Le avventure di Tintin vol. 1: Tintin nel paese dei soviet - Tintin in Congo

Tintin #1-2

by Hergé

In questo volume gli episodi: "Tintin nel paese dei Soviet" e "Tintin in Congo". In "Tintin nel paese dei Soviet": Le fredde e desolate terre dell'Unione Sovietica sono mete inaccessibili, per i giornalisti occidentali ficcanaso. Ma niente potrà fermare l'intrepido reporter Tintin e il suo inseparabile cagnolino Milou, in quella che è considerata una delle storie più controverse dell'esordio di Hergé, un'avventura avvincente da leggere tutta d'un fiato. In "Tintin in Congo": Al Capone lo Sfregiato, pericoloso boss della malavita di Chicago, controlla la produzione e il traffico di diamanti in Congo attraverso un'organizzazione segreta. Ma i suoi loschi piani stanno per essere sventati dall'indomito reporter... Una missione esotica per Tintin e Milou, nelle selvagge terre del Continente Nero popolate da antiche tribù, stregoni malvagi e bestie feroci!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Childrens, Graphic Novels Comics, Classics, Comic Book

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist.
His best known and most substantial work is The Adventures of Tintin comic book series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, leaving the twenty-fourth Tintin adventure Tintin and Alph-Art unfinished. His work remains a strong influence on comics, particularly in Europe.

"Hergé" is the pseudonym of George Remí, making a game with the initials of his name inverted. Throughout the evolution of his star character, Tintin, we can see the progress of this author: from the first titles marked by the ultraconservative doctrine of the director of the newspaper Le Petit Vingtième, to the breaking of conventions embodied from The Blue Lotus , as well as the evolution of the society of his time. The research carried out by Hergé to historically contextualize his Adventures, as well as his implicit social criticism, have made Tintin a masterpiece of the 20th century.

Series on Goodreads:
* The Adventures of Tintin
* Quick & Flupke
* The adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko

Reviews

[David Cain · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume contains Herge's first two Tintin stories. It is a must-have volume for collectors. Be forewarned though: these are far and away the worst two adventures of the lot, and they are really not very good. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets includes some ridiculous stereotypes of Russia and its communist government, there is not much of a plot to speak of, and Tintin ludicrously escapes death in numerous unlikely ways. Tintin in the Congo has a (slightly) more developed plot, but it is even worse than the first story, primarily because it is full of racist and colonialist depictions of African peoples. The worst part for me was Tintin's inhumane treatment of animals. Every other page depicts him killing some new animal, shooting it in the face from several feet away, skinning it to make a disguise, etc. I recommend these books just for their historical interest, but they are definitely not Herge's finest hour. Don't let them diminish your appreciation for the genius that is the rest of the Tintin series.

[Ethan Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets wasn’t well illustrated or written (in comparison to Herge's later stories), but it’s fascinating from a historical perspective. You get a glimpse into western European opinion on the USSR (and even Germany to an extent) pre-WWII. I think it was written in 1929.

Tintin in the Congo is so shockingly racist that its hard to enjoy the story at all. The one positive is that the illustrations get significantly better and are more in line with later works.

In both stories Tintin is pretty unlikable, especially in the Congo (white savior complex and seems to enjoy destroying wildlife and getting into fights). He’s nothing like the compassionate and courageous character of future works.

Don’t recommend unless you are a huge fan, and have read the more widely accepted cannon first. There’s a reason these stories often aren’t included in it.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tintin stories for anyone who has read them and understands their history can't be viewed as anything other than groundbreaking. The beginnings of these stories have been around as long as the Lord of the Rings, the illustration and environments in the Tintin books are accurate and extremely detailed. Anyone who has spent even a little time exploring Herge (Georges Remi) can see the painstaking research and adversity he worked through to compose the world around Tintin. His ideas were ahead of his time (Exploring the moon, Industrialization, South American political conflict, modern slave trade, extraterrestrial life) and he made certain every detail for every object would be realistic (after the third book at least). Herge's work can certainly be cited as an influence for any modern day graphic novel or comic book.

