Same great Tintin volumes, same 3-in-1 format, with a classy new look!
Join traveling reporter Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy, along with well-known friends such as Captain Haddock, as they embark on extraordinary adventures spanning historical and political events, fantasy and science-fiction adventures and thrilling mysteries. These full-color graphic novels broke new ground when they were first released and became the inspiration for countless modern-day comic artists.
This repackaged hardcover volume contains 3 classic Tintin stories, including: Tintin and the Broken Ear, The Black Island, and King Ottokar's Sceptre.
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.
Another trio of stories of wittiness and sleuthing for Tintin as we see him and Snowy go on more exciting and perilous journeys through South America and Europe. A (100%/Outstanding)
Tintin adventures are difficult to summarize. If we stick only to the plots, they sound like generic adventure fare. If we mention the comedy, the recurring characters, the cartoony style, then it comes off as much goofier than it actually is. Somehow Hergé comes up with the perfect blend of both, where it's just adventurous enough to be exciting, but still humorous enough to be lighthearted. Somehow, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Broken Ear contains possibly the most outlandish example of deus ex machina in the entire series, where Tintin is saved from certain death by a fortuitous bolt of lightning. Ordinarily, such an occurrence would spark an exasperated, "Oh come *on*!" from me, but such is the spell of Hergé that I just shrug and say, "Ah well … it's Tintin."
King Ottokar's Sceptre is one of my favorite stories. I love the setting. And Tintin's Eureka! moment. And how Snowy reluctantly saves the day. It's just very fun.
The Adventures of Tintin: Volume 3: Tintin and the Broken Ear, The Black Island & King Ottokar's Sceptre, is the third volume containing the listed comics. These are classic comics, that see Tintin, with Snowy in tow, solving the mystery of a mysterious statue, foiling a counterfeit ring, and thwarting a Balkan coup attempt. These are action packed comics, with Tintin traversing the globe to help folks out in his usual calm manner. I really love this character, with echoes of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot (and similar Belgian heritage). I love the globe-trotting adventures of this character, and this volume moves away from the more propagandistic early Herge works as he moved away from the publishing requirements of the Belgian government in the 1930's. All three of these are stellar issues of the famous comic.
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.
OK. So this book was awesome. i really didn't expect anything but it was actually really interesting. this book was definitely a page-turner and I hope I can find more of these books at the library.
We all agree if you want to contineu the journey of Tintin, you should prapre with any expeirence story thats you never things before. On this Vol.2, Herge writes so well and make it make sense on each of plot, especially on The Broken Ear, how the ear's statue is broken, and Tintin try to found out the real of statue out of there with the amaze journey.
King Ottokar’s Sceptre (1946, added material 2011) by Herge. This is one of the great Herge’s Adventures of Tintin graphic novels. I fell in love with these adventures when I was in either 5th or 6th grade. That was about the same time I first discovered libraries and all the treasures they held. Perhaps it was the “boy’s own adventure” which captured me. Our hero, Tintin, is a young reporter in many of these stories and perhaps I could relate to the character back then. Or it might have been the clean illustrations that showcased every story. The pictures were both two dimensional yet fully formed in a three dimensional manner that is hard to describe. Here, the author/illustrator from Belgium, had a manner of bringing individuality and presence to everything he drew, be it human, animal, place or machine. And there was nothing Tintin could not do, be it trail a suspect, leap off a fast moving train or fly a plane. Whatever faced him, he never backed away. A very endearing quality that would ensure faithful readership no matter what language the words might be translated into. Tintin was everything a boy would want to be and what any girl might admire. And don’t get me started on his faithful sidekick, Snowy. In this tale Tintin finds himself in the middle of a plot to oust the leader of a free country in the Balkans and allow the evil neighboring country to invade. We find the bumbling Thompson and Thomson, police detectives, along for the ride and some comic relief. Despite the odds you know somehow, someway, Tintin will save the day, all in full color. This edition from Little, Brown and Company has an additional 20 pages covering the author’s life, inspirations for his work and details about the country that plays a major role in this book. It adds an extra quality to the story and allows the reader to understand a great deal more about the character and the efforts made in producing this book. Finally, Tintin, though not as widely know or popular as he once was, had a major influence on many other kids like me, only they allowed their artistic side to come out. If you wonder who those kids grew into, check out the Tintin movie from several years back. Reading this book, or any of the Tintin books and then watching the movie and you might have a greater appreciation for the film.
Despite having read all of the Tintin adventures over and over again in my childhood I always found it difficult to remember anything specific about "The Broken Ear" and "The Black Island", safe for the first appearance of General Alcazar and... something about... an island, I guess? Going through these volumes all these years later however shows me why. Those two stories aren't very memorable, if not rather formulaic. There's a lot of running around in circles concerning the plot and the villains aren't all that interesting either.
"King Ottokar's Sceptre" is where it's at however and more of a sign for things to come than, say, "The Blue Lotus" was. The structure of the story is far less episodic, and there's an underlining feel of "goal and purpose". At least you don't get the impression that Hergé is making everything up as he goes along or trying to fill the pages somehow. Also, the creation of the fictional state of Syldavia is a pretty thing to behold! Not to mention that it feels *real*. At least it fooled me as a ten year old. I certainly do remember being confused about not finding it on a map and why my teachers hadn't heard about it.
Either way, the next story has Captain Haddock, so there should be nothing but winners from here on out.
