L'Etoile Mysterieuse (Tintin)

Rating:
Summary: Tintin faces the end of the world and giant mushrooms
Review: In 1942 the continent of Europe was totally embroiled in World War II, which may well explain why Hergé offers up the most fanciful of les aventures de Tintin, told in the grand tradition of Jonathan Swift. In fact, nothing else comes as close to "L'Etoile Mysterieuse" ("The Shooting Star"), which begins with the world about to end because of a collision with a giant comet and ends with Tintin dealing with giant mushrooms. In between there is a race to find a meteorite that contains a new element of great scientific importance (another case of Hergé's remarkable premonitions based on meticulous research no doubt). Tintin is aided and abetted in this adventure by Captain Haddock, who we first met in the previous tale, "Le Crabe aux Pinces d'Or." But I must say the supporting character who caught my attention was the seaplane pilot who helps our hero in the throughout the episode and in the thrilling climax. You do not usually see such as a realistic, levelheaded, intelligent person helping out Tintin. I find it to believe Herge did not even give this fellow a name, who more than makes up for the eccentric college of eggheads whom Tintin is trying to help. "L'Etoile Mysterieuse" is one of the best of les aventures de Tintin and his adversary is more often the elements than the bad guys trying to beat the good ship "Aurora" to the meteorite. The contrast of Hergé's simple drawing of characters against more realistic backgrounds finds several excellent sequences in this story, the first to be originally printed in color.

Rating:
Summary: Tintin faces the end of the world and giant mushrooms
Review: In 1942 the continent of Europe was totally embroiled in World War II, which may well explain why Hergé offers up the most fanciful of les aventures de Tintin, told in the grand tradition of Jonathan Swift. In fact, nothing else comes as close to "L'Etoile Mysterieuse" ("The Shooting Star"), which begins with the world about to end because of a collision with a giant comet and ends with Tintin dealing with giant mushrooms. In between there is a race to find a meteorite that contains a new element of great scientific importance (another case of Hergé's remarkable premonitions based on meticulous research no doubt). Tintin is aided and abetted in this adventure by Captain Haddock, who we first met in the previous tale, "Le Crabe aux Pinces d'Or." But I must say the supporting character who caught my attention was the seaplane pilot who helps our hero in the throughout the episode and in the thrilling climax. You do not usually see such as a realistic, levelheaded, intelligent person helping out Tintin. I find it to believe Herge did not even give this fellow a name, who more than makes up for the eccentric college of eggheads whom Tintin is trying to help. "L'Etoile Mysterieuse" is one of the best of les aventures de Tintin and his adversary is more often the elements than the bad guys trying to beat the good ship "Aurora" to the meteorite. The contrast of Hergé's simple drawing of characters against more realistic backgrounds finds several excellent sequences in this story, the first to be originally printed in color.

Rating:
Summary: A meteor falls to earth in the oceans of the far north
Review: One night a star appears to get larger and larger and a strange heat wave strikes. Tintin goes to the observatory to inquire, where he finds that the falling star, a meteor, will soon strike earth and cause the end of the world. The meteor strikes but earth is still OK, and so a scientific expedition is launched to find and study the meteor. What will they find?

As you can see they find huge mushrooms. This adventure is very humorous with an insane astronomer. Captain Haddock and Snowy play slightly bigger roles than usual for some comic relief. Spiders, which terrify Snowy, keep pooping up throughout the story. Its pretty weird, but fun as always.

If you are reading this to help learn French, Tintin comics are good for reading at a French 2 level. There are a lot of words that aren't basic vocabulary but it is still easy to follow the story because the writing and pictures tend to reinforce each other. This one is fun and the vocabulary tends to be practical, with words such as "oil" and "plane".