[Neul · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's Herge's early work, and I was aware Herge's early works wasn't very pleasant experiences. Writings includes anti-communist propaganda, imperialist propaganda, stereotypic racist characters, highly violence especially towards animals e.t.c. I read this because I wanted to how Herge's writing and world view will change in the future. I'm excited to see the Tintin everyone is talking about, and I hope I won't be disappointed.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y I K E S

[Yaşar Can Özcan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kamufle olmak için vurduğu maymunun derisini yüzüp giydiği bölümde yok olmuşum. Acı verici ve unutulmaz bir tecrübeydi.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tintin in the land of the Soviets is a bit pointless, to be honest. There isn't a plot line really, just Tintin escaping from his enemies countless times. I did buy this book for my five year old nephew though, so let's keep things in perspective. It's definitely a children's book: there is harmless violence (explosions where people come off looking merely scorched, lots of punches, that sort of stuff) and some tough guy talk and a bit of old fashioned racism.
Tintin in the Congo was more of the same, but with a lot of animals getting shot and attacked by our hero. Tintin, you shock me! I'm not so sure that a children's comic with the mc shooting fifteen gazelle (or antelope, or something similar, I can't quite recall) and killing an ape to use its skin to fool another ape would be as readily published. But, you know, its for kids. Lovers of the slapstick and funny violence. I am sure my nephew will love this. (yes, I read it before giving it to him. I couldn't help it)

[Ümit Betil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bu cilt iki maceradan oluşuyor:
1. Tenten Sovyetler'de (ilk yayım (renksiz) 1930 - renkli sürüm yok)
Çok düşük seviyeli bir anti-komünizm, kötü bir plot, kötü metin, zayıf çizimler... Daha sonraki Tenten maceraları için ümitsiz bir başlangıç... Ancak daha sonraki maceralar bu kanaati haklı çıkarmayacaktır.
Bu macera için değerlendirme: * (bir yıldız)
2. Tenten Kongo'da (ilk basım (renksiz) 1931 - renkli sürüm 1946)
Kitaptaki sürüm 1946 yılındaki renkli versiyon. Çizgilerde iyileşme. Ancak kolonyalist ve ırkçı söylem rahatsız ediyor.
Bu macera için değerlendirme: ** (iki yıldız)
Bu iki macera dizinin en zayıf halkaları. Zaten 1991 yılında animasyon dizisi yapıldığında bu iki macera bilinçli olarak dahil edilmemiş. Bu kitabın sadece retrospektif değeri var.

[Philip Gipson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Land of the Soviets: Pretty bad. One can see hints of the good cartoonist that Herge would become, but the drawings are very crude. The "story" is nothing but a long sequence of ridiculous escapes, captures, and re-escapes. Often interspersed with Soviet/Russian tropes.

Congo: Super racist, yes, but from other his other early works (e.g. Tintin in the Americas) one can see that Herge consistently portrayed any non-European country with bad caricatures.

[Ishmael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tintin in the heart of darkness.

If you haven't read Tintin before, I can only recommend in the the strongest possible terms that you don't start with these two stories. Go back and read them, sure, after you've enjoyed the good ones, to see what an inauspicious start a future classic series had. It's almost hard to believe how good some of the later ones are, considering how bad these are.

[Andrea Manganiello · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess everything should start from somewhere, but this first volume collects really orrible stories, too long for an useless plot. All of this without considering the outdated concepts (racism, hunt and prejudices)... It is true that we are still talking about comics of early 20th century, I can understand. Some strips however left me a smile and I saw, almost everywhere, that the stories start to become interesting from now on, so I trust everyone and I will continue this collection.

[Isabella Colussi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly racist

[Manasa Menon · Rating 3 out of 5]

classic, love the adventures of tintin

[Colin]

Yeah I own this ironically.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tintin bypassed me in my comic reading youth. I started with the Beano and moved on to Asterix before progressing to the men in tights crowd. Tintin was an unknown. Still, it's always felt like a hole in my comic reading heritage and I enjoyed Spielberg's film so decided to start reading them

I knew in advance I would be stepping in at the weak (and controversial) end of the series but I like progression and continuity too much to read them out of order.

Crude is a pretty apt description of Land of the Soviets, especially related to the pencils which appear rushed, poorly thought out and a world away from his later work. The weekly serial nature doesn't make for cohesion or good reading and the portrayal of the evil Russians is more amusing than offensive these days.