The Broken Ear - 2/5 stars In this story, Tintin travels to South America to track down a statue stolen from a museum. Hergé must have had a strict deadline to meet, because you can see the shortcuts he takes in both his drawing and writing. For example, a perfectly timed lightning bolt saves Tintin and some conversations take place on a simple monochromatic panel without any background details. Most of all, I found the villains’ motivations confusing. It seemed that they expended more effort than their reward would have been worth had they outsmarted Tintin.
Black Island - 4/5 stars On his next adventure, Tintin travels to Scotland to stop a counterfeiting operation. Snowy and the detectives help turn a standard plot into a humorous and charming romp through the countryside.
King Ottokar’s Sceptre - 5/5 stars In one of my favorite installments, Tintin travels to Syldavia and uncovers a plot against the king. Hergé does an excellent job of making Syldavia seem real, and the political threat heightens the stakes and actualizes the villains. Tintin’s wits and Snowy’s loyalty save the country, rather than a stroke of luck.
THE BROKEN EAR is not exceptional. It never comes together like some of the great Tintin stories do. All this for a single (not particularly large) diamond? The panel of the demons carrying off two drowned villains to hell was quite frightening to me as a kid; ultimately it was the most memorable part of the book. 2/5
THE BLACK ISLAND is better. Unlike other Tintin books, this one is explicitly set in the British Isles. As a kid, I thought Marlinspike was in England and that Tintin and Haddock were British. Mind you, I had only a vague idea that Belgium existed at the time. However it's clear that when Tintin flies home at the end of the book, he is leaving the UK for the continent. A good adventure, not the strongest plot of them all. 3/5
KING OTTOKAR'S SCEPTRE is incredibly charming, inventive, well-drawn, suspenseful. Everything a good Tintin yarn should be. 5/5
*The Broken Ear La trama es muy buena pero pierde un poco llegando al medio que se pone un poco tediosa. Los paisajes son hermosos y la elección de colores es muy buena, me recuerda a la edición centennial del tarot smith waite. Fue la que más me gustó de las tres historias. *Tintin and The Black Island Si bien la historia es cautivante me resultó un poco molesto que no se nombre y recién se llegue a la isla pasados los tres cuartos de la historia. Sentí que el argumento se quedó corto y quizás se hubiesen necesitado dos volumenes para desarrollar bien la historia. Por otro lado destaco lo hermoso que dibuja Hergé los autos y la ropa son una caricia a la vista. *King Ottokar's Sceptre Esta es a mi parecer la mejor de las tres historias a nivel argumentativo. Aqui aparece por primera vez Bianca Castafiore y conocemos Syldavia el reino o país inventado por Hergé.
One of the first books that I ever read, as my grandparents had this 3-in-1 set since before I was born. Every time I visited them, I would spend hours with the tattered copy with its missing pages and ripped binding, and marvel at the weird worlds (like Europe in the mid twentieth century) with its weird cars and names like Müller that I had never heard before. This particular book (and Harry Potter) will always have a special place in my heart as something that shaped me as a child and opened my eyes to the joys of reading.
These three stories weren't as interesting and exciting as some of the other tales, but overall enjoyable nevertheless.
The first story in the book, "The Broken Ear", is about a tribe's totem that keeps on getting stolen and swapped out with copies. This is the weakest of the bunch, rather formulaic and not much of a payoff in the end. The other two stories are better, with Tintin off to the UK and fighting a gorilla, and also on a mission in the country of Syldavia to help the king retrieve his royal Sceptre.
We will give this one 4 stars because while I dearly love Tintin (PSA: his Broken Ear outfit is frankly one of his superior outfits throughout the series), Herge tends to get deeply into himself with obscure political plots that you would probably only comprehend if you were a Belgian living in that time period. Additionally, there is that whole mini-arc where Tintin wears blackface as a disguise, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth...
A serviceable collection of romps around the globe with our good pals Tintin and Snowy. Each one has a pretty similar progression and some of the gags are a bit well-trod at this point, but they're still fun.
A bit of a yikes moment when Tintin disguises himself using blackface in the first one and a bit bizarre when Snowy suddenly gets a penchant for whisky in the second one. Otherwise, an enjoyable read.
Volume two complete. Like with the first volume, this is just three Tintin adventures bound together with no extras. As a set, they are somewhat repetitive, with the first two seeming to make this work just a bit more. Certainly these are a product of their times, making choices that would be in a modern book. But the actual art and writing feels modern. There also seemed to be a bit of a Scooby doo feel to it, though they could use a Scooby gang.
Tintin is off on three more adventures. While fun stories these were works of the time and come with a full set of prejudices. In typical Tintin fashion everything works out in the end. Nice graphics.
Abandoned after about 15 pages. As convenient as it is to have this in a nicely bound, compact format the art just really doesn't work at this size. You miss the details which make this series so fun.
The black Island is good but the rest of the package just really weak (king Ottokar is okay, but I don't remember much from broken ear.) Just buy black Island on its own it's really good in my opinion.
I wouldn't consider myself a Tintin fan, but this is cute nonetheless. Hergé's art style is just so nice to look at. It's like the old 1940s Captain Marvel comics if they were drawn by someone with actual draftsman skills.
One or two of the stories were more difficult to follow, but once I took the time to sit down and (thoroughly) read through the dialogue, I understood the plot much better. Snowy really had it rough (or ruff, lol) in one story; a solid read, all in all.
Tintin is pretty fun but once you read one volume, you realise the stories are all about the same but they just take place in different places. I sure do love that Snowy though.