I read Tintin in the Land of the Soviets a few weeks back, and the thing that struck me most was the huge improvement in the artwork that Herge made between this (his first Tintin story) and Tintin in the Congo (his second).



(Don't you just love his suit!)

I find it really amazing that by the second story, it looks like the same Tintin that I've been reading for years!

Which isn't to say that the more simple art of this story doesn't have its merits. It's not the most complex of plots, mostly about various Russians trying to kill Tintin so that he can't tell the world what's going on there, so they go well together.


By the 3rd page, it is shown that Tintin CAN NOT DIE! A beardy Russian fellow blows up a train, causing the "disappearance" of 218 people, but like any good hero of that era, Tintin only sustains a black eye and tattered clothes! He is arrested in Berlin, because obviously, as the only survivor, it must have been his fault. So, what does he do? Beats up a guard twice his size, dresses in his clothes and steals a motorbike! After crashing the bike, he fakes his own death, and while the police are investigating his "body" (which is just the clothes he stole), he steals their car, leads a high-speed chase and is hit by a train. This one is much sturdier than the African train and doesn't fall over, so Tintin suffers a black eye, and not much else. He then rides on the front of the train to Russia...

... where he is promptly arrested again. The Commissar decides that Tintin needs to meet with an "accident", so a guy with a banana is dispatched to take him out. All of this excitement makes Tintin late for his train, so he builds his own car from a pile of junk. He's the original MacGyver!

Then it's time for some propaganda:


Also, this is the only time that I remember seeing "the famous reporter Tintin" actually writing an article.



While walking around at night dressed as a ghost (it's a long story involving murderous Russians), he falls down an open manhole and into the sewer system. He seems to be trapped, but, with a mighty sneeze he busts out! And is arrested again. He escapes (of course!), steals a boat, sinks it, capsizes the boat of the police chasing him, and makes his getaway!

There are some explosions, shoddy mechanical exploits and random violence that I would love to show you, but it goes on for 10 pages. However, I do find it odd that yesterday Tintin built himself a car, but today he has to remove EVERYTHING from under the bonnet (of a different car) before realising that he has a flat tyre. Then, after his bizarre method of re-inflating it, he just crams all the bits and bobs back in, and discards what doesn't fit. But you know what? The car still works! I take it back - Tintin is a GENIUS!

Then we skip a whole chunk, which is just more arrests, cunning escapes and beating up people much bigger than himself to steal their clothes. We'll just get to the part where Tintin fights a drunk bear.



Feeling cocky, he takes on another big guy, but oh no! This guy is too big! A well placed tree comes to the rescue, and Tintin once again gets to wear enormous clothes. Which fit him suspiciously well. Perhaps Herge forgot how big the other guy was supposed to be?

After some adventures in a haunted house and the secret caviar and vodka storage lair of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, Tintin impersonates a pilot called "Lindbergski" and makes off with a plane, but inevitably, he crashes it. Although, it wasn't entirely his fault this time - there was a storm. But really, someone should take his licence away before we all die of laughter! I may have to start keeping a tally of how many vehicles he destroys over the course of all his adventures...

Anyway, after some impromptu propeller carving, Tintin is back in the air and on his way to Germany. On his arrival in Berlin, he gets very drunk on champagne, is arrested by undercover Russians, and rescued by a tiger! Then Snowy turns up dressed in a (very ill-fitting) tiger skin, and scares off the real tiger.

So, we head back to Berlin, arrest a Bolshevik terrorist, get a large reward and... go back to Russia?!?!? Tintin, I'm not surprised that Snowy won't get back in the car! Seeing as you're driving at 120km/h in the rain - very bad idea with your driving history! So of coure, Tintin crashes into a level crossing and goes flying though the window of a passing train, headed back to Belgium. He manages to take a hint, and an ENORMOUS crowd is at the station to greet him. I'm not sure how they knew he was coming, seeing as he wasn't supposed to be on the train. Maybe all Belgians are psychic. It would explain why Hercule Poirot is such a good detectve. I have no idea how he solved that case the other night, but then again, I wasn't really paying attention. Damn my Picross addiction!


Vehicles destroyed by Tintin (not including ones he managed to repair)
2 cars
2 boats
1 motor bike
1 home-made car

Vehicles destroyed in the vicinity of Tintin
10 carriages of a train
1 horse-drawn petrol cart

Faked deaths = 4
Arrests = 5


Now I'll finally be able to do something I've wanted to do for years: reread the rest of the Tintin books in order! Next up: Tintin In America!
(If you remember the end of Congo, there was an important story for him to cover in Chicago.)