Tintin in the Congo is just as bad in terms of plot/story though at least looks a lot nicer. Sporadic and inconsequential, unless you count pissing off a large part of the population with fantastically racist colonial attitudes and a wanton disregard for animal life (I think the skinning the monkey bit was the highlight for me).

Still, I think it's hard to take offence now, if portrayed as an historical document of the era and a reflextion of attitudes at the time (admittedly, easy for this white middle class man to say), bearing in mind also that this is the 1946 version, not the more extreme original.

I think it is important that it is available to read (and not just for true fans). Used as a prompt to learn more about colonial attitudes, the history of Belgium in the Congo and how things evolved (including Hegre himself and his personal attitudes and later shame at his portrayal of other nations), this could be a powerful learning tool for children. The brief explanatory message before Congo seems a little too short - an essay or some such on the controversies and changing attitudes would be good. Still, not everyone will agree so beware if easily offended.

Not sure about anywhere else in the world but in New Zealand the book (which is a nice compact hardcover, small but easily read and not too small for the fine details and enjoyment - I like the larger individual stories but they cost too much cumulatively) is sealed in the shops and not generally available in many places. Given that 'golliwogs' are still freely available in major high street shops in NZ and sit on many a home mantelpiece, I thought this squeamishness was interesting. Hmmm. Good old NZ, flying willfully in the face of racist dolls.

Not great but I'm keen to get into the later and (hopefully better) stories.

[Blair Conrad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I realize the source material is about 80 years old, and possibly suffers in the translation from the original Belgish, but that's not enough to make me forgive the book. Tintin roams about, generally getting into mischief, surviving highly improbable situations and escaping via even more improbable means. Repeat 8 times or so, and you have the first part of the book - The Adventures of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. The second part, Tintin in the Congo, was shorter. There was no rhyme or reason for any of the characters' actions - it was just a series of unplotted accidents, fistfights, kidnappings, escapes, and wearing-of-freshly-hollowed-out-animals.
Snowy was kind of cute at times, but not enough to save the book, in my opinion.

[Iain Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains the first two Tintin books, "The Land of the Soviets" and "The Congo". They are very interesting as historical works - you can see Herge developing his style - but the subject matter is appalling by modern standards. The depictions of the Russians and the Congolese are ridiculously stereotyped, offensive and old-fashioned, but they are arguably completely representative of the time they were written in.

[Nickname · Rating 3 out of 5]

La prima storia in bianco e nero, è stata molto prolissa e aveva come scopo gettare ogni infamia possibile sull'URSS quindi nemmeno la valuto.

Nella seconda bei colori e bei disegni ma mi ha colpito soprattutto lo spirito ecologista di Tintin che uccide a fucilate gazzelle, elefante, 4 coccodrilli, una scimmia, tenta di avvelenare un leopardo e fa saltar per aria un rinoceronte con la dinamite. Con buona pace degli animalisti...

[Graham Barrett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved growing up with The Adventures of Tintin and still enjoy skimming through the comics now and then and rewatching Steven Spielberg’s movie. Yet I’m not *so* blinded by nostalgia to ignore that the series isn’t without problems given creator Hergé’s politics and depiction of People of Color, particularly in the early volumes. The latter meant that before now I actually never read the entirety of Tintin because “Tintin in the Congo” was never released in the USA when I was a kid due to its horrendous depiction of the Congolese. I also never read the very first Tintin comic, “Tintin in the Land of the Soviets”, because it wasn’t readily available either. This volume was my chance to be a completionist in regards to Tintin comics, as well as seeing if they are as bad as I’ve been led to believe these 2 stories are. SPOILER: They are….

