventure, "Tintin en America" is certainly an interesting one because of the way Herg? presents America to his readers. In a manner that reminds me of Babe's fanciful vision of the big city in "Babe: Pig in the City," Herg? presents the United States as being pretty much half Chicago gangsters and half Wild Wild West cowboys and Indians. Tintin arrives in Chicago to clean up the city ruled by gangster bosses and Al Capone is not happy to see the world famous reporter. Tintin survives so many attempted gangland hits that you lose count of them, and it is a toss up whether there are more last second escapes or scenes where Tintin pulls a gun on a gangster. The perils of Tintin continue even when our hero and his faithful terrier companion make their way out West and become involved with some of the quaint customs of the local natives.

The final word would be that if you have heard people raving about Herg? and Tintin, and then you start at the "beginning" (in terms of what is readily available of "Las Aventuras de Tintin") you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Do not fear. "Tintin en America" represents the early days when Herg? was still finding his way and learning his craft. The best is yet to come after this one and the best is pretty good. Get with the program and stick to it.

Rating:
Summary: Tintin catches gangsters in the big city and the wild west
Review: Tintin and Snowy are kidnapped by Al Capone immediately after arriving in the United States. Of course they escape - and spend the rest of the book rounding up gangsters. They chase Mr Smiles from the big city to an Indian reservation and through the wild west, so you get a good variety of American adventure landscapes. Finally they return triumphant to the city and Snowy gets kidnapped. There is a sequel so you know things end happily.

This is probably my favorite Tintin book. It has a lot of ironic moments: in the first pages of the book Tintin succeeds in catching Al Capone but no one believes him, the discovery of oil turns wilderness into big city in a matter of hours, and an animal rights activist is upset that a puma is eating a deer in the wild.

Tintin comics are good for reading at a Spanish 2 level, if you are reading this to help learn Spanish. There are a lot of words that aren't basic vocabulary (like "indian reservation") but it is still easy to follow the story because the writing and pictures tend to reinforce each other.