- The Land of the Soviets: Now to be fair, I think any series like Tintin that went on for almost 50 years will see a stark contrast between later entries where a creator like Hergé developed his craft and are much better and the early entries when they don't know enough just yet . But even if its just a first outing, Land of the Soviets is pretty bareboned art-wise with pretty sparse content in each panel, unlike the richly colored, realistic and detailed art of Tintin stories to come. The pacing of the story and action is also just horrendous with some bizarre leaps of logic that are weird even for a children’s comic (i.e., the Soviets conveniently have a diving suit in a prison cell for Tintin to use). There are also moments that frankly make Tintin a jerk (i.e., need to patch a leaky tire? Better attack a random old man and when he’s too tired to resist put the tire around him so his heavy breathing inflates it). Then of course there’s the political commentary/satire. The series will be no stranger to it moving forward but unlike the pretty clever commentary in “The Broken Ear” or “The Picaros”, the commentary here is a repetitive “Soviets are evil and/or incompetent tyrants” (not wrong just hardly any nuance to it). Ultimately, a weird start to one of the most beloved comic series in the world.

- Tintin in the Congo: I know that after its original publication, Hergé revised this one for the colorized edition and tried removing anything deemed offensive to Africans (key word **TRIED**). Have looked at bits of both versions, even the color version of the comic is pretty offensive with giving the Congolese characters the pitch black skin and big red lips of every other racist comic/cartoon ever made, the accented and grammatically incorrect English, depicting them as either superstitious and uneducated, and finally worshiping Tintin as a savior. While Hergé’s future Tintin work did a better job at portraying non-Europeans (with varying levels of success), it's hard to escape the problems that Hergé made here and the lingering effect they had on future Tintin stories. And while the story’s biggest problem is by far the racist content and themes, the story is not being any better. There’s a bit more of a plot than Land of the Soviets but it still is pretty barebone and usually just consists of vignettes of Tintin having a confrontation with an animal or demonstrating his superiority to any Congolese (good or bad) he encounters. There’s a small subplot involving him taking on Al Capone’s gangsters but that’s wrapped up too soon in the story with there being a few additional encounters with animals afterwards that just aren't as climatic.

So with this volume I’ve finally read “Tintin in the Land of the Soviets” and “Tintin in The Congo” and completed the series. Yay? The two haven’t ruined my memories of the series as a whole but damn do they come close with how they are plotted and the second one’s racist content. Frankly the “product of their time” argument doesn't really stand up for me, they’re just bad. If you really want to read Tintin for the first time, just start with “Tintin in America” and ignore these two, you truly aren't going to miss anything of value.

[Daisy May Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A small, neat bindup edition of the first two Tintin adventures: Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin In The Congo, this is a complex thing to review. At one level, we've got an artist beginning to figure out who he is and what he can do and at the other, we've got some frank, horrible racism and colonialism and the shooting of anything that moves. And yet, this isn't new space for me as a reader: I read a lot of books from times when attitudes were not great about anything other than the white, european man, and I can work with that (literature is a product of time and place, it reflects - rightly or wrongly - the world in which it is born and the people it seeks to serve, I think), but both of these bothered me and Tintin In The Congo, in particular, is something genuinely distasteful at a thousand different levels.

And I was trying to figure out what that was, why there was that difference here for me in terms of reading this and say somebody like Bessie Marchant at her most Bessie Marchentiest or Capt W E Johns at his Bigglesiest, and I think that the form of story plays a part here. These are comic strips and Congo is in colour and I think there's an immediacy there, when you have the visual right in front of you and you literally cannot escape it. That is the great wild power of the comic and also, sometimes, its greatest weakness. You can't hide from it when it's there on the page. And what was on the page, the brutal 1930s attitudes of raw colonial might, the way a young Belgian artist might view the Congo, is very difficult to see here. The publishers do include a foreword from the translators to Tintin in the Congo which recognises some of these issues. It is slightly coy in its phrasing and I would have welcomed something a little bit franker here. It also mentions the redrawing of page fifty-six but the page-numbering of this edition does not match this.

I've spoken mainly about Tintin In The Congo here so what about Tintin In The Land of the Soviets? It's in black and white and much more approximate; there's a rough, readiness here that is interesting to compare against much later titles - even Tintin In The Congo. It's very jingoistic, as they both are, and Tintin is literally the toughest person ever. He survives an enormous amount of murder attempts (so many they almost become a little? repetitive?). Snowy is instantly the brains of the operation but honestly, after he defrosts a frozen Tintin with the aid of a handy packet of salt, you kind of have to just sit back and go "look, just do your thing, I cannot stand in your way".

So then, this is this; a messy, racist, colonialist, violent thing that isn't remotely "good" at any level (such a subjective statement! forgive me!) but it is something that I do think should still be read. I recognise my privilege in being able to say that as well. I think if you can critically read something like this and support others to read it critically as well and be able to figure out your reactions and understanding of it in a critical fashion, then that is productive. If we accept that literature for young readers, indeed all literature, is political (and we should), then we can also accept that reading can be political and an act of power, of agency, of making your own narrative when the ones about you are so very lacking.

[Jamieson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collects the first two Tintin stories in one volume. The first, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, sees Tintin and Snowy travel to Russia via Berlin to report on the Soviets. To keep Tintin from reporting back to Belgium and the magazine he works for (Le Petit Vingtieme, the same magazine Herge worked for and which first published Tintin in a serialized form), the Soviets try all manner of things to stop him. This story is in black-and-white illustrations and is much rougher and less-refined than the bulk of Tintin stories. It's rather longer too, and is mostly made up of capture and escapes with very little linking story. It's still readable, but it's very apparent that this is the first one.

The second story, Tintin in the Congo, sees Tintin leaving for Africa. There's a brief appearance by the Thompson Twins (who would make their official debut in The Adventures of Tintin : Cigars of the Pharoah) at the start and then we get Tintin's adventures in the Congo. There's a loose thread of Tintin thwarting Al Capone's diamond smuggling operation, but that's mostly just run-ins with one guy through most of the story until the end. The rest is little things here and there: Snowy clashing with a parrot on the ship to Africa, a lot of hunting, running afoul of a local witch doctor, tribal warfare, white-robed missionaries, and an encounter with pygmies. Written in the early 1930s, the Congo was still a Belgian colony at this point (it would gain independence in 1960). There are what would be considered racist elements and animal cruelty in this story, but I don't think they are in any way malicious. Herge would later go to great lengths to properly depict the relevant cultures in his stories. This is also his second story and while in the format of later adventures, is nowhere as near refined as most of his stories.

These are the two Tintin adventures that are probably the least read by modern audiences. First of all, the paperback editions of Tintin that I read as a kid in the 90s never included them in the cover gallery on the back cover. Plus, before this edition, I want to say that they're just plain harder to find. You can tell that they're early works as the plotting is much looser than later adventures and is just short little set pieces with a location tying them together more so than plot. Land of the Soviets has Tintin going to report on Soviet Russia for a western European audience but mainly just a collection of capture and escapes until he returns home. There's a slight thread of the Soviets wanting to keep him from reporting, but it's very slight. Congo has the diamond smuggler thread, but until the end, it's one man who keeps trying to stop Tintin and short of him just being a bad guy, there's not much indication of why. In all, they're still readable, but also of their times. They're a historical curiosity more than timeless Tintin adventures.

[Zeynep Ece Şişman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Çocukluğumda parça parça birkaç sayısına erişip okumaktan zevk aldığım bu çizgi roman serisinin ilk iki kitabı resmen beni dumura uğrattı. İlk kitabın aşırı karikatürize bir şekilde Sovyet anlatısının sinir bozukluğunu atlatamadan, Kongo maceralarının önüne gelen tüm hayvanları tüfeğiyle haklamaya çalışan ve ırkçı Tenten’le karşı karşıya kaldım. Bu ilk iki kitabın hikayesini araştırdığımda yazar-çizerin tam olarak sipariş üzerine bu iki rezaleti (üzgünüm, öyle) hazırladığına denk geldim, ilerleyen dönemlerde gelen eleştiriler üzerine bu sayılae revize edilmiş ama revize ile kurtarılabilecek gibi değil. Diğer yandan yazar-çizerin görüşünün tamamen değiştiğini değil sadece eleştiriler nedeniyle çok da bilmediği Sovyetler hakkındaki görüşünü ya da delüzyonunu yumuşattığını söyleyebiliriz ki bu da zaten ne yeterli ne de iç rahatlatıcı.

İkinci kitap yani Tenten Kongo’da ise zaten Belçika sömürüsü olan Kongo ile ilgili beyaz adamın ne kadar harika ve her eyleminde ne kadar haklı olduğuna dair bir görsel şölen… Hiçbir şey bilmeyen, doğru düzgün Fransızca konuşamayan (Tabii ki Tenten’in Kituba dili konuşması gibi bir saçmalık söz konusu olamaz), 2+2=? gibi basit bir soruya bile cevap veremeyen, büyücüleri ne derse ona inanan (Semavi dinlerden elbette ki farklı), vahşi (Bütün kitap boyunca maymundan, file kadar her canlıyı öldürmekten çekinmeyen Tenten’in aksine) yerlilerin Tenten’in ne kadar mübarek bir insan olduğuna şahit oluyoruz… Yani nereden tutsak elimizde kalıyor.

Bu gibi yayınların günümüzde hala basılıyor olması bir yandan iyi çünkü medeniyetle özdeşleştirdiğimiz ülkelerin, yapıların geçmişten günümüze sinsi sinsi nasıl göz boyadığının çok başarılı örnekleri. Ne kadar kör göze parmak olsa da yani tencere dibin kara seninki benden kara, sömürge de spekülasyon da her yerde gırla ama beyazlar/Avrupalılar için bu sadece kendileri yapmadıklarında sorun. Geri kalanlar barbar ve acil medeniyet bombaları ile bombalanmaları gerekiyor…

[Rishika S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 star rating.

Let me begin by saying that I absolutely love Tintin comics, which is why I have the collector's edition in the first place. I've read all the comics over the years. But, I had not really read the entire collection in order. Until now.

I picked up Volume 1 because I wanted to start right at the beginning. And let's just say that if these had been the first Tintin comics I'd ever read, I probably wouldn't have given the rest of the series a chance.

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets has no story as such and is just page after page of Tintin and Snowy escaping from crazy situations in ridiculous ways. I mean Tintin is famous for getting in trouble and getting away, but these scenarios were plain incredulous and un-entertaining. 

Tintin in the Congo is painfully racist and depicts hunting in the most brutish and inhumane manner possible. It still has some story and is closer to the better Tintin comics in a few ways. But by no means is it a comfortable read (I'm pretty sure I actually cringed a couple of times).

Both books within Volume 1 aren't really enjoyable. The creators have admitted that both books were heavily influenced by beliefs and assumptions of the time during which they were set. They've even updated some aspects of the books that just would not have been accepted later. But that still doesn't make them a great read. And they definitely don't compare in the least to the books that followed.

If you want to read Tintin then read any other than Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. The others are surely enjoyable. But the only reason you can consider reading Volume 1 is if you, like me, want to go through all the books in order. That compulsion is the only thing that'll get you through them.

[Jenny King · Rating 3 out of 5]

***EUROVISIONATHON 2021 - BELGUIM***

I missed the boat on these as a child - naturally I had heard of Tintin, but other than knowing that he was an investigative journalist with a dog called Snowy, I didn't really know much about the books. However my dad was a big fan, so over a series of Christmases I started getting him these volumes so that he could dip back into them as an adult. But now that I am getting into graphic novels/manga, I decided that it would only be right to give them a go to see what I think, with the added bonus that I can read them for Eurovisionathon!

As I started with Volume 1, the first book inside was still using the fairly basic black and white comic style which basically just did the job, completely understandable given that the series started in 1929. You are introduced to Tintin and Snowy as they travel to Russia to see what life is like for the Soviets, and given the time that this came out they are very much snapshots of the global situation at the time. The stories are utterly ludicrous and farsical, but very enjoyable to read. I will admit that I was more uncomfortable with the second book in the volume which was Tintin in the Congo, and how it portrayed the black natives and also the hunting of wild animals, but again it was very much a product of its time.

[- ̗̀ auriga ̖́- · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bueno, después de haber empezado por estos dos números me dijeron que lo mejor para leer la obra de Hergé era dejarlos para el final. A BUENA HORA ME LO DICEN.
No me siento desanimada y voy a leer todo lo que queda de Tintín, pero le digo a quienes aún no leyeron nada, no empiecen por acá. Empiecen más adelante, por lo que me recomendaron, arranquen por el N°9 y luego vuelvan al principio cuando hayan terminado.
* Tintin in the land of the soviets, es pura propaganda anticomunista y estereotipos horribles de Rusia. Carece de trama, son puras persecuciones, peleas y retrasos.
* Tintin in the Congo es un espanto de clichés colonialistas, racismo y violencia hacia los animales. También carece de cohesion aunque la línea argumentativa es más sólida.
Si bien he leído que Hergé describió estas obras como satíricas o desde el punto de vista de la burguesía, yo no noté que en ningún momento se repudie algo ni se llame al lector a la reflexión pero bueno. Creo que si es bueno ver estos dos primeros volúmenes en contexto histórico y entender la importancia que tuvieron para el crecimiento del autor en las historias posteriores.
Como curiosidad son interesantes, quizás si los hubiese leído luego de leer todas las otras aventuras le hubiese puesto más estrellas.

[Daniel Cooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of Hergé's first Tintin stories is very much a product of the environment it was created in. The highly conservative magazine where he worked had specifically requested these two settings in order to work as propaganda for the editorial view. This seems to have had an impact on the quality of them, with very little plot contained in either tale.

'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets' suffers greatly from the fact that it is the only early story never redrawn by Hergé, containing instead a facsimile of the original, which is often crude and rushed. Large amounts of it are based on one (now discredited) source and as a result the visions of Soviet Russia have not aged particularly well.

'Tintin in the Congo' did at least get a secondary treatment, although this only resulted in a partial reworking of the colonialist view demonstrated in the original and the still contains the woeful caricatures of Africans which can be seen throughout cartoons of the 20th century. More research went into it and a minor plot was introduced, which are improvements and Hergé did greatly improve in both of these aspects, trying to treat his subjects more even-handly than these early propaganda pieces.

[Candyce Sweet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t give this volume a one-star rating for one reason alone—its historical value—but beyond that, this book is truly a travesty. It’s so far removed from the version of Tin Tin that I have in my mind that I couldn’t possibly relate this version of the character to the version I’ve come to know and love.

The racism is atrocious, and the cruelty to animals is horrific. I appreciate the messages printed in this volume before each story, but wow, I was still not quite expecting it.

I also know I shouldn’t go to a comic for high realism, but still, some of his adventures were so unbelievable that they took me out of the story.

I have to write a paper on this. How did something so bad lead into something so good?

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well have to evaluate both separately here...

In the Land of the Soviets - obviously hadn't solidified his art style yet and the situations and solutions were pretty funny. I am not sure if the tone changes later on as I have never read all of these before, just seen the show and movie, but the tone here is for the young and definitely has a lighter feel. Definitely fun but...lacking in believability.

In the Congo - Um... super racist and praises the slaughter of animals as the great white hunter. Quite shocking but they do have a disclaimer at the start saying it was a product of its time and perspective which is quite unacceptable now. The main villain is pretty funny and the connection to Al Capone is right out of left field.

[Natalia Vladimirovna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ove dve epizode ispunjene rasističkim stereotipima su upitne po današnjim standardima. No ipak moraju se prihvatiti kao spomen jednog takvog perioda.
Prva epizoda U zemlji Sovjeta skače iz neprilike u nepriliku, te tako nagomilane neprilike dovode do toga da koherentna radnja ni ne postoji. Razumem da je bilo čitljivije dok je bilo serijalizovano u novinama.
Druga epizoda U Kongu, prefinjenijeg je izgleda jer je u boji, a stil uredniji. Manje je nagomilanih neprilika, ali ih i dalje ima. No, umesto da Tin Tin trazi priču, priča nalazi njega, te je po meni njegov uspeh kao reportera umanjen.
Sve u svemu, ove Eržeove početničke epizode nisu najbolje, ali mi je drago da sam ih pročitala.

[Hermioneginny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Qualche anno fa ho visto il cartone animato e quando in biblioteca ho visto la raccolta completa delle storie di Tintin, ero curiosa di leggerle. Queste prime due storie sono... RAZZISTE. Capisco che sono state scritte tipo 100 anni fa, ma la prima storia ha dei ridicoli stereotipi sui russi della primissima epoca comunista (tutti scemi), riesce a salvarsi in modi assurdi. La seconda, invece, è la vittoria del grande uomo bianco sui poveri, sprovveduti africani.
Non so se proseguire con le storie successive per vedere se migliorano...